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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Discussion | DOES THE HYPE RUIN BOOKS FOR READERS?


Hello lovelies!

This is one of my new year resolutions this year, to post discussion posts every now and then, and this has been on my mind for so long, so I thought I'd share and read your thoughts on this subject.. HYPE. It could be both a good thing and a bad thing so let's discuss.. 

1. High expectations for books
I hear of a hyped book that everybody loves, I immediately feel inclined to read it and supposedly love it, but when a book doesn't meet the expectations that everyone set for it, it is the greatest disappointment ever. Setting up such expectations for books brings us to the next point of this discussion..

2. Unfair to the book and the author
When a book doesn't meet reader expectations, it's not the book nor the author's fault. It's the hype and people who set those standards too high. I honestly would have loved some books way more than I did if I went into them blindly without any praise from anybody. 

3. Effs up your judgement of a book
I find it super hard to judge a book without being influenced by other thoughts or a point that I read somewhere or heard someone talk about. I know that people may have the same views on a book, but I just instantly think of the cons that somebody highlighted in a book and I can't push these flaws away. It's annoying because if I was reading this particular book without anyone pointing out these flaws I may have overlooked them.


4. Risking wasting your time on a not so great book
To me, if the book is not talked about very much and isn't rated highly, I simply assume it isn't a good one which is very bad .. I know, but I wouldn't automatically pick up a book that I've heard nothing about if it wasn't sent to me for review. I know this is terrible of me, but I just can't waste my time reading books that I probably will dislike while there are many other books that people love that there is a higher percentage of me liking than others. It is simply just safer and I always choose the safe route. I think though that this is mainly due to my overflowing TBR pile.


5. Losing interest in books as soon as the hype dies down
This one is terrible as well, but I find myself not showing interest in a book if the hype for it dies down. I sure would like to pick this book up, but not as much as I would like when everyone was talking about it so I would join in and put my personal thoughts in on the book. I honestly am always too late to the party. For example, Truthwitch. I've got this book and I cannot wait to read it, but I feel like it is totally last month. It's dumb, I know, but please tell me I'm not alone on this one.. 


6. Must read hype books to have an input
Relating to the previous point, I feel like I have to read a hyped up book to actually see for myself whether the hype is worth it or not, which brings us to this post. It is all so confusing and you have to decide if a book is worth trying out or not. I personally have a list of hyped up books that I have no interest in reading and I don't regret it. They're just not for me, whether they're hyped up or not and I refuse to pick up a book that doesn't interest me in some way. 

7. Feeling left out if you have a different opinion from everyone and their mothers
I think I'm the only human being on this planet that really disliked fangirl, I didn't think it was worth all the freaking hype surrounding it. Like come on, I get that it is relatable and all, but is it really worthy of being on my favorites of all time? No. Sorry. This is why not liking overhyped books worries me. It is very controversial, but not liking the same books is what makes us humans so it's okay... I think..



8. "You're an avid reader right? Have you read this book?" "No.." "Ohhh....." *dirty looks*
The idea of being an avid reader means that you must have read every known book out there is not true. We are not robots you know.. I have heard of books, yes, most probably I'll even recommend you a book based on what I've heard from other book bloggers and reviewers, but no, I haven't read all said books out there. Sorry for the disappointment. 


9. Loving a hyped up book
80% of the books that I've read are all mainstream ones and I can say that a huge chunk - more than 50% at least of these books - I have a loved. I know, I know. They are hyped up for a reason, people really love them and recommend them, sometimes when the hype is still fresh, the book is amazing and you can't help but love it. In some cases though, you end up totally hating it afterwards.. which brings me to my next point. 

10. Finding your mom, sister, friends reading an overly hyped book
When a book reaches its maximum level of hype, The Fault in Our Stars for example, it makes you hate it. I read it when no one except for the bookish community knew what that book is. I later found my friends who never read pick it up and talk about it. It was cool till my sister, my mom and everyone else started talking about it and it was like a fucking plague. The same with Fifty Shades of Grey and After by Anna Todd. Agh. It gets super annoying. It's also sad when books like Fifty Shades become mainstream, at least The Fault in our Stars was a great read. 


11. Being excited to share your thoughts with everyone
The beauty of having people to share your thoughts with and fangirl over hot characters with is a great feeling. *cough.. Dorian* It's great to bond over a great book and you can't have that with underhyped books, unless you force your friends to read it.. which I definitely do.


What are your thoughts on the matter? Be sure to tell me down below I'd LOVE to know what you guys think and if you agree with me on any of these, let me know that I'm not alone.. 

Love, 


25 comments:

  1. Oh I love this post! Last summer there was a book that was SO hyped I just had to get my hands on it! (I even went to a signing and met the author, who is so super nice!) Let me just say I was super disappointed, I was expecting a 5 star read when in reality it was a 3 for me.

    I'm so bad at number 4! What's weird is that I don't always like reading the book summary, I always have more fun if I just dive right in! So I always count on a few bloggers/booktubers whom I follow for recs. However, I have stumbled upon some great (usually self published) books that I cannot believe are so UNDER hyped! My goal for 2016 is to read more "off the path" books.

    Thanks for this great post Jumana! (I am now following your blog and Twitter!) If you'd like you can check out my blog Miranda's Book Blog :)

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    1. Aww thank you♥ Ouch!! this is such a downer. I didn't have that happen to me with the extent of meeting the author and such, it must've been hard :(

      ME TOO!! I actually do the exact same thing. I only check the summary when I'm lost in the book like totally and completely lost and need to read the summary to know what the book is talking about. Unfortunately though, some book summaries ruin the book so our policy is great hahaha. Omg, this is soo cool! You have to try out some and do a blog post on the best underhyped books that you've read! I think this would be awesome!

      Aww thank you so much for coming by, I'll definitely will♥

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  2. Love this post! I'm always pretty apprehensive about reading hyped books, but I still always want to read them. I hate it when standards are built to high, it just brings a total downer on my day. I also have a tendency of reading books well after any hype has died down. I'm always late on the bandwagon.

    I do hate when number 8 happens, though I'm quite lucky as it is quite rare for me. Nobody reads here! And therefore, I'm lucky that number 10 rarely happens to me too.

    Lauren @ My Expanding Bookshelf

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    1. Awww thank you so much Lauren! Saame, I think it's a struggle that most bookworms go through. THIS IS LITERALLY ME, I am never ever too early, like with Truthwitch and Illuminae, they've been EVERYWHERE and I'm here sitting there watching everyone talk about them hahaha

      Nobody reads here as well, but when everyone knows you're an avid reader, they expect you to read every book possible out there and this is not the case hahaha. Aww you're lucky! It's the worst :( Thank you for stopping by♥

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  3. The hype can totally ruin a book for me -- either because I don't want to read it or because it doesn't live up to the hype when I actually do. I can't really think of any books aside from The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater that have lived up to the hype for me. I love all the points you make here, great post!!

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