One star reviews of my favourite books
Gabby at wool gathering wrote about the goodreads top 100 which is really interesting and has had some great responses.
I'm not getting into that exactly but it did remind me of a fun pastime: reading one star reviews of my favourite books. This is also my advice when friends get a rejection or bad review. Feeling down about your writing? Go find your favourite book on Goodreads or Amazon or wherever and read the one star reviews. There will be thousands if your favourite book is also anyone else's favourite book. My favourite book has fifty thousand one star reviews on Goodreads.
Any book you thought was well written? One star reviews. A book I think is stunning has a review that says it is 'objectively and subjectively' poorly written. Any book you think perfectly skewers something will have other people complaining it's a horrible example of the same something.
I'm not calling anyone out because everyone is entitled not to enjoy a book. Nor am I saying I am right and everyone else is wrong. The point is how differently people can see the same thing. The truth is a matter of the imagination, indeed.
Low reviews can also be very helpful. If a review complains about a book being too politically correct, or historically inaccurate because there are women or people of colour doing things, or it's Too Gay... I'm reading that book.