On my drive to work I was listening to the radio. The dj's played a game, would you rather read a page of 50 shades of grey, or get a texted picture of some random dude's penis. I was horrified that they'd even come up with such a contest, and terrified when the overwhelming response was most women would rather receive a picture of some guys schlong.
Now, very few people are going to come out and say hey, I really enjoyed the book, because they feel they will be ridiculed, but why is it so terrible to read that and OK to read US magazine or star magazine. At least 50 shades of grey has a narrative that extends over more than two pages.
It's part of the romance/erotica shaming that is so prevalent right now. I have children and in between Tv, Ipads, computers and the countless other distractions in a day, I'm having trouble getting them to want to read. I want them to discover the joy in getting lost in an awesome book, and following a narrative across multiple pages and discovering how sentences should be formed. (I'll save my rant on the non-word "Ain't" for another day) and to be honest, past the age of sixteen, I don't care what they want to read, as long as it's longer than eighty pages.
For me, romance was my gateway drug into serious reading, one book a week type reading and from romance I expanded into Urban Fantasy, Thrillers, literary and YA. I have a friend who is an English Teacher and I'm way better read, because she won't let herself read genre books and feels she can only read literary, and the got bored with reading, because reading in only one genre can be so limiting. So she doesn't read anything but magazines and would never, ever pick up a romance.
Enough of the shaming. Someone who reads a book -any book - should be celebrated. They had the interest and intelligence to follow a narrative past two pages, and it truly shouldn't matter what that book is. And maybe the next time someone compares a page of text to a picture of a schlong, there will be a mass protest and whatever idiot came up with that idea will be shamed.
5 comments:
Amen, Sinead! I know what you mean about getting kids to read, too. The one thing that has made my kids into better readers is their love of camping. There are no XBoxes where they like to go.
Also, I like your point about reading widely. I think it makes us wiser people and certainly better writers. It's one of the many things I love about being in a book group. It gets me to read out of my comfort zone.
Well said, Sinead. I'll bet many of the ones doing the shaming haven't read a book since then were forced to in high school.
That's another whole topic... Forced reading of boring books in high school. No wonder so many kids stop reading...
Sing it Sinead! I definitely have my guilty pleasures... but I've never been "ashamed" of reading anything.
And Maureen - Romance saved me as a reader in high school. I hated most of those awful books but in the midst of it I found Kathleen Woodiwiss and I've been a dedicated reader ever since.
And I also use my book club to push myself although I tricked them this month by telling them In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer Flemming was a cozy mystery... shhhhh don't tell them but it's also a LOVE story!
All for improving and maintaining our literacy, no matter what the medium. It is sad that so many would have responded to see the package versus reading a book, but just look at how many idiotic woman romance readers are shooting themselves in the foot when trading or swooning over naked or nearly naked men pictures today. Therefore, its no surprise so many voted to see the pic, its what so many are already doing. Maybe, the shame is in that - not a book!
And why would reading be a guilty pleasure? Guilty of reading a book? I wouldn't say reading is exactly pleasurable, that's a feeling only being with my hubby and my kiddos can invoke....but, reading is a great form of entertainment, just like movies.
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