It’s frustrating to continually hear about the books that they (critics, booksellers, the media, etc) think we should be reading. And many fall into that trap. They grab up the latest literary masterpiece and carry it around like a badge of honor, never making to the end of the first, painfully long, chapter. I wouldn’t be surprised to peek inside that open copy of A New Earth to see the latest Sophia Kinsella hiding. Who named Oprah controller-of-our-minds, anyway?
Well, I refuse. I refuse to buy a book because Oprah (or anyone else) says I should. I refuse to hide the cover of Jen Lancaster’s latest hilarity, just because it’s covered in frilly underwear. I refuse to read boring, sad, or otherwise. I refuse to be ashamed of spewing soda out of my noise while reading Queen of Babble in the Big City. I will proudly carry, and read, my pink, purple and green books in public. Because they are funny, because they are real and because I want to!
Sophia herself backed me up, saying about the recent comedy romance awards (more on that in a later post), “I'd like to show people that this prize is about what people love to read - not what they feel they ought to read.” Well said.
2 comments:
I never understood the whole book snob thing. I love a range of books from non fiction to Oprah books to chick lit. It's all what you're in the mood for- one isn't better than the other. Just because you buy a complex book doesn't make you a complex person. Yeesh.
And Jen Lancaster's latest- LOVED it. Anything Meg Cabot writes is on my to be read list for certain.
My life is complex enough without adding the worry of what I'm supposed to be reading.
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