'Mel on reading' is a little feature I created as part of my Fairytale news. It's my way to show my thoughts on topics that go from pet peeves in reading to my favorite things in books.
Today I read this very enlightening article on Slate [link deleted], that points out why you should feel embarrassed when you read YA books when you don’t fall in that category. This opinion is based on very strong arguments that I have to share with you:
“But the YA and “new adult” boom may mean fewer teens aspire to grown-up reading, because the grown-ups they know are reading their books.”
Because yes, that is definitely something we must be afraid of. Imagine that people only read the books they enjoy! THE HORROR. We all know that reading isn’t meant for that type of enjoyment. We should force ourselves to read other books in order to complete our lives and to grow from it. There is no such thing as reading for pleasure or satisfaction. It’s the same with movies. We don’t watch those because we enjoy them, no, we should learn from them of course! We set a terrible example for our teenagers when we show them that age doesn’t matter. When we make clear that you should do what you want, as long as it makes you happy. Oh no no no!
“I have no urge to go back and re-read them, but those books helped turn me into the reader I am today. It’s just that today, I am a different reader.”
Oh, do share those books with me. I’d love to turn into a snob and a judgmental reader! That is something we all aspire to be after all. Why wouldn’t you be happy that reading is becoming more popular? Why would you stop caring about what other people read, when you can judge and spread nonsense? I say we put patrols in the stores. If you want to buy a YA book, you have to show your ID and if you are too old, you should be put into jail. That will teach them.
“It’s not simply that YA readers are asked to immerse themselves in a character’s emotional life—that’s the trick of so much great fiction—but that they are asked to abandon the mature insights into that perspective that they (supposedly) have acquired as adults.”
It is in no way possible to connect with a character much younger than you, because it’s obviously not-done if you remember your past. You can never look back at your youth. You can never try to understand the way you felt back then, because you are so much older and wiser now. Let’s forget everything you’ve ever done, because you are an adult now. So never answer your children’s questions when they ask you about your past. Don’t comfort them with things like ‘I used to feel that way’, because you can’t remember that anymore. You are all grown-up now.
So that is why I propose we ban all books.
-You can’t read books about witches, vampires, mermaids, dragons, zombies and any mythical creature you can think of. How are you supposed to connect with any of those?
-You can’t read books about princesses, princes, kings, queens, because how on earth are you ever going to understand their lives?
-You can’t read books about war and soldiers, because you are save sitting in your house and you can’t possible feel how they feel.
-You can’t read classics, because you’ve never been in that era.
-You can’t read historical books for the same reason.
-You can’t read books about characters older than you, because you don’t have the ‘mature insight that fits that age.’
-You can't read books about people with your age when it's not about something you've experienced.
-You can’t read about super hero’s, because we can’t fly, shoot spider webs from our wrists or become invisible.
-You can’t read comics, just because.
-You can’t read a bedtime story to your children anymore. Be ashamed of yourself, for reading a book out loud meant for little children!
So let’s make it easy and just say that you can’t read anymore.
(I do sincerely hope that you guys understand this is sarcastic. This is the only way I could reply to this crap. I tried to find words to write down my thoughts and feelings, but I can't find those. I'm mad and saddened that there are people out there who think like this. You should never ever ever ever be ashamed of the things you like and I don't get why some people make such an effort to tell you otherwise.)
