Book Shame

I did start to do some more writing, so little that it could be considered negligible, but it's a step in the positive direction. It's difficult because even if I had time, I have fallen into the habit of not writing and it makes me feel like nothing I do will be good enough so why should I even try. It's a phase I've been through countless times once I take a break for a few weeks but I will try to push through it and concentrate on just having fun with my writing. It will be the only aspect of my life that isn't being scrutinized and graded.

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As a child and merging young adult I always perceived adult books as being these sophisticated, complex hunkers of novels that would signify that the reader was mature and intelligent. It wasn't that I couldn't understand what happened in these stories, but the slower pace and the thorough analysis of characters' feelings and perspectives rendered me begging for more adventure and magic. I always put these books on a pedestal as being the true test of maturity and stuck to young adult or children's novels.

Since then I have read many adult books, spanning a huge range from fantasy and science fiction, to romance and adventure, to historical books. While I am not an expert in any means, I do believe that I have had enough exposure to properly see these books for what they are.

Just because a book is written with long words does not make it any better than a children's adventure novel. I have stopped idealizing books that are longer because I have realized that more pages does not equate to a better story. It took me reading adult books long enough to understand that there is nothing wrong with not wanting to read those slow, thought provoking books that make me antsy and impatient to move on to what I consider more enjoyable: fantasy and adventure.

But even though I have become comfortable with myself and my choice of novel, I continue to see shame being assigned to those who read novels that are outside of their demographic. For example, this article insults all adults who enjoy reading young adult books. I was quite shocked the entire time I read it and thought that they were actually going to turn around and admit that this was a satire because I couldn't understand how someone could sit at a computer and make judgements on how others spend their time. But I enjoyed watching this video contesting the article.

This kind of thinking persists like a dark cloud over the reading community. Frankly, it exists in all aspects of life. But since this blog is centered on writing and novels, I will try to keep my focus on how it affects the reading community.

It is no secret that I love to watch booktubers (youtubers who vlog about novels). Many of them are just exiting their teen years and are now becoming adults and it is interesting to watch them try to make that adjustment. Just the other day, one of them posted a video on the adult books that they wanted to read in an attempt to make that transition, which is one of the reasons that I was inspired to write about this subject.

We need to experiment in our reading, just as we do in every other part of our lives when we are growing up, and there should be no shame in the books that we read. If a seven year old wants to read memoirs of deceased presidents then more power to them. If a thirty year old woman wants to read about teenagers struggling through high school then I support her in that.

There is now a stigma surrounding novels. People scoff at the idea that there are those who enjoy books like Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey. There was even a trend on Youtube where people would attempt to read passages from Fifty Shades of Grey without laughing. I won't link any of them because I found it insulting that they would try to so publicly shame a novel. I know that the author, E.L. James, probably doesn't care because she is watching these people while counting all the money she has made, but this promotes the idea that it's okay to shame people for enjoying a novel.

No matter how much a person reviles a novel, there is a way to express that frustration without insulting others. People are allowed to read whatever they want because at the end of the day, reading is done for pleasure and if you want to read a book about two kids flying on a dragon, then it's your free time and you can do whatever you want as long as it is not hurting someone else. And do it without having to feel as though you have to hide it.

This post was more of a rant, but this is a topic that has been bothering me for a while now and I wanted to share it and see if anyone else has been annoyed by it.