Please, Keep Reading!

When I taught third grade, one of my goals every year was to get my kids to read more. To this end, I scheduled 20 minutes every day for the class to read. I had a classroom library where kids could find a good book to read. As homework, I also required that they read for one hour over the week-end. The parents loved this. Some of the kids loved this.

Some kids did not love this. They weren't big readers, so sitting for 20 whole minutes with nothing to do but read was torture. They'd squirm. They'd fidget. There was sighing. There was eye rolling. I told them they had to find something to read, something they'd enjoy reading. They could get a book from the classroom library, they could read a comic book or a magazine. But they had to be reading for those 20 minutes.

I had the philosophy that getting kids to read anything, even if it wouldn't be my first choice of reading material for them, was a good thing. They could get into the practice of reading and later we could work on the quality of their reading material.

As the year progressed, even these reluctant readers would settle in and read. They even started liking it.

When Harry Potter came out, even though I was no longer teaching, I was thrilled. This series got kids reading, and reading a lot. Talking about the books and the characters. But mostly it got kids wanting to read more. Rowling did an excellent job in creating a magical world, and kids devoured it.

And then there was Twilight. Yes, people (often young girls) were reading, and reading and rereading these books, so I should have been happy, right? Kids were reading.

But Bella is such a poor protagonist. She broods. She pines. She puts her life on hold to wait for Edward. "I love him. I know he's dangerous and loving him could hurt me, but I love him." bleah.

And now there is the 50 Shades of Grey craze. People are reading. Lots of people are reading.

People come into the bookstore for the first time ever (they tell us this) looking for this book. People for whom this will be the first book they've purchased (they tell us this too) and the only book they purchase - unless, of course, they buy the rest of the series.

Is this a good thing?

Here again, people are reading. So many people are reading this series. This poorly written, unhealthy portrayal of women and relationships is taking the country by storm. (see this article for a great explanation of why I do not like this series: http://screencrush.com/50-shades-of-grey-movie/)

What bothers me is that so many of the people reading 50 Shades of Grey are not readers. And they are adults. This is their only idea of a literary romance. This is their idea of a good book.

My previous philosophy would hope that people might get started reading, even if they are reading books I think are rather less than good quality.

I really hope that people reading 50 Shades of Grey keep reading. I sincerely hope that this series is not their only vision of a literary relationship.

I hope that they get other ideas of what a relationship is. How about David Levithan's LOVER'S DICTIONARY? Or John Green's THE FAULT IN OUR STARS? Or THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger? Or WUTHERING HEIGHTS? Or LOVE STORY by Erich Segal? Or STARDUST by Neil Gaiman? Or even, though his books are pretty sweet for me, Nicholas Sparks?

What other literary romances do you hope that people read?

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Katniss vs. Bella

An Asian woman, shoulder length curly black hair, came to the register with her 2 daughters, and placed THE HUNGER GAMES on the counter.

       

I smiled when I saw it. "This is so good," I said. "Is this for you?", I asked the older daughter, who looked about 15.

"No," the mother said. "It's for this one," she said, pointing to her younger daughter. "Is it appropriate for her? She's in fifth grade, she's 11."

"Well, it is pretty intense." I paused. "Do you know what it's about?"

"No, I have no idea," the mother said.

"It's set in the future and the Hunger Games are a competition where they choose teenagers to compete. The teenagers fight to the death. There is only one survivor. There is a fair amount of violence."

The older daughter, curling her lip, said, "She's already read BREAKING DAWN," as though that covered all the violence and intensity she might ever encounter in a book.

       

Looking at the younger daughter, I said, "THE HUNGER GAMES is pretty intense, it's really good, though. Are your friends reading it?"

She nods her head.

I turned to the mother, "It might be pretty intense, though she may have to read it in school at some point. Quite a few classes and schools are now having it as required reading. There is a lot to talk about in these books. It would be a really good one for you to discuss with her."

I continued, "Also, one thing I really like about THE HUNGER GAMES is that Katniss, the main character, is a strong female. Not just strong physically, though she is that too, but strong in character." Alluding to the older daughter's BREAKING DAWN reference, I said, "She's a lot different than Bella in the Twilight series. I think Katniss is a much better literary role model than Bella."

The older daughter crossed her arms and looked away, clearly not in agreement with me.

Looking at the younger daughter I said, "I hope you enjoy it!"

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Vampires Everywhere!

Bram Stoker started it. Anne Rice got it going. Stephanie Meyer hit a nerve. Charlaine Harris is working it in books and on the small screen. It seems as though everyone is jumping on the vampire bandwagon.

               

Evidently, it hasn't been enough for vampires to have their own books and plotlines. Lately writers have wanted to augment books that are already written. Augment, that is, with vampires, and other fiendish creatures. Seth Grahame-Smith started with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Grahame-Smith's qualifications are delightfully impeccable. From the back cover of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...

"Jane Austen is the author of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and other masterpieces of English literature. Seth Grahame-Smith once took a class in English literature. He lives in Los Angeles."

                

Today the latest literary incarnation of vampires arrived at the store...a lovely hardcover...

                         

Using the original text from the Dick and Jane books, as well as the characters - Dick, Jane, Sally, Puff, Spot, Mother, and Father, the stories are the same, Sally plays hide-and-seek, etc,...however, in this book, a vampire is an added playmate.

No blood and gore here, these are preschool vampires, with just enough of a scare factor to get early readers interested in vampires, so they'll keep reading about them for the rest. of. their. lives.

A Day in the Life

A woman in her late 40's or early 50's was checking out at the register. She was purchasing a book in one (of the many) teen vampire series. She looked at the Twilight graphic novel displayed at my register and she picked it up. "How can you beat Twilight?," she said. I've been reading these other series, but none of them come close to Twilight. I can't wait for her next book, I love her writing."

A young man approached me at the Information desk. "I'm looking for a book to read, do you have any recommendations for someone my age, 18 or 19?," he said. "What do you like to read?," I asked. He said, "Mysteries. Thrillers. That kind of thing usually." I showed him Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders, which is supposed to be a good read. Then I showed him Chuck Palahnuik which, while he doesn't really write thrillers, his books do seem to appeal to people his age. "He wrote Fight Club and Choke," I said. "And he's local. Super nice guy, does great book signings, if you get a chance to go. My son has read all of his books and really likes them." He seemed sort of interested, but not really. So I moved onto Christopher Moore. "Some of his books are about something, like A Dirty Job is 'about' death, and Lamb is 'about' religion but they are really funny and kind of wacky. I recommend taking whichever ones you're interested and starting to read them here. If you like them, then good. If not, then they aren't good for you right now." He came up to me later and asked to put the Matthew Reilly book and A Dirty Job on hold, and thanked me for my help.
Satisfying.

A woman in her 60's or 70's approached me...
"The people they talk about on channel 48 have some books. Where are they?" "I don't know what channel 48 is," I replied. "It's Fox News," she said. "Ah. Well, Sean Hannity has a new book that's at the front of the store, but most of the authors featured on Fox will be in Current Affairs, arranged by author," I said as I directed her to the section. She thanked me and headed to the section. About 10 minutes later she approached me again, this time with a sheet of paper. Randomly written all over it at all angles, in pencil, were what looked like authors and book titles. "I'm looking for a book called The Ultimate Solution by Joshua Cooper." I searched and searched, using key words, then exact titles, and couldn't get anything to come up by a Joshua Cooper. As I was searching, she kept saying, "Joshua. Cooper. It's Cooper. Ultimate Solution, by Joshua Cooper." I told her I was having trouble finding it, she said, looking down at her sheet, "Try this...The Age of the Unthinkable." So I did, and found The Age of the Unthinkable written by a Joshua Ramo.
So close, really. I don't understand how I couldn't find it before.

A co-worker came up and asked if I'd read any Stephen King. "The Stand," I said. "That doesn't help," she said. She said a kid asked her to find a Stephen King book that was blue and had a picture of an eye on the cover and it was about a ouija board. He didn't know any of the words in the title, and it was an old book. She was trying to google it, she was frustrated because she HAD read most of Stephen King, and didn't know which one it was. His books get reprinted all the time with new covers and new designs, which makes it really hard to find a book of his by the cover art, without knowing a little more about it. When I left her, she was still trying to find it.

One of the managers came up to me and said, "Oh, I hate it when people do that. They put books from one section in another section...this time they've put bibles and the Sarah Palin book faced out in the gay and lesbian section. Yep, that'll do it. There won't be any more gays or lesbians because they'll see those bibles and Sarah Palin books and change their minds. Yep."

A woman and a young girl were looking for a book about a particular dog. "H-a-c-h...and then something. It's that Japanese dog," she said. "Is it the name of the dog or the kind of dog?," I asked. "It's the dog's name," she said. A co-worker searched on the computer for Japanese dog and got Hachiko. The woman continued, "This dog met his owner at the train station every day when he came home from work. One day the owner died, but the dog kept meeting the train every day for ten years!" We did have one book about the dog, which she purchased. I looked up the story about the dog when I got home, sure enough, even though the dog was only 2 years old when his owner died, he waited at the train station every day for ten years, and died at that same spot. This was in 1924. There is a statue of the dog at the train station in Japan.
What a great story!