As someone whos just participated in the book list fad, this Huffington Post piece bums me out so much. Is it really that hard for Kleinman to believe that a lot of us love long, difficult, challenging books? That we even find them fun, truly inspiring and fun? That we love childrens literature, but that, for many of us, it doesnt stop with Harry Potter? That we keep going? That we dont, in fact, read to feel smarter, but to learn about empathy and humanity and selflessness? Is it that hard for you to believe this, Alexis Kleinman, that you have to call us liars? Do you feel somehow threatened by those whove finished Infinite Jest? (For the record, I have not, but why would I doubt those who say they have?) And, when you studied literature at Princeton, was there really nothing that spoke to you, nothing that excited you more than Gossip Girl? Seriously? Somehow, Im not sure I believe you. Somehow, I think youre doing something rhetorically that I dont quite get. But, for the life of me, I cant figure out the point you mean to make. Do you really believe that my list, and those like it, was meant to make everyone else feel dumb, really? Is there a reason youre calling us names? Because a lot of us got called names in middle school and high school, and now were happy, were happy in life and in books, and if you think that were pretending, were faking, were humblebragging, then you can think that, fine, but please dont call us names like liar and prude, because were done with that, as a society, arent we? Done with bullying? Done with name-calling? And, if you concede, as you do at the end of your piece, that fluffy books can be gateways into more serious literature, then why do you believe that weve all stopped at the gate, and why must you insist we loiter there, and not go in?
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 18:24:10 +0000
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