I Don't Believe In A Room With That Many Stienbeck Fans

[redbrunja]

So, for my editing and publishing class we had to write a letter about our personal reading and writing tastes.... and while a lot of people mentioned the trashy books they loved as children (seriously, I think loving horrible books is part of growing up), each one was sure to list the books they liked now, all of which were the kind of books you would never be embarrassed about to be caught reading in public (with one bonus diss at fanfic, just for kicks).

Which, given my genre tastes, made me really sad. Seriously, am I the only person who didn't grow into reading classy books?

This week's fannish5 :

Name your five favorite fictional kids.

5.) Bailey, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

4.) Wednesday Addams, The Addams Family.

3.) The Listener, Legend of the Seeker.

2.) Scout Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird.

1.) The Archive. (Ivy! How are you so awesome, little Miss Badass?)

Comments

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Psh. I think they're all liars.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I read clench cover romance novels in between classes at college. The concept of being ashamed to read something in public is alien to me.

I think, though, that a lot of people eventually fall into a pattern of what "should" be liked/preferred, or are even raised in that pattern.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

I think, especially in a class where people seem to want to be editors or somehow involved in publication (which the class title seems to lead one to believe) there is a certain... persona these people might feel they and/or certain books will project. As if liking "classy" books equates being classy oneself. I'm sure these people probably do like many of the books mentioned but I also think it might be a case of wishing to appear a certain way that no one mentions less-than-"classy." Ironically, I would think liking diverse types of books would make you/the jobs you look at in the publishing world more diverse to. But then, who knows....?

[lightprincess89.livejournal.com]

I remember being intrigued by the book Deenie by Judy Blume. I was in 4th grade and found it on the tiny bookshelf in our classroom. I remember finding it kind of cool and sophisticated, and passing it around to the other girls in my class. Looking back, that book was totally awful, and the characters were horrible to each other. I found that I was never really a fan of Judy Blume. Her mother characters tended to be dysfuctional people.

[tobu-ishi.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* Classy books? Often excellent.

Dissing on fanfiction to prove how cool you are? Not classy.

(Yes, a lot of it is hilariously bad, but what do you expect in a genre that's completely freely self-published with no editorial restrictions? The good stuff is worth sorting through the dross.)

[kai-lis.livejournal.com]

Classy books? What're those? ;)

My preferred reading material is YA lit and porn fanfiction, so ....

Meh. Folks need to get over their insecurities about the things they like. Either that, or try some new things.