Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Whats up with book snobs?

I hate book snobs.

My Dad always tells people how I was slow to learn to read. I couldn't get it. Then one day I just started reading and never stopped. First it was The Babysitters Club, Boxcar Children, Goosebumps, Fear Street, Thoroughbred Series, The Saddle Club, Sweet Valley High, I loved them all. Betty and I read Gone With The Wind together in 3rd grade because people told us we couldn't. The book was practically as big as us. Books were always special to me and with an older brother, I read his books as well as mine. From R.L. Stine to Kurt Vonnegut, I love all books. My shelves are filled with Vonnegut next to vampires, romance, and Holden Caulfield. Do not judge. If you do, I hate you.

I'm lucky that I not only love to read but read very fast with high comprehension. I remember almost everything I read, what page something is on, little details. I own hundreds of books and I reread them frequently. If I find a word I missed or a sentence, I get excited. I also hate typos and spelling mistakes and wonder why if I can find it, the editor couldn't. Reading a book at different times in my life has made me look at characters different and get different things form the book.

That's probably why I fall in love with the characters in my books. Who wouldn't want an Edward Cullen, Harry Potter, Ender Wiggin, Mr. Darcy, and of course, a Holden Caulfield? I wanted to best friends with Alice Mckinley, Scout and Jem, and Franny and Zooey. I wanted to babysit and ride horses and have a secret club. I read chick lit (although not a huge fan to be honest but some like Meg Cabot's Every Boy series are wonderful). I love Stephanie Plumb and Oskar Schell even though they come form 2 extremely different writing styles.

When people call Twilight trash and compare it to Harry Potter, I get upset. No one said that all books are equal in terms of writing style and technique but do they have to be? I love both the series and hey, J.K. Rowling's is supremely talented and has a way with words like a snake charmer. Stephanie Meyers might not have the best skills but she has created characters millions of people fall in love with. No shame in her game.

I get involved in what I read and I hate reaching the last page, especially when there are usually not sequels to most books. I hate the characters not growing up like I am. Sometimes people ask me how I understand so well situations I haven't been in but I feel like I have because I've read about them.

I am the girl that, when a movie is coming out, always read the book before it comes out. The girl that gets so upset when favorite scenes are cut or they change the best part of a character. I read all the Sookie Books and want Eric to be just as amazing on True Blood as in the books (hello memory loss Eric).

Authors put so much into their works and when people look down on genres, well, I hate that. There is nothing wrong with loving romance and mystery and non fiction. Just because I like a good love story with passion doesn't mean I can't appreciate short stories by Chuck Palahniuk. I still read from the teen section and from the classics. I don't like when people name only famous authors who are "serious fiction" and think they are too good for anything else. And of course people who think fiction is ridculous and only non-fiction worthy of their time? I especially hate you.

I love how you can really get into a characters head and know them, understand them, love them. I am the girl who has a library card more precious than a black amex card. I scour thrift store for 50¢ books to add to my ever growing collection. Both my nightstands are full of books in progress. I read at least 5 books a week. I want a tatto that says "bibliophile". I want a man that loves books just as much as I do and who will read to our child, not throw on a dvd.

Every author started off as an unknown.

So book snobs who dare to judge...especially without reading what you're making fun of?

I hate you.

Love,

Veronica

{Also? YAY for Prop 8 being declared unconstitutional!!}

11 comments:

Ley said...

Veronica, I love you!

I was totally obsessed with the BSC when I was younger, and I desperately wanted to be as earthy and cool as Dawn was. I ate sunflower seeds and granola for a whole year before I discovered Harriet the Spy, and then I ate nothing but tomato and mayo sandwiches for years.

I'll read anything, and it grinds my gears when people turn their noses up at the bargain section in Chapters because "it must not be good literature". One: I got a copy of Catcher in the Rye from that section, easily one of the best books ever written. Two: I only paid $10 for the Oprah Magazine cookbook, that's a total win. I'll admit, I prefer Jane Austen to Meg Cabot, but that's probably because I'm seriously in love with Mr. Darcy (please, who ISN'T)and I've read Pride & Prejudice multiple times a month for ten years, and I'm still reading it (literally..I'm at the part where Jane is sick at Netherfield. Man do I hate Miss Bingley).

Every morning I almost miss my train station because I'm so lost in a book (right now: Atlas Shrugged. I can't put it down, even for Mr. Darcy), and people usually scoff.

Also: totally dreaming of when they bring out memory-loss Eric. So. Amazing. They should really just make the show revolve around him so that I can stare at Alexander Skarsgaard for an hour and have an excuse...

Jennifer said...

Say hello to your friends, Babysitter's club, say hello to the people who care. Say hello to your friends, Babysitter's club, cause you know that your friends are always there. (Yes I not only read the books, I watched the TV show and movie.)

I will read anything. Even if I don't like it to start out I always finish a book cause you never know, it might surprise you.

I used to love love love RL Stine. Whenever our school library got a new book I checked it out the same day. I wanted to move to Fear Street.

I also loved this lame-o series called Cheerleaders. It was cheesy but I ate it up.

I read every Nancy Drew book we owned (like 1 - 30). I read Anne of Green Gables. Little House on the Prairie. Chick lit. Drama. Mystery. Michael Crichton books. Everything I could get my hands on.

Now I love Jodi Picoult and Wally Lamb. I did read Twilight but I'm a little too old to be all twi-hard Team Edward.

This comment is freaking long but once I get talking about books I guess its hard to stop.

Andygirl said...

I'm a teensy bit of a book snob, but I don't think it's in the way you described. I just happen to like what I like and if I don't like it then I hate it and everyone else should hate it too. like that.

myuncensoredlife said...

I used to love love love BSC when I was little. and Sweet Valley Twins. And wasn't there a babysitter's little sister series too?! Oh man, the good ol days! I'm right along with ya though and I read anything I can get my hands on. I always did when I was little too but I didn't have a brother to steal guy books from I just had to sneak them away from the library!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, I relate to you so much. Not only have I read 95% of the books you mentioned in this post, I hate book snobs too. I hate having to defend guilty pleasure reads, especially when I don't feel guilty in the slightest! Friends have made fun of my admittedly eclectic collection of books and I just shrug and revel in all the thoughts I have and the conversations I'm able to participate in. I think it is so important to NEVER be apologetic about what you enjoy.

Heather Taylor said...

I absolutely agree with you. There is no reason to ever judge a book by its cover or think something is "beneath you" to read. You might miss something just wonderful if you did that. PS, I still believe Franny Glass is my long lost sister :)

Linz said...

I read twilight... and I hated it. That being said, I have an English degree and enjoy long periods where I read Patricia Conwell and Nora Roberts nonstop (oh, the horror!)

Totally agree with you on the book snob thing- you should be able to get lost in a book without having to do mental calisthenics to understand it!

Linz said...

Oh, and thanks for the comment on my blog! :)

Anonymous said...

We are so meant to be friends. This totally resonates with me.

It's not fair to compare books across genres or to other author's works. Makes me crazy! I also read the book before the movie, hate it when certain books end, and love Eric from the Sookie Stackhouse series. LOVE. As in I'd marry him if he existed, even though he's cold and a vampire. I'm a night owl after all ;-) I read all kinds of books: classic, smutty, serious, fiction, non-fiction, happy, sad, dramatic and more.

Lena said...

On Babysitter's Club: For years I wanted to be Dawn. I even wanted to name my future daughter after her.

RL Stine: I hoarded Goosebumps like candy

Anne of Green Gables: Still some of my favorite books of all time. They changed my life. I am in love with Gilbert Bilthe. And I decided long ago that I will give my first daughter the middle name of Anne with an E like the character and I think I'm actually going to stick with that.

Book snobs: I think there are book snobs who were probably English majors (me and Andy) and just love good books. Then there are book ASSHOLES who are often professors or never-made-it or has-beens writers who just like to write about the woes of being so intelligent and usually have professor main characters to appeal to the other book assholes out there. Even Philip Roth became one of these. Exit Ghost? Stupid I'm-old-burnt-out-but-still-want-to-appeal-to-the-fancy-writer-men-who-smell-of-rich-mahogany.

Whew. Thanks for a wonderful trip down memory lane.

Jazz Stanton said...

Man, I had like a hundred Goosebumps books. I'm STILL big on reading. I hate book snobs too!

Anne of Green Gables was my shit too.

Did you read The Secret Garden? I think I read that like a million times...

Toodles!

Jazz

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