First of all, there was the stand of Stephanie Meyers books prominently displayed at the front of the store, along with posters for the upcoming movie. Not unexpected, and I can deal. But still. Blech.
However, was this enough copies of Twilight? No, no, no, no, of course it wasn't, because when I strolled through the Young Adult section, there they were again: almost an entire case filled with the Twilight series, except for the last shelf, which housed the Eragon books. The book-case next to this was pretty much devoted to new vampire, werewolf, or whatever-other-monster-is-popular-at-the-moment novels that are riding on the coat tails of the Twilight craze. Do you know how many solid, well-established, Newberry-Award-winning novels must have been moved to the store-room to make room for this garbage? Two-book cases full, that's how many.
Of course, by focusing on this abomination, I'm entirely ignoring the fact that there are shelves upon shelves of those insipid Clique books or TTYL (a series entirely composed of text message conversation. Isn't that clever? Answer: No. It's not.), or their copycats. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you live a sheltered life and are extremely lucky. Moreover, this is the majority of the YA section, books like these, written exclusively for girls (What? Boys don't read anymore?). And this, my good people, is why Teen Girl Squad is such a true and accurate commentary on life. It angers me that our society throws out cliches about "being an original" and "think for yourself," while practically cramming shallowness, consumerism, and boy-obsession down the throats of teenage girls. Not to mention training an entire readership to devour nothing but chick-lit for the rest of their adult life.
I fear for the youth of our nation.
Remember that quote from You've Got Mail? "I've heard him compare his bookstore to a Price Club, and the books in it to cans of olive oil." What bothers me most is that bookstores, publishing companies, and writers (I'm not sure who is the most guilty) all seem to be conspiring to push certain books on the public, to create these crazes. But books are not cans of olive oil, and I hate it that places like Borders basically tell their consumers what to buy, and that the public actually listens. For goodness' sake, Be Original. Think for Yourself. The question is, would these books be so popular if they didn't take up half the store? I guess it's possible, but I seriously doubt it. It is as if supply is creating demand, not the other way around.
So. I have a plan. Since the general public is so fond of being told what to read, can we start a literary oligarchy? Pleeeeease? Who's with me? Keep in mind that this would be a merit-based system, so you can only join if you can provide plausible evidence of good taste. Read the title of this post for the first qualification.
3 comments:
Obviously, we need to write a plethora of our own books and take back the bookstores for the literature enthusiasts. I seriously don't know what's wrong with the world. Every time someone reads Twilight, God kills a kitten. Please folks. Think of the kittens.
I feel your pain, Jenny. I feel your pain! *sigh* Though I do not have an absolute hate for Twilight as you both do, I still think it is really lame and totally boring, cliche, and stupid. (I hate Eragon worse, though!) I think everyone is to blame, consumers, writers, publishers, sellers, etc. Consumers demand stuff like Twilight or the TTYL books (yes, unfortunately I know what those are! ugh!), and some one has to supply them. Then in some weird twilight zone, no pun intended hehe, things get mixed up and you don't know if it is the supply creating the demand or vice versa. As Obiwan Kenobi would say, who is more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him? Really, what it comes down to, though, is low standards. You should read this book called Do Hard Things, by Joshua Harris's brothers (you know the guy who made I Kissed Dating Good-bye). They wrote the book for teens, but I think it applies to all people and they talk about one of the main roots of the problems with society. How come back in the day people had so much more going for them? They were well learned, well rounded, did hard work without complaing, met life with a stiff upper lip, understood the art of conversation and the English language, and were all in all much better educated than people today. It is because they had higher expectations, higher standards than we do today. Why should our young people read anything other than text message books, chick lit, and the latest craze when no one expects them to do anything else? If our authority structure actually demanded more of our youth we would see more happening, but they don't. So we see the decline of society in all forms, literature being only one of many. Really you should check out their book. God has really given the Harris family wisdom and discernment in many matters. :-)
As for a literary oligarchy, I'm in! Hehe! I think my resume of good taste and judgement speaks for itself. *smirk*
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