Don’t Believe The Hype, But Don’t Dismiss It Either
Posted by meredith on 11-25-2008
I admit it. When books get crazy, mainstream BIG (not naming any names here), I can’t help but shy away. Okay fine. Run away. Hide. Cover my ears and shake my head and refuse to do what I’m told. Please, please don’t berate me with angry comments about how I don’t know what I’m missing. I do. Just keep reading.
Obviously, I’m not the only one with this fight-or-flight instinct. In fact, just now, after hearing me describe this post a friend sent a recent Jezebel piece on how common this tendency actually is. Among teens. Yeah, that part stung a bit. As if what I was feeling and how I reacted was somehow immature or unjustified (not saying that that’s an accurate characterization of teens, just reading the shorthand.) The author even invoked her own adolescent hatred of The New Kids on The Block as a poignant example of how she used to be subject to such whims of so-called “trend-bucking.” The takehome point being that there was no point to the resistance; that she and the many others who defected were being anti for the sake of being anti. Which was all well and good as long as you were in high school and you were self-conscious about making a choice that defined who you were. So what about me?
While I do recognize that some of this is probably rooted in the same high school mentality that kept me out of Uggs and Juicy jumpsuits, I have to argue that there’s more to it than that. I think it’s valid to separate yourself from the mass hysteria that surrounds a given book, band, movie whathaveyou. At least, for a while. And I guess that’s the crucial difference between high school-me/the teens described in the Jezebel article and the twentysomething-me. Back then when I cringed at the thought of boy bands (the second wave post-NKOTB) and Britney, I was only aware of my visceral response. I didn’t like them. Period. Now I’m a little more (okay, a lot more) analytical about things. The reason I don’t read books at the height of their popularity is not because I won’t like them, but because I’ve subconsciously prepped myself to only look for what I don’t like. At that point I almost can’t like it.
So instead of feeling like I have to weigh in against an overwhelming majority’s positive opinion, I wait until the heat dies down, pop into my neighborhood bookstore or library (another perk to this method: no lines, no waiting lists), pick up a paperback copy and make my own judgments. And who knows? Maybe those “secretly curious” teens are doing the same.
Categorized under: Books & Print, Books Freestyle
November 26th, 2008 at 11:21 am
For what it’s worth, I’m in my twenties and didn’t start reading Harry Potter until last year. Yes, they are that good, but I understand your hesitancy to jump on the bandwagon.
I think for me there’s also an issue of fearing I’ll dislike the book and think it’s really cheesy, judging its loyal fans by association. It’s easier to be able to honestly say, “I haven’t read it.”