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News & ArtsThursday, March 4, 2010
Books What "Real" People Read
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 2:32 PM
The Millions has a great post up right now in which Craig Fehrman goes to a Borders and interviews customers about what they're reading.
My first interview ended up being my favorite. Mary Anne, an older woman with red clogs and a kind face, tells me that “reading is a real passion of mine.” Her favorite author is Diana Gabaldon, and Mary Anne likes to let the TV hum in the background as she reads (or rereads) 10 to 12 books of historical fiction per week. “Books put me right in the moment,” she says. “The story, the characters, the period stuff.” (Dan Brown elicits an “eh”—he’s “outlandishly far-fetched,” in her nice phrase.)I start every interview by asking people what they read, coming across all the names the bestseller lists would suggest: Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum, Mitch Albom, Steve Berry and James Rollins, Stephen King (”The cheeseburger of American lit,” as one Borders employee puts it), Janet Evanovich, James Patterson, and plenty more I hadn’t heard of. (I confess to writing Diane Gabeldern? in my notes.) Bob, an older man in a grubby New York Giants hat, gives the same one-word answer to “What do you read?” and “Why do you read?”: “mystery.” Another guy admits he reads “whatever’s in the airport.”
I know from experience that it's hard to write about popular fiction without sounding like a condescending jackass, and Fehrman pulls it off quite well. This report is really well-written and informative, and full of glorious asides and fascinating observations about Twilight, Christmas shopping lists found in bathrooms, and how people choose the next book they're going to read.
1
I only read things that have been condemned by either the religious fundamentalists or the conservative right-wingers. If it's been condemned by both it instantly goes to the top of my reading list.
2
I like a reader who considers Dan Brown more "outlandishly far-fetched" than Diana Gabaldon, who uses time-travel in her books.
3
Hmm. That was an interesting post. I guess I never really thought about "what I read", why I read it, or how I choose my next book, so I probably would have had a hard time had this person come up to me in a bookstore.
I guess I mostly read non-fiction -- politics, research-based books (e.g., Gladwell, Freakonomics), ordinary people in extraordinary situations-type memoirs (Persepolis, Reading Lolita in Tehran). Almost everything fiction I read is recommendation-based from people I know (though I heavily screen these even -- my husband and I have the same idea of what constitutes good sci-fi genre stuff, but we don't like the same literary stuff at all) OR pop-culture vacation reads (Harry Potter, Twilight).
The last time I picked up a novel in a bookstore because it "looked good", it ended up being truly awful, so I haven't been inclined to just browse in a long time...
I guess I mostly read non-fiction -- politics, research-based books (e.g., Gladwell, Freakonomics), ordinary people in extraordinary situations-type memoirs (Persepolis, Reading Lolita in Tehran). Almost everything fiction I read is recommendation-based from people I know (though I heavily screen these even -- my husband and I have the same idea of what constitutes good sci-fi genre stuff, but we don't like the same literary stuff at all) OR pop-culture vacation reads (Harry Potter, Twilight).
The last time I picked up a novel in a bookstore because it "looked good", it ended up being truly awful, so I haven't been inclined to just browse in a long time...
5
I love science fiction/Fantasy, and while it doesn't get the respect it deserves there's always a huge section of Sci-Fi/fantasy books as big as the mistery section in every books store. Somebody's reading them. While it's true some Sci-Fi/Fantasy authors write "Westerns in Space", most make inteligent speculation on the human condition or social structures. Some of my recent reads: Jack McDevitt, Melissa Scott, Thomas Harlan, Terry Pratchett, Julian May...(and more) If they've written one good book, chances are all of them are pretty good.
6
I ask all my intro to lit students to engage in a similar quest - to discover what they read, why, where, when, etc...- at the beginning of each semester. My findings are quite similar. Roughly 70% of the women list Twilight as a favorite book. More than I can count list the Bible as a favorite book. (yes, there does seem to be some overlap here, so just accept that I haven't taken the time to do an official tally of responses). One student listed R.L. Stine as his favorite author (seriously, a college student).
What interests me more than judging students based on their reading habits, is the cliched responses they always give to why they read.
Why do I read: To learn about other cultures, to be prepared to participate in coctail party discussions and sound smart, to have a reason to tell skeezy bus people to back off, and because there are no annoying commercials or pledge drives when I read.
What interests me more than judging students based on their reading habits, is the cliched responses they always give to why they read.
Why do I read: To learn about other cultures, to be prepared to participate in coctail party discussions and sound smart, to have a reason to tell skeezy bus people to back off, and because there are no annoying commercials or pledge drives when I read.
7
Dan Brown is the fluffiest of non-substantive writers. And that's coming from someone who's currently the first Twilight novel. Seriously, Da Vinci Code took me 3.5 hours total to read.
I tend to read the brainy sci-fi for substance and trashy comics for fun.
I tend to read the brainy sci-fi for substance and trashy comics for fun.
8
@7: I find reading time doesn't mean much -- itt's the time following the book's completion. If a book has substance, it'll stay with you longer.
9
@6: I think that guy was fucking with you. I used to barely take surveys like that seriously, because I wasn't given enough credit or any credit to care in proportion to the time and more importantly, thought it required.
10
Dan Brown is disgusting. I couldn't read Dan Brown with food poisoning in my mom's bathroom surrounded by prayer tracts.
11
@8: Ouch. Before you said that, I would have said it had more to do with how I read the book. (Mine are mostly nonfiction.)
12
Honestly, what should people be reading? Should they be reading punishing crap like Dave Eggers? Literary books are praise by critics and reviled by everyday readers because style matters more than story. An author doesn’t deserve to be read, they need to create something that people want to read. I am not saying that creating a book for the widest possible audience is the goal. But people don’t need to prove how smart they are by reading a book by an author trying to prove how smart he or she is.
13
Please consider that the reason you have a hard time not sounding like a condesscending jackass is because you are a condescending jackass.
14
Hey, at least these people are reading, not watching "Jersey Shore" or "Project Runway."
And condescending jackasses who can't stop boring us with posts about comic books really shouldn't be looking down on anyone's literary tastes.
And condescending jackasses who can't stop boring us with posts about comic books really shouldn't be looking down on anyone's literary tastes.
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