Slate Thinks Adults Should Be Embarrassed for Reading YA
This article is making rounds around the internet right now, inciting various levels of outrage among bloggers. I'm not quite sure what the intent was, putting this out. But I think Sara Benincasa is probably right on the money when she calls it "clickbait" in her excellent rebuttal.
I think that YA can provide some excellent and long-lasting messages, applicable to both young and old. And if people are too stupid to get that you don't have to be a young adult to appreciate a moral or life lesson in a young adult novel, well, that says more about their intelligence than the intelligence of those reading YA lit.
P.S. I still (religiously) read Meg Cabot & L.J. Smith & Vivian Vande Velde.
#UnrepentantYAReader
I think that YA can provide some excellent and long-lasting messages, applicable to both young and old. And if people are too stupid to get that you don't have to be a young adult to appreciate a moral or life lesson in a young adult novel, well, that says more about their intelligence than the intelligence of those reading YA lit.
P.S. I still (religiously) read Meg Cabot & L.J. Smith & Vivian Vande Velde.
#UnrepentantYAReader
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Nenia wrote: "Aly∞ wrote: "Meg Cabot for life."Srsly."
Loved her Airhead and Mediator series... I'll have to re-read them one day
Aly∞ wrote: "Meg Cabot for life."*high five*
Keith wrote: "Poe's law?"I feel like this should be renamed "Swift's Law."
You know, because of that whole 'Modest Proposal' thing.
Aly∞ wrote: "There's a new Mediator book coming out, Terri!"...Wait, what? WHAT? WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?
Nenia wrote: "Aly∞ wrote: "There's a new Mediator book coming out, Terri!"...Wait, what? WHAT? WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?"
Wohoo!! :_) *grabby hands*
Talk to me when I'm 90, and I'll probably still be reading YA fiction. Who is someone that tells us what to read? If you like YA, read YA. If you like children's books, read children's books. Is she going to rip off the children's and YA librarians out there who read this stuff AS PART OF THIER JOB?!! Grr...
I read that article on Slate the other day and rolled my eyes. The author is either pretentious or trolling. I find I don't really care which it is. Some of my favorite books are YA and I see no reason to be embarrassed about it. :P
Tadiana wrote: "I read that article on Slate the other day and rolled my eyes. The author is either pretentious or trolling. I find I don't really care which it is. Some of my favorite books are YA and I see no re..."It's like that woman who wrote the article trashing J.K. Rowling and all her readers.
Like, seriously?
They're probably besties.
Tadiana wrote: "They're probably besties."Frenemies forever!
Oh good grief, what a dumb article. If I have to start limiting my reading to adult books so my friends will think higher of me, than I need a new class of friends. That goes for my trashy bodice ripper books too.
Well, I LOVE bodice-rippers, and I don't read 'em in Kindle. I read 'em in public so I can show them off, and be like, "This the original first edition. You probably haven't heard of it."I think people who only read pretentious lit are dull, anyway. Variety keeps things interesting.
;)
OH for fucks sake! what the hell. Read what you want to read people. No body has the right to tell you what you should and should not read. Clearly people are so stuck up that they can't think why somebody would want to read for entertainment. Ugh. I love to read YA and I don't care who knows it. screw the writer of that article. He's an asshole.
she was skewered years before she was born:“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
― C.S. Lewis
Mary wrote: "she was skewered years before she was born:“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grow..."
great quote from Lewis. What an awesome guy.
I thought the writer of the article was a woman...?And yes, C.S. Lewis was a brilliant man. I don't normally like christian-fiction but his books are just so amazing. I feel like they transcend the confines of their respective genres.
the author's articles seem to be majorly religious based: "Her Year of Living Biblically", "Re-evangelizing New England", "A shunning in Seattle", "I prayed Myself Slim"....blah blah blah. Clearly she doesn't like YA just for adults, but young adults as well. Fucking idiot.
What a great quote by C.S. Lewis! I think this goes for everything really, whether it be swimming, playing, coloring, watching an animated film, or just having fun.
Willow wrote: "What a great quote by C.S. Lewis! I think this goes for everything really, whether it be swimming, playing, coloring, watching an animated film, or just having fun."I suddenly have the urge to buy a coloring book and a box of crayons.
Nenia wrote: "I suddenly have the urge to buy a coloring book and a box of crayons."I know it sounds nuts, but it' very relaxing and helps clear your mind. I took up coloring mandalas to help get over writer's block. This book I read, Around the Writer's Block: Using Brain Science to Solve Writer's Resistance suggested doing some right brained, creative activity (like knitting) for at least 15 minutes a day. It's amazing at how much I enjoy it.
If you decide to take up coloring though, I suggest getting colored pencils instead of crayons.
Oh! I think I saw you talking about mandalas earlier. I'll have to try that! They're so pretty.
It's a strange article, there's digs at 'trashy' books without qualifying what that means, a sneer at detective novels too. I hope it was posted to get a reaction because it's both elitist and ignorant of the wide spectrum of books in every genre.So caught up on 'adult' books, 50shades is an 'adult' book but personally I'd prefer some Harry Potter any day.
I was taught a joy of books, not to only read certain books. When Potter was at it's height I loved seeing so many non-readers picking up a book, I never thought 'what about Shakespear...'
Tadiana wrote: "I read that article on Slate the other day and rolled my eyes. The author is either pretentious or trolling. I find I don't really care which it is. Some of my favorite books are YA and I see no re..."Exactly. I read it several days ago, thought, "What a jerk," and didn't think about it again, lol. But then it started popping up all over the place.
I also don't really understand why anyone would care what anyone thinks of what they're reading. I don't read to impress anyone. You like reading Ulysses? Awesome. I don't, so I'm gonna check out this YA dystopian instead and we can all be happy.
Srsly.