Embarassed to be Carting Around a Hardcover Book?

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Do you know how many people do not know how to read? Reading is a ticket to knowledge and thus wealth. To see the gift of reading wasted to read this kind of rubbish is sad. I can not imagine someone from my homecountry, I am half Senegalese, to read this kind of trash and brag about it.

But different folks...

Yes, reading leads to knowledge; that goes without saying, but, sometimes people just want to have fun and be entertained. As a grown woman, who has been reading for many, many years, I found the Potter series, (among others) to be just that - fun! Reading for the joy of reading should neither be begrudged nor belittled.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

To see the gift of reading wasted to read this kind of rubbish is sad. I can not imagine someone from my homecountry, I am half Senegalese, to read this kind of trash and brag about it.

One man's trash is another's treasure. And as horrid as I feel some of the new vampire romance, girl clique and "thrillers" are, I'd still rather see a teenager reading about vapid glittering vampires and socialite backstabbers than watching them on TV. There is a certain degree of vocabulary building and reading comprehension that happens no matter how subjectively bad a book is.

I grew up reading classics, but I am well aware that what I was reading at 8 would have been too advanced for many of my peers. I think that the same thing can be transferred to adult readers. I have the patience, vocabulary and literary skill to sit down and enjoy the new translation of War and Peace. My partner doesn't, but enjoys classic science fiction and fantasy (Bradbury, Tolkien, etc). So I am still usually going to come down on the side of just being glad to see people read, even if it something I'd not touch with a ten foot pole.

[fruiter]

I don't really mind - a book is a book, and so long as the book is interesting, I don't have an opinion on this.