With the start of class this past week for everyone has been doing the rounds of “introduce yourself and tell us what book you are reading”. I suppose it is quite natural given the bookish nature of the program that the question about what any one of us is reading at any given moment should come up, and it is fascinating to read people’s answers. Having worked in children’s books for quite some time I’m not all that surprised by how many people admit they are reading children/YA books; I am surprise at how many of these YA loving book people are discovering Harry Potter for the first time. I am also shocked by how many people admit they “aren’t really reading anything at the moment” (okay, maybe two people, but still, that’s a lot). I actually don’t know how to react to that, people like that just aren’t in my realm of experience. I start to panic if I’m only reading one book, usually I have at least two or three going so I can switch around based on my mood. I’m more likely to max out a library card (the most I’ve ever maxed out at one time was three!) than I am to max out my only credit card—which has an astonishingly low limit, I couldn’t even use it to buy my plane ticket to Tasmania the limit is so low (why would I need a higher one? it’s only for emergencies). I don’t understand people who “aren’t really reading anything at the moment”. I’m not sure I trust them, seems shifty.
The exciting thing about getting to pry into all my new classmate’s reading lists is that I unabashedly judge people by what they are reading (or not, if you aren’t reading anything, I just back away slowly). My judgements usually consist of something along the lines of “OH MY GOD WE READ ALL THE SAME BOOKS! WE SHOULD BE BEST FRIENDS!” or “Twilight? ewww! Are you reading that ironically or do you really like sparkly vampires?”. And the flip side is, I fully expect people are judging me by what I’m reading. I assume other people look at what I’m reading on the train or the airplane or in the coffee shop and judge me, just a little, by my book. I take it for granted people think “Oh my god, she’s reading that? ewww!” or “hey, I loved that book! she must be cool”. But even more than judging people by what they are reading I judge them by what they say about what they’re reading. The thing that get’s the most respect from me (even if you are choosing to read A Clockwork Orange for Children*) is having an opinion about the book: good, bad, mediocre, I don’t care as long as you’re forming some sort of judgement about whatever you’re reading.
I very clearly remember a conversation from several years ago with a friend of a friend about what he was reading at the time. I’d gone to a pub to see my friend’s band play and was introduced to this guy whose name I have since forgotten who was reading a book while waiting for the band to set up. The conversation went like this:
Me: What are you reading?
The Pretentious Git: Oh, you know, Catcher in the Rye, by Salinger.
Me (not judging yet): Oh, neat. Are you liking it?
TPG (looking at me like I’m possibly stupid): Uhh, it’s Salinger.
Me (starting to judge a little but trying to be nice): Ok, have you read it before? What do you like about it?
TPG (looking at me like I’ve just admitted to enjoying eviscerating kittens): Well, it’s SALLLLINGERRRR.
At this point he stopped talking to me, turned around and kept reading. I don’t think he ever actually turned the page and the book was angled a bit too high up for comfortable reading, but just the right way for everyone in pub to see what book he had. Also, at this point, I got pretty judgemental and promptly renamed him The Pretentious Git.
See, the problem wasn’t that he was reading Salinger it was that he couldn’t articulate what he thought about it (I still don’t know if he liked it, but I know he knows who wrote it). I have far more respect for someone reading Fifty Shades of Grey (even though the writing is poor and there are much better books out there if you’re into that kind of thing) if they can give me a reason for reading it beyond projecting some persona to world. TPG was clearly reading SALLLLINGERRRR because, in his mind, it presented whatever image he wanted to present; unfortunately for his carefully constructed image of himself, his inability to even tell me whether or not he was enjoying the book presented an much more asinine persona than he probably intended.
*actual title of a manuscript I received while interning in the editorial department at a publisher. Yes, it was exactly what it sounds like.
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