against "Against YA" - or "Nobody tells someone else what to read...EXCEPT ME!"

[orangerful]

Well, here I am posting about how I have spent time examining my likes and dislikes when it comes to entertainment and now an article on Slate pops up and tells me that I should be ashamed for enjoying these kinds of stories.



This article has a LOT of issues. It sounds like that the author has only read two children's novels in the 1990s (YA Lit wasn't even a genre then), and A Fault in Our Stars and a few other Hot Titles...and this is the breadth of her YA reading list. Other than that, she seems to only read books that she has been told are "classics". And then proceeds to tell us how we shouldn't enjoy reading, and that she doesn't want to tell us what to read but, we are morons for enjoying "books written for children."

The label of Young Adult is a marketing tool, not a genre. It usually just means the characters are teenagers and the content is appropriate for that age group (i.e. deeper than Children's literature but perhaps not as graphic as adult). It has nothing to do with quality. Or reading level. It's just a shelf in the book store or library. And that shelf is open to everyone, of all ages.

Mark Shrayber of Jezebl has a nice rebuttal piece

And we all know the label of "adult literary fiction" has it's own issues.

But anyway, that is not the point. Instead of judging other people and what they read, perhaps Graham needs to look inward and talk about why she doesn't enjoy books labeled as "Young Adult".



I can tell you why I do not enjoy "Adult Literary Fiction". It's the same reasons I talked about in my previous post - many of them offer little to no hope for the characters. On page 1 of the book, the character is miserable. On page 700, the story ends and the characters are usually still miserable. This isn't always the case, of course. I love reading the comedies of Christopher Moore. Or Steve Martin's novels. I even liked Herman Koch's "The Dinner" which was pretty twisted. But for me, if the ending leaves me unsatisfied, I feel like I have wasted my time.

Now, for other people, perhaps reading these stories is cathartic. Maybe they have lives that mirror the lives of the characters. Or perhaps they enjoy reading about people with this kind of tragic existence because it makes them feel better about their own lives. I am not going to tell them what they can and cannot read (and believe me, I have the power. I'm a librarian and people ask me for book suggestions. I don't scoff or tut at their choices. I rejoice in their love of stories.)

Graham says that life is too short and there are many GOOD books to read. But I say that life is too short and if you are reading something you should enjoy it on some level. Far be it from me to understand why YOU enjoy a book. You are your own unique person, raised in a unique location by unique people...your life experiences will change the way you internalize the stories you read. How could I ever know how you will react to a story?





TL;DR - Read what you want. Love what you read. Embrace whatever genre you are a fan of and just revel in the power of a good story.

And if you're stuck for your next book, ask your Librarian. We promise to find you something YOU will enjoy.

Comments

[thekaiserchief.livejournal.com]

Read what you want. Love what you read. Embrace whatever genre you are a fan of and just revel in the power of a good story.


Couldn't have said it better myself.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Seriously, people complain all the time that "no one" reads anymore. Then someone publishes are article like this!

[bookishgeek.livejournal.com]

IMO you could argue that YA Lit started with The Outsiders, and that was the late 60s. It didn't get REALLY in-depth until the late 70s with Judy Blume, I'd say? But my YA Lit class was pretty basic in grad school and even though it's my forte/favorite, it's been a minute since I've studied it.

Either way, I get 90% of my book entertainment from YA. Fuck the haters. I just like to debate about YA roots because there is no "real" answer.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

OH you are totes right that it started with Outsiders. But I don't think it became the marketing machine it is until much later (harry potter era probably?).

When I was a teen, all the YA section had was Judy Blume and Christopher Pike/R.L. Stine...which was why I pretty much went to the adult section and started reading Michael Crichton. But, yeah, my YA Lit class said about the same thing. But in the article she mentions two books that I would never catalog as YA, even now! This hits on my same pet peeve for people who use "comic book" or "graphic novel" as a genre.

[pleasant-valley.livejournal.com]

Excellent post!

That article had me absolutely fuming. The author sounds like the worst kind of insufferable snob and I wonder if she ever gets any joy out of reading or just slogs through books that she feels makes her seem deep and socially acceptable.
I just hate this mentality that you should ever feel ashamed about what you read. Isn't is more important that you choose to and love to read at all?
Personally I read a lot of YA/children's fiction and if I didn't I'd have missed out on some absolutely beautiful and imaginative reads. Not all YA fiction is bad and not all adult fiction is good. What's wrong with just picking a book based on the premise instead of questioning who this book is intended for?

I'm a librarian and people ask me for book suggestions. I don't scoff or tut at their choices. I rejoice in their love of stories.
Oh, and I love this quote. You're obviously a great librarian! :)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Exactly! This is on the same level of the Science Fiction readers making Star Wars fans feel guilty for enjoying Star Wars books. It could lead to any number of OTHER books, shaming them now will not make them want to continue to read.

aw, and thank you. :)

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

But for me, if the ending leaves me unsatisfied, I feel like I have wasted my time.
Yes, this.

Graham says that life is too short and there are many GOOD books to read. But I say that life is too short and if you are reading something you should enjoy it on some level.
Also, this.

I've seen this article making the rounds, and UGH it makes so ANGRY. It's not the first time I've heard the battle cry of "stop reading children's books!" from a particular sub-set of readers before either.

Here's how I feel: "good" books are books that make you feel something. "Good" books are books that you enjoy reading so much you want to read them again the minute they're over. "Good" books are books with characters so alive you want to step inside that word and be their friend. "Good" books are books that make you rethink some of your previous assumptions about life, the universe, and everything.

These "good" books are sometimes classics. Sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're YA. And sometimes they're not. Using either of those categories--which are pretty damn arbitrary when you get right down to it--as a measuring stick for "good" is a mistake.

She's right about one thing--life is short, and you should fill it with as many "good" books as possible. It's a shame she doesn't realize how many "good" books she's denying herself by ignoring an entire category.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Here's how I feel: "good" books are books that make you feel something. "Good" books are books that you enjoy reading so much you want to read them again the minute they're over. "Good" books are books with characters so alive you want to step inside that word and be their friend. "Good" books are books that make you rethink some of your previous assumptions about life, the universe, and everything.

You are absolutely right about that.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

SO well said!

And one person's good book may not be the same as anothers. I know many people who love "catcher in the rye" and found it to be cathartic in some way for them for all the same reasons that I cannot STAND that book. But would I tell them NOT to read a book? No. Read it! READ THEM ALL!

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

haha--Catcher in the Rye is a lot more contentious than I realized before I entered the literary community. I read it once when I was a teenager (immediately after my dad forbade me too, because I'm just like that), and really enjoyed it, but I don't know how I'd feel about it now.

Anyways--yes! Read all the things!

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

On page 1 of the book, the character is miserable. On page 700, the story ends and the characters are usually still miserable.

So. Much. THIS. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at the back of a book to see "Marnie's eldest sister is dying of cancer." Joy. Or it's almost... meta, for lack of a better term; I read a really promising book that proposed to be a family/local saga of sorts, except... nothing happened, really. People were kids. They grew up. They lived. They died. Okie dokie.

On the other hand, in cases like that, I imagine it's that I was in the wrong age group. In the latter example, I don't think the book was supposed to be as much about plot as it was a bit of a swan song to the youth of people who are now 65+. And you know, I get that. But it also feels sometimes that the only books geared towards the, say, 24-39 set are self help books. We like reading too. "Clueless and pregnant" or "I can't get my shit together, if you call it small stuff one more time I will end you" gets old after a while. So can you blame us for sometimes turning to the YA stuff?



The label of Young Adult is a marketing tool, not a genre. It usually just means the characters are teenagers and the content is appropriate for that age group (i.e. deeper than Children's literature but perhaps not as graphic as adult). It has nothing to do with quality. Or reading level. It's just a shelf in the book store or library. And that shelf is open to everyone, of all ages.

Exactly. And I bet she'd be surprised at the classics that probably would've been considered YA at one time. I think I remember a teacher telling us a lot of Dickens's novels (believe it or not) were intended for families to read together. She may have been wrong, but when I think about it, I can see it being true.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

You know, I hadn't even thought about that. The books geared for our "age" tend to be the sex-in-the-city lifestyle or the baby-crazy stories or just not about me. They don't resemble my life, my desires, at all.

Maybe I am immature, or maybe my life just hasn't followed the perfect little path that so many adult books reflect (i.e. get married, get a job, have babies) so how can I identify with those characters and their feelings? I guess, in a way, I can identify with the YA protagonist who wonders if there is more out there.

Now that you mention it, in one of my Buffy Studies books, they talk about how Dickens was considered trash and too poppy, and everyone lamented that people were wasting their time reading these long novels instead of doing other things. And look at how many books on the "Banned Books List" are now assigned summer reading for high school students?

[howlin-wolf-66.livejournal.com]

Read what you want, but I do wish that 'Marketing Tools' would be abolished, and that products would be sold on the strength of their content, or use... An idealistic dream, I know! I would never buy a 'Young Adult' book (although I might read one) as that's imposing somebody else's decision about who it should be aimed at, and I no longer fit into their narrow little category.

Life is misery, with small bright spots mixed in, so if I want something realistic then I'd have no problem reading what seems like an honest interpretation of a possible experience.

... but yes, as you say, stories are great - and there are tales that speak to everyone! :-)

I do agree with your overall sentiment, but 'Young Adult' still annoys me... Let the writing speak for itself!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

What's worse is that the "young adult" label is not universal. Markus Zusak's beautiful book "The Book Thief" was put into YA in the U.S. because 1) his previous books were YA and 2) it had a child as the main character but it's during the holocaust so they felt it was too dark for the children's crowd.

Go to his Australia, his homeland, and you'll find this is an adult book.

Adult book clubs are reading it now, but you should see the confused look on these women's faces when I give them a book from the teen area. I have to convince them to read this amazing book, that is SO well written because some fool decided to put a Young Adult label on the back.

Age labels, genre labels - any kind of label really - are usually more hurtful than helpful. People see young adult, fantasy, science fiction and SNEER, and some amazing and powerful stories are left on the shelf because of some preconceived notion. It's very sad and as a librarian, I try to get people to overcome these biases when I'm give them piles of books to read.

[howlin-wolf-66.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, and good for you! :-)

[plumxxjam.livejournal.com]

My late Aunt Peggy always told me the same thing whenever I would start to complain about something I was reading, "Life's too short to read bad books, Dani. Stop wasting it on something you don't like." aka the best advice I've gotten about reading. There's no shame in not finishing a book or leaving it and coming back to it later! :)
/a topic for a different book-related rant/

And if you're stuck for your next book, ask your Librarian. We promise to find you something YOU will enjoy.
AND YES THIS SO MUCH. I do my best not to stop searching until I find something that has my patrons coming back saying, "I LOVED THIS. IS THERE MORE?!"

Reader-shaming makes me so angry. In the US, it's been said that we (as a nation) aren't reading enough and need to read more. If YA Lit helps people read more and leads them to figuring out what they genuinely enjoy reading and want more of, then leave them alone while they read or go get them a cup of tea to help them through their late-night reading session!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Some people read quickly and can tear threw a book that is bad quicker than I can read a good one. My friend Amy is really good at finishing books, then telling me how bad they are but she is a speed reader. Me, I don't have time for a book that doesn't grab me by 50 pages in. I have too many others precariously balanced on my desk, waiting for their turn to AMAZE me.

Readers Advisory is one of my FAVORITE parts of the job. I've made a lot of friends with children, teens, and adults because of how enthusiastic I get about books and reading and asking them the right questions (also another rant for another time...I hate when parents don't think to compare the stories kids watch on TV to the stories they could find in a book).

How are we supposed to get anyone excited about reading when we JUDGE them for picking up a book to read for pleasure?? I may not be a James Patterson fan, but you know what? People read those books in a matter of days, they had a fun story, and how can I begrudge them for that??

[twissie.livejournal.com]

I find it completely bizarre that so called adults can write and publish articles that make fun of other people's choice of entertainment. I grew out of that sort of behaviour in secondary school. Life is too short to care about what other people think of the things you enjoy.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And articles like this do not encourage any kind of conversation at all, just yet another person drawing lines in the sand, as though you can ONLY EVER READ ONE THING. Which isn't true. Readers read. They read all over the place.

(I feel like a lot of this is the internet's click based economy though. The more obnoxious the article, the more likely people will read it, get angry, pass it on to friends so they get angry etc.)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Read what you want. Love what you read. Embrace whatever genre you are a fan of and just revel in the power of a good story.

Precisely.

What's interesting is that this argument is never going to disappear. I remember when the #YASaves campaign started up because a woman claimed that YA fiction was inappropriate for teenagers or anyone to read, despite not reading the books herself and not understanding why teenagers and others would like reading certain YA books, also the countless times when people would say adults shouldn't read Harry Potter because it's a children's book. There will always be someone policing what someone should or shouldn't read due to their perception of "age appropriate." IMHO, these particular people who do that must not be any fun.

Any kind of snob like that, really, aren't fun. Not just for everyone else, but most likely themselves since they are denying a sense of enjoyment because they feel like they need to be "mature" because they feel that's what being an "adult" means, yet their policing and judging what others like and enjoy is the most immature thing ever.

[adam-0oo.livejournal.com]

When I consider it, I consider YA more of an all ages kind of thing. But I come to that conclusion with no research and not having read that much of it.

But really, read what you like, as you said. Any media has it's ups and down, different things for different people. Tv has cartoons and soap operas, documentaries and local news. Each of them fulfills something different for different consumers.

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

That slate.com article pissed me right off! I love YA! I read a TON of YA books. My best friend is a YA author! (Plug! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17341550-trust-me-i-m-lying?from_search=true) This is just another example of society's insistence on getting up in other's people's business and not just minding their own. GRRR. (Also, librarians RULE.)

[impalalove]

*APPLAUDS*

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

That article was total click-bait. There's nothing wrong with reading and loving YA books. Often they are more imaginative than "adult" books because they're written with a more open audience in mind. Every genre can have bad books in it, so taking the broad stereotype paintbrush out and saying all YA is bad makes the author look as though they're not really educated about the genre at all.

I'm a fan of reading whatever the hell I want to. I love YA, I also read adult fiction and science fiction and fantasy and graphic novels and horror and classics and biographies.... and so on. There's no right way to read and putting others down for what they are reading is damaging to them. The point is that people are reading and if they enjoy reading they may read some crappy books and then keep reading more until they get to the good stuff (whatever that means to their brain.) So many people read nothing because they "don't like books" and that's way worse than reading something that's not high brow.

I also love coming back to books that I read as a kid or a teen and seeing how much I've changed and what different things I take away from them.

[poniesandphotos.livejournal.com]

Wow. I don't get the mentality of telling other people what they should enjoy. I have super weird taste in books that runs from scifi/fantasy to dark literature to fluff with a quick stop in romance before surrendering to non-fiction. My favorite book ever is a coming of age/finding yourself story, but when the main character is in her middle twenties (with the addition of horses, aliens empires, and primitive cultures).

To me, a good book is one that leaves me feeling as if I know the characters, their desires and goals along with their fears. If I feel like I made a friend in the reading I'm hooked. Just as two people might hit it off or not I might hit it off with a book that another person hates. That doesn't make it intrinsically a bad book, just not to my taste.