Confessions of a Mid-Thirties Teen Lit Addict
Before I got my first Kindle, I wasn't really reading what I wanted to read. The main reason? I feared being judged for my reading preferences. I LOVE reading fiction geared for teenagers. Why? It makes me happy! I love to escape to a world where I can revisit teen angst and escape the realities and doldrums of everyday life. Society, however, has banished these types of books into their own sections of the book store, literally and figuratively. If I go into a hip coffee shop with a hardcover copy of Twilight, I am going to be judged by the wannabe beatniks in the corner wearing berets who are reading Kerouac and Ginsberg. If I ride the bus with my paperback of The Vampire Academy, the business guy in the suit next to me reading The Wall Street Journal is going to have a chuckle. There is a lot of judging going on for what you read. I know I do it--and you know you all secretly do too.
Back in elementary school, I read plenty of Judy Blume and Sweet Valley High and loved every minute of it. In fact, if you were a girl in the 4th grade who hadn’t read Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, you were NOT cool. Things really changed, however, in high school. Being forced to read all the classics left no time for mindless reading. I had to read books that were suggested reading for college: Hemingway, Shakespeare, Dickinson, Plato… All of these were great to read at the time, but are very heavy. Once in a while, you just want to escape and read something fun, but high school left no time for this. In college, I had to read even heavier things: books about math theory, philosophy, lives of Italian Renaissance artists. I took a film adaptation class, so one would think it would have been a little fun; my subject matter was Holocaust fiction and film. I got to read Schindler’s List, Shoah, and Holocaust books entirely in French.
After college, I thought I would have so much free reading time that I could go back to my fun escapist classics. In my twenties, I started to do this with the Harry Potter series. Other women at work had read and recommended it, so it made it okay to read in the privacy of my home so I could discuss and be part of the crowd. Sure, a lot of guys mocked us at work, but there was a movie version in the works and I used the excuse to justify my reading choice. I never took the book out in public for fear of holding a giant children’s book. Aside from Harry Potter, I was stifled in my choice of teen lit by this fear of public social rejection. I don’t have children, so I can’t hide behind the excuse of reading it with them or to them. I used to consider picking up my nephews just to have the excuse to read a book to them that I couldn’t justify any other way. I could even anonymously buy these books on Amazon, but someone might come over to my house and make fun of my bookshelf. Pride is a dangerous thing. I was reduced to reading serious non-fiction that was supposed to make me look smarter that ultimately left me unsatisfied.
Then I got my Kindle. At first I didn’t know what to read. I was overwhelmed. Where do I start? What books are available? I downloaded some random non-fiction books out of sheer habit, but I ended up flipping through them, just like I did with physical books. Finally, a co-worker recommended that I read a series of books that she was obsessed with. The first book of the series was called Twilight. I downloaded it, got on the bus to work, and immediately wished there was traffic so I could read longer. I was on a crowded bus and nobody knew what I was reading! I could keep reading the entire saga and nobody would know what I was reading unless I announced it to the world. I was finally, thoroughly happy with my recreational reading. I didn’t stop at the Twilight saga. Throw in the Percy Jackson series, The Hunger Games--I kept reading anything aimed for the teenage audience with joyous glee and at a rapid pace because I could read on the bus, at coffee shops, doctor’s offices, parks, you name it. The Kindle has freed my reading choices and let me be a kid again.
--Amanda
Jen on 09/01/2010 at 06:04 PM
Can I just say DITTO! I'm in my early 30s and I'm finally OK with admitting that I prefer to read the YA genre. But I still feared being judged and usually hid out in my home to read them. I LOVE that I can read whatever the heck I want on my Kindle and not be judged! The Twilight Series, the UGLIES series, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Whatever! Now I'm just trying to find the good YA books I missed while I was hiding behind the heavy books that put me to sleep every night.
Ann on 09/09/2010 at 10:51 AM
I don't understand. And I don't want to be harsh, because you (and the preceding commenter) are obviously very uncomfortable with your choice of reading material and I think that is sad. I am concerned about you. I am a 43 year old woman. I am proud of the fact that I read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in 14 straight hours AND managed to cook dinner at the same time. I read "Twilight" and the others because my son (21 now) dared me to (I have a vampire phobia), but I was never embarrassed about reading those books. I read. That is what I do. Maybe I spend less time around those who feel they are intelluctually superior than you ladies do.
You are reading instead of watching TV or playing video games. I don't enjoy YA books, but many people don't enjoy Stephen King or Sandra Brown and I do. Be proud of who you are and READ!!!!!
Ann on 09/09/2010 at 10:51 AM
I don't understand. And I don't want to be harsh, because you (and the preceding commenter) are obviously very uncomfortable with your choice of reading material and I think that is sad. I am concerned about you. I am a 43 year old woman. I am proud of the fact that I read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in 14 straight hours AND managed to cook dinner at the same time. I read "Twilight" and the others because my son (21 now) dared me to (I have a vampire phobia), but I was never embarrassed about reading those books. I read. That is what I do. Maybe I spend less time around those who feel they are intelluctually superior than you ladies do.
You are reading instead of watching TV or playing video games. I don't enjoy YA books, but many people don't enjoy Stephen King or Sandra Brown and I do. Be proud of who you are and READ!!!!!
Kristen on 01/01/2011 at 07:57 AM
I love YA Fiction. I really got my love as an adult when I hit college. I was in a children's lit class for my major as educator. So one of my required readings was the first Harry Potter. It was great. I discovered that the books for YA are better written because they focus on the storyline more. They have to if they need to leave out the gory sex and language to fill the pages. Most of the time I feel people who are looking at you when reading these books are really thinking that must be a good book, I wish I had the courage to read that. Ever since college I read what I want where I want and I only get positive comments. I am a voracious reader and my house has so many books that I probably never need to go to the library or for that matter own a kindle. But I own one and love it.