Ruth Sends the Wrong Message in Thoughts On...

I read an article yesterday that I found through some random twitter link that has a whole bunch of people riled up. Ruth Graham came down hard on adults (those past the age of 20 (rounding up) who enjoy reading YA or Young Adult novels. I read the article, even though it was long and didn’t include pictures (at my age you pick and choose what to spend your time reading) because I wanted to hear her argument and also because I wanted to find out something else (more on that in a bit).

She blasted the 30-44 demographic for reading and admitting to like the genre, which has taken great strides & is turning out some incredible fandoms. I never read YA when I was a young adult. To be completely honest I didn’t even think it existed when I was that age. According to Ruth it did with books like Tuck Everlasting. In any event, I was not reading those books at that age. I found Ed McBain when I was a young teen and from that point on all I read were his books. Every single 87th Precinct novel. I actually wouldn’t even consider other authors for a few years. I wanted adult books. I didn’t want to read Huck Finn and Romeo & Juliet (I didn’t even read them when they were assigned as I had a very torrid affair with Cliff of Cliff Notes). I wanted to escape being a teenager and look forward to being an adult.

Being an adult sometimes sucks. It took me a few years to catch on to the Hunger Games phenomenon, but I feel in love with Jennifer Lawrence and took to reading the book before I could watch the movie. I devoured the trilogy in two weeks (I read every line + I work a full 40 hours a week). I had a book hangover for eight months! I started Divergent after finishing Mockingjay, but I could not get into it. Then in February I decided I wanted to see the movie and I had to finish the first two books (I am always afraid they will slip something in from the second book). I loved those two books. Loved them. Then I read Allegiant and I couldn’t figure out why someone hadn’t taken a hit out on Veronica Roth. I was devastated for a week (I was also possibly suffering from a serious case of emotionality because I cried when someone just looked at me). I still might be suffering a slight hangover from that series as well. Trying hard to overcome it though…l am close.

The point is, I don’t feel ashamed because I liked two YA series and I loved the characters. Why should anyone be ashamed of reading? I don’t remember anyone shaming adults who read Harry Potter. In fact the author of this article failed to recognize Harry Potter at all, which leads me to wonder if she was a fan and thus would have been a complete hypocrite. Three things frustrated me about her article. First, shaming ANYONE for reading ANYTHING. Second, putting Divergent in the same category as Twilight, calling them “transparently trashy”. I did not read Twilight as the writing made me actually wish for a stroke, however Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Insurgent & Allegiant were incredibly well written (better than some “adult” authors) and the story was thought out and the world she conceived was plausible. Plus there were zero vampires & werewolves. Third, she NEVER stated what books she reads as an adult, other than a “very literary novel” Submergence.

I wonder what she thinks of the authors. They are adults, should they be ashamed/embarrassed writing these books? If so, who should write books for young people? I half think she feels one should have to present identification before purchasing a YA novel, to make sure you are not too old. All any person has to do is spend ten minutes scrolling through a Facebook timeline to realize that the world needs more people to read. Adults, children, teens, everyone needs to read. Our world is lazy. We have to shorten things to three or four letters to convey a message because we are too lazy to type out “be right back”. Elementary students are spelling “we” W-i-i. Getting lost in a different world is kind of what reading and writing is about unless you are reading non-fiction, textbooks, instruction manuals. As an adult and a person who considers herself to be fairly well educated and professional, I didn’t even balk when I told people I read the entire Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (I didn’t enjoy it, but I did read it). Hell I have read really bad fan fiction and admitted it (as evidenced by reading Fifty Shades).

Forget Ruth Graham. Maybe she has a bug up her butt because she hasn’t written a well-received book or YA novel. Love what you read and read what you love. Don’t let anyone ever tell you it is wrong or you should be ashamed. Reading is power.