In a recent post, I ended by praising Oprah for choosing award-winning, challenging fiction for her Book Club. But I couldn’t help but think of those avid readers who simply do not care for Oprah’s choices because they tend to be unsettling and do not always end on an optimistic note. I remember her answer to those readers who really wanted a romance – What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage, a story in which one of the characters is HIV positive and the leading man has a violent past. You can imagine the reaction from those hoping for a Nora Roberts romance! To her credit, Oprah has continued to choose quality selections that challenge readers and the public has continued to trust her recommendations.
Now, many readers are lucky to get through a novel a month — between the demands of family, children, spouses, careers, etc. — and simply do not want to be confronted with issues of morality and mortality when they finally do have a chance to read a few pages on vacation or in the airport. We each have different motivations and needs when we turn to a novel and escaping into a life more challenging than our own isn’t always what we are looking for.
At many a parent-teacher conference, I would console parents who wished their children were reading “quality” literature for pleasure. My perspective was… just as long as they are reading, let’s not make it chore. People find works and authors at different times in their lives to satisfy different needs. We need to remember that, “ Reading is not a duty, and has consequently no business to be made disagreeable.” ~ Augustine Birrell ~ Especially since for school-age children, reading feels very much like a duty!
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