Booking Through Thursday (barely…)
By Kristen on Jun 5, 2008 in Booking Through...
Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?
Hmmm… Good question! And I’m answering my Booking Through Thursday so late, it’s not even Thursday anymore in Europe! Whew… One of those busy, but productive days…
Honestly, I’m not sure my tastes have changed, but I hate to answer this honestly and run the risk of sounding a little… annoying? First, a quick reminder: I was an English teacher for fifteen years (high school) and will be again soon (online college). So I hope I can confess, without irritating anyone, that I think I have always enjoyed and appreciated examples of exceptional writing whenever I was lucky enough to be exposed to them.
For example, when I discovered Hemingway in high school I spent a summer devouring almost everything he had written — and then that same summer I stumbled upon Chaim Potok and read almost everything he had written. Same situation with Jane Austen and William Faulkner and countless other tried and true standbys.
On the other extreme, I love great chick lit and just discovered W.E.B. Griffin! I am just starting Jennifer Weiner’s latest and her character development is superb, as was Griffin’s. I cannot wait to spend Saturday devouring Weiner’s most recent foray into the psychology of a well-meaning mother and her perfectly normal (i.e. self-absorbed) teenage daughter.
I think I am blessed with the inclination to really appreciate and truly love writers even if I may not particularly like the characters. Which is why teaching literature was — is — such a good fit for my nature and disposition. And this is most likely why I enjoy a really close match (pick any sport!), yet do not have any truly strong loyalty to one particular team. I simply love being exposed to something at its best — whether a short story, chick lit, Russian literature, or the NFL!
So, while my tastes have not changed, my exposure to great writing in any genre broadens every week, and I am just so grateful to have the time and inclination to experience this…
I would say that sociology is a relatively new interest — The Tipping Point, Blink, Freakonomics, Ideas that Stick, The World is Flat — but I’m not sure if this is due to a recent rash of very accessible books or simply my ever-increasing curiosity in human nature…
Either way, game one of NBA finals is on… gotta go 
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Post a Comment