Reader's Choice

I came across an article about an article... the seemingly usual argument about books was the topic. Slate ran an article called "Against YA". The subtitle of the article was "read whatever you want. But you should feel embarrassed when what you're reading was written for children."

I'm not sure I understand how those words could come out of the mouth of a book person. Why should anyone feel embarrassed for reading? You shouldn't try to shame people into not wanting to read things that they enjoy.

I read lots of young adult books, it's mainly for work, but there's no point denying that quite a lot of them are well written and entertaining. The article says that YA fiction is escapism and essentially designed for instant gratification. What's wrong with that? People get stressed and their brain needs a break... don't pick up that easy to read sci-fi book... pick up that "acceptable" literary novel that all the sensible people your age are reading instead.

You can't generalise an entire group of people like that. Life would be simple if everyone liked the same things, but that'd also be a really boring life. Read whatever you like, whether it's because that's all you can read or all you want to read. If people are reading at all then it's an achievement.

Never feel ashamed for reading something you enjoy, life's too short not to have some fun.