Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Read-In
As I said, I've been reading a lot lately, This can also be translated to the kids have been watching a lot of cartoons lately. I love it though, getting lost in someone's story. I was always the kid at school who anticipated a read-in like Christmas! I do like a good gospel book, or a self help book every once in awhile, but I really just love a riveting story. My favorite genre is historical fiction because I learn something and am entertained at the same time. I find that anymore, TV really bothers me. It's noisy and so crude and often, pointless. Yet aren't there books like that? Pointless? Books with 'scenes'? Should we read the books with 'language'? We can skip pages, just like we can fast forward a movie. For example, I think Nicolas Sparks is a talented author. Perhaps sappy, but talented. Many of his novels will have a 'scene'. Should you not read the book at all? What about 'Gone with the Wind'? I mentioned before that I just read that book and loved it, but heavens, that book must have been so scandalous when it came out! Scarlett marrying her sisters fiance for money, Rhett and his mistress's. And of course that book swears. It's what the movie is famous for anymore!. "Frankly my dear . . . " Do we sensor books in schools? Should Harry Potter be banned for all its talk of witchcraft? Another example, if you aren't already bored out of your mind with this post. I also just finished reading the Hunger Games. This book is found in the young adult section, which shocked me because of the violence in the book. Yet, come to think of it, there was no swearing, no real sexual references. References that seem to be a must in any book written in the last 15 years. But still, I don't know that I would want my teenager reading it. So should I even be reading it? Sorry for all these questions. I just don't have answers to them. Where visual media is concerned, I feel like I know where to draw the line, but when it comes to the written word, I don't know. How about you?
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5 comments:
Well I personally am kind of a geek about that and have wondered the same thing. My solution has been to edit the books I read...marking out the swearing, occasionally ripping out a page or two of a "scene"...but when I start spending more time editing than I do reading at any given time in a book, I usually decide to throw it out.
I love historical fiction too! Do you have any recommendations?
I have thought a lot about this since I read your post last night. I really don't know if I have ever read a book with a lot of swearing or a "scene". The only Nicolas Sparks book I've read is A Walk to Remember and it didn't have that. I mostly read classics or off of the Newberry List. There have been a few newer books that I've read lately, but usually they are for our RS book club, so they are pretty clean.
I just figure there is so much literature out there that is "lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy" that I don't want to waste what little chance I get to read on something that isn't wholesome.
Sadly, I don't hold myself to the same standard in the movies I watch. Dave's brother's family don't watch any movies that are PG 13. Even their teenage kids don't watch them with their friends. I really admire that. I'm not their yet.
I meant to say I'm not THERE yet. (I just can't let a gross grammatical error go uncorrected.)
I agree with you about read-ins being the best days of school! Do you remember our freshman year how Eagle Rock made us read the last fifteen minutes of the day? While everyone else whined, it was my favorite part of the day :-)
The post was very thought provoking for me. I hate books with sex in them. For some reason (to me) it seems worse to read it that to see it on a PG-13 movie. I think it's because I get more involved in books than movies, so it seems more real and worse to me. How I feel about questionable content in a book also depends on what I'd been reading before. I had just put down a book after only one chapter because I felt it was so inappropriate when I started reading Hunger Games. I guess I was just so glad it lacked all the sexual content, that I didn't even think about how much violence it had in it until I read your post.
I like what Alisha said about editing her books, although since mine mostly come from the library that makes it a bit difficult. I think, just like movies, it's important as parents that we know what our children are reading. And inevitably, our children will read or see something we find inappropriate for our families, but instead of censoring every little thing, we can use it as an opportunity to talk about these issue and being in the world and not of it.
Ok, novel over! Great post, you really got me thinking! Also, if you sign up at goodreads.com, both Kristine and I are on there and we can share book suggestions and review. And if you're already on there, find me and add me :-)
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