BFTP: Reading incognito and revisiting childhood reads
Sunday, April 23, 2017 at 09:01AM Reading incognito
Women can now download electronic erotica on their Kindles, Nooks and iPads anywhere they want, with no bodice-ripping Fabio cover to give them away. Maureen Dowd, March 31, 2012
When I started reading on my Kindle six years ago, my wife must have asked me three times a day what I was reading. My standard response was always, "Porn." I don't know why she stopped asking.
I have a love/hate relationship with book covers. They've sucked me into buying a title many times. They are great icebreakers with your seatmate on a long flight ("So how do you like that Dan Brown?") They look pretty on the coffee table.
But at the same time, I am just as happy reading incognito. I think it stems from when as a kid I finished reading all the Hardy Boy mysteries and moved on to Nancy Drew, definitely a "girl's" book I didn't want to be seen reading. And as an adult it was embarrassing to have to go the romance section of B&N to get the latest in the Gabaldon Outlander series. It is historical fiction, not romance, I'd advise the store clerk.
As sad and troubling as these trials may have been for me, I think we all know kids in our schools and libraries who might read more, read more broadly, and certainly read more at an appropriate reading level, if other students couldn't see what they are reading.
Who want to be seen reading a "baby" book? A book written for the other gender? (The old rule of thumb is that girls will read boys' books but boys won't read girls' books.) A book that may identify a personal problem being experienced. (A book on divorce written for teens, for example.) Even books that are controversial or have strong political or religious messages, can subject the young reader to teasing or questioning.
We need to figure out how to get our materials into digital format as soon as possible. Reading on a digital reader will remove stigmas that may well discourage reading.
Oh, Ms Dowd, I'm guessing it's not just women who are downloading erotica to their Nooks. I a little suprised B&N didn't call it the Nook-E.
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Revisiting Childhood Reads
On the evening before our departure I saw them approaching along one of the great avenues which lead into the plaza from the east. I advanced to meet them, and telling Sola that I would take the responsibility for Dejah Thoris' safekeeping, I directed her to return to her quarters on some trivial errand. I liked and trusted Sola, but for some reason I desired to be alone with Dejah Thoris, who represented to me all that I had left behind upon Earth in agreeable and congenial companionship. There seemed bonds of mutual interest between us as powerful as though we had been born under the same roof rather than upon different planets, hurtling through space some forty-eight million miles apart.
That she shared my sentiments in this respect I was positive, for on my approach the look of pitiful hopelessness left her sweet countenance to be replaced by a smile of joyful welcome, as she placed her little right hand upon my left shoulder in true red Martian salute.
"Sarkoja told Sola that you had become a true Thark," she said, "and that I would now see no more of you than of any of the other warriors."
"Sarkoja is a liar of the first magnitude," I replied, "notwithstanding the proud claim of the Tharks to absolute verity."
Dejah Thoris laughed. (from A Princess of Mars)
It's always interesting revisiting favorite books from one's misspent youth. In anticipation of seeing the new John Carter movie, I re-read Edgar Rice Burrough's A Princess of Mars on which the movie is based*. I found it surprisingly more enjoyable that I had guessed I would. While the language is stilted and rather Victorian in tone and style, it's action scenes are suspenseful and frequent.
What kind of junior high kid reads books with complex sentences and vocabulary like countenance, verity, and congenial? Who'd read a book in which the heroine is always referred to by both first and last names (Dejah Thoris)? (Or maybe this the Martian equivilant of Mary Ann or Cathy Jo.) I also remember voluntarily reading Gulliver's Travels, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Three Musketeers.
Every time I re-read a book remembered fondly from childhood, I'm a bit awed by the text I needed to deconstruct. And while I've always like to read, I was never considered "gifted and talented." I suspect my teachers had a stamp made that read "Does not live up to potential" that was passed from grade to grade as I moved through school.
I've worried for a long time about how we use technology to "teach" reading. Reading text online and then taking trivia-based multiple guess questions has to be a passion killer for tons of kids. And I've seen first hand as a librarian how the child who can't decode "cat" in the reading primer, does just fine with "carburetor" in Hot Rod magazine.
Reading instruction would improve with fewer computer programs and more kids reading about what they love. Even Martian princesses.
* Free download in lots of places on the web including Project Gutenberg, Amazon, and GoogleBooks.
Reader Comments (2)
Doug love the idea of reading incognito but have to say, it is print books that fly off of our shelves. We can't move ebooks. And we have plenty of boys reading. Will think about this more and see if we can think of a way to get those ebooks moving because I definitely see the value of being incognito. Heck I read Lady Chatterly's Lover with a brown paper bag cover over it!
Hi Deb,
I have hear similar observations from many teachers and librarians. I wonder if the quality and quantity of our ebook collections have something to with this? I know we stress acquiring nonfiction and research materials in e-book formats but buy popular fiction in print.
Doug