Carrying books around is considered a marker of intellect, or being an introvert, leading to long, wish-fulfilling schlock urging guys to "date a girl who reads"--insinuating that girls who read are inherently more datable, not taking into account any of said girl's other personality traits, and/or that girls who "don't" read (even though it's almost literally impossible to get through life without reading at all, the literacy rate in the US is 99.3% or something, etc) aren't worthy of the reader's attention. This was meant to appeal to me and people like me, the readers. But it just dawned on me that that's kind of a shitty thing to perpetuate.
Okay, so aside from that paragraph being little more than an extremely run on sentence, I actually had a point to make in this blog (I was reminded of a Tumblr post that I reblogged a long time ago and got sidetracked, c'est la vie), going back to carrying books around. I finished TFiOS in a day. In the week or so since then, I still keep it in my bag like a homesick kindergartner who brings their favorite stuffed dog to school. I'll pull it out, open to a random page, and read for a few moments when I can find nothing else to do but still want to look busy. Looking busy is an old and valuable tactic I crafted in freshman year, when I wanted to sit alone at lunch without being approached by people. Not really a sociable maneuver, but it worked.
Just knowing that TFiOS (or any book--I will be practical about it and keep books that are assigned for English with me for this purpose, but this week was a special occasion) is within arms' reach is comforting in a way, going back to the kindergartner-and-stuffed-animal example. This is just a more sophisticated version of that, with the bonus of creating an air of scholarly demureness. I realize this was not actually about TFiOS itself, but I can't quite do it/my opinion of it justice coherently. Anyone else want to try before me?
2 comments:
I've taken to carrying around Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman. I pull it out on my lunch break at work and set it on the table and even if I don't read it, I'm convinced it makes me seem more... something. Interesting? Intelligent? Cultured?
And I'm holding off comments on TFIOS until I've read it a second time which should be by the end of this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to form something readable by then.
Deff agree with paragraph #1. Why can't we just date the people we like instead of drawing up ridiculous requirements? I mean.
Re: TFioS: this book spoke to me like a book hasn't in quite a while. I've already formed some thoughts about it, but like Alex, am holding off until I finish rereading it and find a way to articulate exactly what I want to say (which may be in, like, March... but it's chill).
Post a Comment