Comments on: Marriage Has Many Pains

By: Tammy

Tammy — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:01:56 +0000

I just found this blog. You all are my kindred spirits. Several months ago I had a book rejected for the RS book club because it dealt with the subject of rape (it was Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson). I was devastated, but I chose a different book, and in the end no one read that book or bothered to show up at the book club meeting anyway.

By: Emily M.

Emily M. — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:22:24 +0000

Pride and Prejudice!!!!

I’m speechless.

By: pollyjk

pollyjk — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:50:51 +0000

I had someone object to Ender’s Game on the basis that she KNEW the O. S. Card was an anti mormon. She refused to believe anything about him because she had read one of his books and was convinced he was evil. Really. Where do people come up with this stuff? Same book club also refused to read Pride and Prejudice because someone said it was full of “thee’s” and “thou’s” and therefore to hard to understand. Oh well.

By: Inexperienced Mom

Inexperienced Mom — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:35:49 +0000

Funny that Ender’s Game is such a bugger (no pun intended!). I chose Speaker for the Dead for our old group and there were major objections. The sad thing was that they were objections that arose before people had even read the book; they were based on what they had heard or the genre. It really hurt that people thought I would read the kind of book they assumed I was recommending.

By: maralise

maralise — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:01:25 +0000

The objection to Ender’s Game was about an occasional use of profanity.

By: Heather O.

Heather O. — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:40:41 +0000

Object to Ender’s Game? Because it’s about war? Wow.

By: Emily M.

Emily M. — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 04:10:15 +0000

Ender’s Game! Aaaagh! I love Ender’s Game! My copy is held together with duct tape, I’ve read it so many times. Okay, that’s a little pathetic, but it’s true.

So sad. They missed out.

By: Maralise

Maralise — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 02:20:18 +0000

For me, reading is the actualization of nuance. And in those nuances are where I find complex meaning and a better attempt at understanding. I think that’s one of the reasons why I rebel so fiercely against turning books into black and white. It oversimplifies the complicated and adult process of writing and reading into something that a preschooler can accomplish.

I just simply don’t buy into the concept that a good part of authors have a devilish agenda, that they are part of the vast conspiracy to corrupt us. And so my level of “personal accountability” comes from that basic premise.

Where my empathy needs to widen (and where my essay is admittedly hypocritical) is in learning to accept that others work off different premises.

Deborah–how do you teach the importance of fiction in your class? What is its importance to you?
Emily M–Recommending books is so personal to me. I am careful as well and yet I’d like not to have to be.
Heather O.–Oh boy. My book club objected to “Ender’s Game.” And therein lies the beginnings of this post.
Rynell–I have an idea that will hopefully put the fun back in. Keep reading the blog…I’ll announce it next week.

By: Heather O.

Heather O. — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:32:52 +0000

Ever since my recommendation of _The Red Tent_ almost sent a few women packing from our book club, I always try to mentally review any parts of a book that anybody would find offensive before I recommend it. Even then, I am still caught by surprise when somebody tells me that I book I adore is absolutely awful (case in point: The Kite Runner).

I have to admit, too, that sometimes I get inpatient with women who tell me things like, ‘I won’t read adult fiction anymore, because you just never know what you will come across, and I don’t want to be offended’. I feel like that attitude can be limiting. I have, of course, come across some things in adult fiction that I have found distasteful, even to the point where I won’t finish the book, but to condemn an entire body of literature seems unduly harsh.

By: Rynell

Rynell — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:32:52 +0000

I also believe in empathy.
I too have felt the handicap of being an English major when it comes to recommending books to R.S. Bookclubs or even just other people. I was in charge of a bookclub that had previously only read religous books. I changed that right away, but I had to be so careful about what we read that it (almost) took the fun out of it. Hooray for literary moms!