Musing Monday 11/24- reading phenomena

This week’s Musing Monday is well timed, considering my weekend.

How do you feel about wide-spread reading phenomenons – Harry Potter, for instance, or the more current Twilight Saga? Are these books so widely read for a reason, or merely fads or crazes? Do you feel compelled to read – or NOT to read – these books because everyone else is?

  The way I remember it, I read the first three Harry Potters back to back, during one summer.  When I came back to school, many of my friends had also read them, even had them on their shelves next to their textbooks.   It wasn’t until the release of the fourth book that I had a sense of New Potter Book Phenomenon, pre-ordering, anticipating, reading in one heady weekend.  And I don’t particularly remember the releases of the  first two movies as social phenomena, the way I experienced Star Wars screenings, or even “Snakes on a Plane” as a social group event.

Twilight is interesting, because my circle of friends includes so many people who eagerly read each new Harry Potter book, and watched the movies with hungry, but critical eyes hoping for faithful, or at least reverent, interpretations of the text.  As the Twilight fandom gathered strength and hype, I didn’t see most of my friends swept up in it.  In fact, there were several people making sarcastic quips, which lowered my expectations considerably. And I’d heard about the “sparkling.”

But I was curious to read it.  I usually do get around to The Virally Popular Book somewhat after the fact. I have a sense that Twilight-mania has been brewing for a while. I did not get swept up in the fandom, at all.  But I had a delightful time giggling at the unintentionally funny bits, and an instructive time trying to articulate why I wasn’t a fan.

I still think Twilight is potentially dangerous for tween and teen girls to read, because they’ll read it uncritically, without a raised eyebrow at Bella’s swooning antics, and Edward’s morose mood swings.  Edward’s a jerk.  Bella’s obsession with him isn’t healthy, even before it amounts to a death wish.

That reminds me… When everyone was reading The DaVinci Code, I had a friend  who’d spent a few years in the Jesuit seminary, and had extensive knowledge of Church history and canon law.  He was tremendous fun to read, and discuss, the book with. I read it first, realizing that the prose was awful, but I couldn’t put it down. I penciled notes in the margins (some requests for fact checking, but a lot of mockery of hackneyed prose or terrible plot twists) and then I handed it off.
My friend was indignant about the liberties Dan Brown took with Christan theology and Church history. It was great fun to watch him fume and scowl, excoriating Dan Brown for the many aspects of Christian history he’d warped for the sake of the plot. I remember there were a few nights we discussed the book, would say goodnight, and then my friend would call me as he was driving home, to add “And another thing I can’t believe he got so wrong!!!” And he’d be off and exclaiming for a good half hour. While his fuming was, frankly, hilarious, I did learn a lot. And appreciated the reading experience more because of it.