Shut Up And Read

Shut Up And Read Is It Too Difficult To Pick Up A Book Once In A While?

I like Amy Stewarts writing and I had high hopes for this article, but in the end was very disappointed in Amy. I love books, and I have always had a beef with people who don't like to read. I mean really! How can you possibly not like to read? There's so many wonderful and interesting worlds you can travel to and experience inside the pages of books.

I really thought Amy was going to talk about this in her article. Talk about what it is that keeps people from reading and what we can do to help literacy, especially among the lower income families. I was sorely disappointed. This is why:

First Amy says this: "Books require us to care about someone other than ourselves. And unlike most of the other media we encounter, books are not trying to sell us anything. Reading a book allows us to step away from the culture of consumption entirely." Which I agree with whole heartedly. But then, she ends up doing this: "The holidays will be upon us soon, and I’ll roll out my perennial plea to stop in at a local independent bookstore and buy books for everyone on your holiday gift list." Then proceeds to list several bookstores with events and asking us to buy the authors books at those events. Now, I'm all for helping out authors make a few bucks, BUT! This is an article on getting people to read, especially under privileged and she's SELLING us on books. She's doing exactly what she finds repulsive about all of the media we encounter daily. Not one single mention of the library. Not one! Unbelievable! If she wants people to read, especially people who can't afford to shop at Northtown Books, why is she not promoting the Humboldt County Library? Shame on her!