Pop Lit

I’m a big reader, and I love sci-fi/fantasy books. But I’m getting pretty pissed at this recent trend of pop lit. It started with Harry Potter, which was poorly written, in my opinion, lacked real character development and was not well done. I mean, how many times can your inept teenage protagonist save the world?

Initially, my response was to shrug and say “whatever”—there are worse books out there, and there are certainly books out there that are far superior. But what irks me is the insane popularity. When someone sees me reading a fantasy book, they immediately ask, “oh, have you read Harry Potter? Which one was your favorite?” without even pausing for me to say “no”, as if assuming since I know how to read, I have read these books intended obviously for people who have only just learned how to read. Not only that, they assume I enjoyed those books.

It’s gotten infinitely worse with Twilight. There are a lot of books out there that involve vampires to one degree or another, and they do make compelling characters if done correctly. Every time someone asks me what a book is about, I cringe if I know I’ll have to use the word “vampire”. Even something so classic as Dracula causes the idiot next to me, who is apparently stuck as a fourteen-year-old emo girl despite being well into her mid-twenties, to gush about how much she loooooves Twilight and how it’s so great and what did I think?

Here’s what I think: It sucks. These books become popular because they are easy. Books that don’t become hideously popular aren’t worse than your childish, inane pop lit. They are frequently much better. Don’t tell me how I need to read Twilight because I’ll just love it. I refuse.

I’m too busy reading R. Scott Bakker or Jacqueline Carey, Douglas Adams or Brandon Sanderson. I’m way too busy with an overflow of great books to read. I have neither the time nor the inclination to be treated like I’m five by an author who can’t write as well as I can.