Saturday 20 February 2016

Pleasure, Not Guilt

reading

No more guilty pleasures.

I refuse to feel guilty about what I read.

The other day, I stopped, I stalled, I hesitated. I didn't want to record books I'd read on my Goodreads - even though that would've upped the number-count on my challenge.

Because, putting it frankly... it was m/m werewolf porn.


moon
Felt the need to put a full moon in here... just because.
So I hesitated - I didn't want family and friends seeing what I'd read, because I didn't want them thinking I was weird (well... ship has probably sailed on that one... weird-er.)

(By the way, the reason that I don't share my Goodreads profile with you lovely people is that it's linked to personal social media accounts, and, knowing my luck, I'll be the one who the crazy mad-axe-murdering stalker decides to fixate on. It's just inevitable.)

So, did I actually add those books to my account?

Damn right I did!

I suddenly realised that I had to - because otherwise I'm sending a message that some types of books are 'worthier' than others. And you know what? That's simply not true.

Those books (Omega Beloved by Aiden Bates and Omega in Heat by Heather Silver - you can tell that I usually read a lot of fanfiction, right?) while short, and not what many would consider 'literature,' still had things to say.

And, actually, Omega Beloved in particular was very well-written, and gave a lot of scope for development in the further books of the series.

books on bedTo further fan the flames of controversy -

I've tried to read Possession by A S Byatt not once, but twice. This is a 'literary' and 'worthy' book that a lot of people flap on about and are over the moon for.

I couldn't finish it. I couldn't get on with it. I just couldn't connect; I found it too pretentious and wooden.

Would I say that, to me, the time spent reading Omega Beloved was time better spent than the time I spent trying to force my way through Possession? Completely and utterly.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't read things held in critical regard.

Quite the opposite. I'm saying people should be accepting of both.

I didn't like Possession - a lot of people did. To those who genuinely enjoyed it - good on you. It wasn't my cup of tea, so what?

And if m/m romance isn't your cup of tea? Fine. I don't mind. But please don't think there's anything wrong with reading it - or anything else, for that matter, just because other people don't.

Reading is the key part - and then, you can judge the book on its own merits, instead of on preconceptions of genre or style.

No more guilty pleasures! We shouldn't have to feel guilty about reading what we enjoy.

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4 comments:

  1. You should never feel guilty about reading anything. It's your life and you should be able to read whatever the hell you want to read.

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    1. I know! Normally I don't feel guilty about anything... but I caught myself feeling weird about putting these books on my Goodreads, and putting it off. Then I thought, y'know what? I read them. So what if they're about two werewolf dudes who like each other in a very physical kind of way (fans self,) they were better written than a lot of stuff that I wouldn't think twice about putting on Goodreads! :)

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  2. Oh girl, I know these feels. I recently read Stygian as you probably know - which is an m/m erotic romance and I NEVER read anything like that. Was I a little shy about sharing that with my usual YA blogger crowd? Yep. Was I shy about recommending it to my friends? Yep. Did I? Yes. Gotta be proud of what we read!

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    1. yes! If you liked/loved a book, you have to be true to that! Even if it *does* feel a little awkward/embarrassing - the only way to get rid of the embarrassment is by making it normal to talk about books that people normally won't even admit to reading

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