Are you Pottered Out?
OK, before you pull out your pitchforks and beat down my blog door, let me preface this post by saying that I am a Harry Potter fan. I am not ashamed to admit it, and I actually think that in 50 years J.K. Rowling's masterful series will become a YA classic that is passed down from generation to generation. I love Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and all the gang at Hogwarts. However, Harry, is a grown man now and should have left Hogwarts long ago, but here we are in 2010 still rereading the books constantly 13 years after they first started being published and anxiously awaiting the last two films. I have to admit, I am feeling "Pottered Out."
Last week we talked about whether or not we would ever boycott an author we fundamentally disagreed with (I am not talking about banning books--just personal boycotting) and the prevailing thought was that sometimes we do fundamentally disagree and might avoid those authors, but we would never call for a full-out ban on their works. Some even said they would try to read their books to understand where the author was coming from.
There are a few books and authors that get SO much attention that I just sometimes want a break from them. Harry Potter is wonderful, but I have friends that ONLY read Harry Potter it seems like. They are either listening to it on audiobook, rereading it for the bazillionth time, pining away about how the film isn't out yet, or anxiously waiting in line for the midnight showing of the next film. I love Harry as much as the next girl, but it's like having a boyfriend who just won't let you have a night out with the girls. How about Dan Brown and his Robert Langdon series (you know...Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code)? I don't count myself among Mr. Brown's fans, but a few years ago The DaVinci Code was all the rage. Every time I turned on the television there was some show about Mary Magdalene and and the Holy Grail for it seemed like a few years!
Or how about the Twilight Saga? I'm just at the point where I'm ready for some of this stuff to fade into oblivion because there are so many other books out there! Sure these books have created readers out of people who scoffed at books before, but I feel like that burned out candle whenever I hear about them now. I'm just ready to move on and read something else. I really don't want to hear about Robert Langdon and Edward and Bella for another ten years. My brain might just explode as it's ready to do with Harry Potter (keep in mind that someday I WILL reread the Harry Potter books because I think they are fantastic, but it will be when the craze dies down). So my question to you Friday Coffee Chat readers is:
- Are there any books that you've really just had enough of hearing about because they are just too overexposed (even if you like them)?
- What books do you think are headed in the direction causing burnout for readers?
...and to Fiona from The Book Coop...you know I love you and you are one of my favorite bloggers so please remember this and give me a running start before you chase after me with the above mentioned pitchfork! ::runs and hides::
After you comment, make sure you visit Jennifer at Girls Gone Reading. This week for Friday Coffee Chat she has a guest post from Tanya Egan Gibson, author of How to Buy a Love of Reading. Her book talks about how a young woman grows to love stories after she initially says she's never met a book she liked.
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27 comments:
You know I am two-fold on that: I don't really mind the "gushing" about older books (wether I liked them or not) because it is not EVERYONE doing it all it once. It is almost like visiting old friends: aka anything not published this year. I think it is pretty natural to talk about them when a movie is coming out, ect.
Now, with new releases! We all love them, look forward to them, ect. However, sometimes I delibratly have to skip reviews/promotions for a new book because I don't want to be worn out by it before it lands in my hot little hands. There have been 2 books recently that taught me that lesson. I probably would have enjoyed them more, had I not heard about them every time I turned around for a solid month before reading them. I don't know if expectations were too high or I was just beat down but either way it probably wasn't fair to the book. I have learned how to avoid it though so it has gotten better!
Now the tricky part: how to be supportive to a book but not cause the same effect to other people!
Okay, so here is my initial problem with these "fanatic books that take over our world". The book, itself, might be great (HP is great, Dan Brown's books are exciting, Twilight was fun and easy to read), but all the books/specials/t-shirts/propaganda surrounding these books wears me out.
I might love a book, but I don't love all the junk that comes with it now. I want to know if people used to let books take over every form of entertainment like they do now. Don't get me wrong. I am all for book love and the reading numbers that these books inspire, but I am not for focusing all your free time on one thing.
I can watch other movies than Harry Potter. I don't need to download every Twilight soundtrack, and Robert Langdon has left my life now. I am ready to move on. So, I do whatever I can to NOT let these books take over every thing I do for pleasure.
Let's all branch out and read OTHER books, watch OTHER TV specials. I hear Pillars of the Earth is on :)
What a great topic. I find the market is getting a little saturated right now with Twilight (movies, books, etc.) so I can't wait until that dies down a bit.
I also find that the award winners get a lot of airtime. Though I love hearing about them, I find they get featured quite often (maybe too much).
Well, I'm not a blogger, but I've meet Carin through Shelfari and think she is great, so I thought I would join in on the conversation.
I would have to agree with Felicia. Just because a book is popular does not make me a follower, but it is not a turn off either. I usually do not pick up a book just because it is popular. In fact, I do not usually look at popularity as a recommendation, my recommendations have in the past, usually come from friends (and now my shelfari friends). Once the movies are done, I am almost certain that the Harry Potter mania will be over. And it is perfectly natural that it is in the forefront of our minds when Studios are paying vast amounts of money advertising them. I think this kind of mania revolves around a “franchise” more than anything else. If there were no Harry Potter movies, there would be no Harry Potter mania. The simple fact is, everyone watches movies and not everyone reads. That the Harry Potter franchise has encouraged at lot of people to read is great, even if they only read Harry Potter books, at least that’s something. Fortunately, with today’s technology we are able to avoid a lot of advertising and reading reviews has only increased the quality of my entertainment. I am much happier with the new direct marketing strategies than with having to listen/read about stuff I am not interested in. But I see your point; it is time to move on. If only the producers would stop trying to milk every dollar from a franchise and put more effort into creating a new one. One that topic I could rant all day
HUNGER GAMES! I've only read (and listened to) the first book so I've been really annoyed by all the chatter on twitter lately about the books. And I know, chatter away, but it's also tough to avoid spoilers when everything is out there! I've also seen that people are taking that day off work and they plan on reading the book that day to avoid spoilers. I admit I don't know for sure this is the reason they're taking off that day, but really? Ugh. Annoyed. :)
Otherwise I don't find myself getting Pottered out. Seems things are really popular then die out then come back then die.
@Felicia - I mostly agree with you about the old books, but there's one author I disagree about--Jane Austen. There is a huge lovefest for her all over the place. Like The Jane Austen Book Club saying, "All Jane, all the time!" (that was a TERRIBLE book by the way) I can't seem to stop hearing about her. I admit that I'm a little Austened out too!
@theliterarypop - I'm completely Edward and Bella'd out. I thought the books were fun reads and I'm not ashamed to admit I read them. The movies however, are just plain TERRIBLE (I have seen the first two but not the third). I don't understand the fangirling and Twimom thing with them. Robert Pattinson isn't even good looking and he looks like a child to me (I think I'm 10-ish years older than he is). Bleh is all I have to say about the movies and I wish they'd just go away. Kristen Stewart has the personality of a slug. Most uninteresting actress EVER.
I also feel like you do about blogs that cover all the new releases. I find myself skipping those reviews because everyone is reviewing them. They are popular books though so they wouldn't get popular if everyone wasn't covering them I guess!
@Jennifer - I keep hearing about Pillars of Earth. I need to read that I guess! Do you think that might be the next big thing? It seems to be gaining so much momentum. I am glad that you agree the rampant commercialization of things causes burnout (let me put away my Twilight lunch box now--just kidding...hehe). I'm glad I'm not alone.
@Ellie - Yay! I don't care that you aren't a blogger! Comment away! I like the direct marketing strategies as well. I find myself more and more drawn to them (see sexy Old Spice guy). I don't like book trailers though. The ones I've seen are usually quite lame. I do like book bloggers reviews though and hearing about things through Facebook pages or e-mail campaigns from independently owned stores.
@Trish - I'm one of those people that has managed to avoid the Hunger Games spoilers. I skip all tweets, reviews, etc. about them because I want to read the books. I am waiting for the last to come out before I read them all. I did the same with Harry Potter. It's funny because I'm an early adopter with technology and stuff because of my husband, but with books I tend to hold back and see what people think before reading them. Christopher Paolini is one of those authors that got so much attention and his popularity seems to be waning a little (hopefully due to people recognizing his terrible plagiarism). I read Eragon and was done with that. It was horrible and should never have been published--or he should have been sued for his blatant plagiarism. I hadn't thought about Hunger Games...nice pick up on that one. Linger is another book I can think of that is getting heaps of buzz and I'm less interested in it now because it's just too popular (and I know nothing about the book!...sad!).
In addition to the ones mentioned by other posters, the first two the come to my mind are relatively new releases - The Stieg Larsson triology and The Passage.
Both look excellent and I plan to read them - but they have been on every blog, every list, every review all summer long. I love book lists (Summer Reads, Beach Reads, etc) but it seems like every single list I've read this summer just recommends these books. I get that they're great, but my TBR list is not growing.
If I think a book is fabulous I don't mind the hype that much. If I don't know a book I just don't pay any attention to it. If I'm not interested in a book they may talk about it as much as they want, I won't read it.
I must admit that I find the enthusiasm for HP or Twilight slightly surprising. HP is nice enough, but I'm sure there are a lot of children's books out there that are equally fascinating. We just don't hear about them. How come there was no hype about The Neverending Story? Is it just the internet or is it because publishers are more aggressive nowadays?
Twilight is mediocre at best, though I don't agree with your assessment of Pattinson. I liked him as Edward, even though they shouldn't have done his hair like Robert Smith's. That was inappropriate (can you tell I like R. Smith?).
As for Dan Brown (sorry I have to mention this because it is a pet peeve of mine), am I the only one who thinks he is a hack who has learned how to put one plot together in an evening class and now he uses the same plot over and over again? He simply changes locations and the chick's name, gives the villain another skin tone and he's done. Where THAT hype came from I really don't know.
I know my comment doesn't help this discussion along but I had to say it anyway, :-).
Okay, let me enter this discussion by saying: Yes, the following is a list of books that fit in my "if I never hear about them again it's far too soon" category":
1. Anything Harry Potter related. Yes, I understand he's the boy wizard and just about as hardcore as hardcore gets and Rowling is hella amazing and la la la but really, lets get over it already. Move on. Let him hit puberty and get all cracky voiced and annoying and let's collectively find a new interest.
2. Anything Stephanie Meyers related whether it be Twilight or The Host or whatever else the woman comes out with. Anything with her name tacked on it causes my stomach to uncomfortably clench and my vision to swim.
3. The DaVinci Code. Yes, I understand it's riveting and controversial and all that. Fantastic. Go find another book to read, please. I promise, there ARE other riveting and controversial books out there that are MUCH better than The DaVinci Code.
4. I know this isn't a book but can vampires please go underground for a few years? I get the fact that they are hunks and drop dead gorgeous fangers who are meant to make my knees quiver with anticipation and barely suppressed passion, but give me a break for a few years. I can't handle all the drop-dead (no pun intended) gorgeous sexual tension anymore (insert eye roll here).
As for books/authors who I am anticipating to join my list shortly:
1. Eat, Pray, Love - I read the book. I enjoyed it. Now there's a movie out and it's all I hear about. I am going to start dreaming about the stupid thing pretty soon. Eating... praying...loving...yes, yes, wonderful. Does it really HAVE to be on all the morning news channels? Do we really have to have extended dialogues about it constantly?
2. Charlene Harris - which sucks because I LOVE True Blood the HBO show. But good grief the books will take over the planet someday. Sookie... choose a man. Lets have a big discussion about it and move on. It could be a cleansing, therapeutic national event. We could teleconference it, have a few hours discussion amongst all of us women while we fan ourselves off and talk about the hunks and then never. mention. it. again. Doesn't that sound great?!
3. The Hunger Games. I've never read them, but I understand they are the best thing that ever happened to publication companies since Twilight and Dan Brown and, while I once desired to read them, I am now so sick of hearing about how fantastic they are my desire is shriveling to the size of a raisin.
Sorry if I included spoilers, offended anyone by ranting (it wasn't on purpose. I realize a lot of people enjoy things on my list and I respect that. In fact, I enjoy most of them as well. I'm just sick of hearing about them, seeing them, watching them and all that).
I probably shouldn't post this. Now I'm paranoid that I'll make someone mad :(
I think this may be the case with me and those Girl With The Dragon Tattoo books. I might read them someday, but for now I feel that I know too much about them before going in, and that sort of kills my interest. That's the reason why I often don't feel like reading books that are very widely discussed - after a while I begin to feel like I HAVE read them even though I haven't. The mystery just dies.
I agree with your first list. The DaVinci Code is only riveting if you haven't read Angels & Demons first (See my comment above yours).
As for your anticipated list, yes, those names come up all over the plce, but I must admit that I don't even know what 1 and 3 are about. As for Harris, I'm a fan of the books, but hate True Blood. I agree though, Sookie tends to get on my nerves, she should go ahead and choose Eric and be done with it.
@SARAH - I love you for your response and second every single thing that you said. Especially the vampire thing. I am so sick and tired of sparkly emo vampires.
Oh, and I have been trying to read Eat, Pray, Love. Here's the thing: I wanted to be clever and review it ahead of the movie opening. I have barely scratched the surface...and I know that the cheese stands alone...but I'm really not loving that book. So far, anyway.
I would also like to add:
ANYTHING THAT OPRAH PUTS ON HER BOOK CLUB. Now, I hate to say that because sometimes the woman has excellent taste. And I'm thrilled for the authors who struggle for years and then get plucked from obscurity and all that. But good God, Oprah acts like she invented reading. Sure, I'm glad that millions of her minions will read whatever she tells them to and will love the title no matter what. But jeebus...have a mind of your own people!
Okay, now the pitchforks can come after me. :)
@Julie - I thought about the Milennium Trilogy too. I admit it. I pimp it because I loved it and a lot of people I know haven't read it yet (although I've only read the first book). The movie is FANTASTIC and honestly, I am sad they are making an American version. Noomi Rapace cannot be outdone. She was amazing and perfect in the role of Lisbeth. That being said, I think the hoopla of them will die down since the third book has finally been released in the States (and seriously...why did it take so long? It's been out in the UK for awhile!). As for The Passage...I'm on the bandwagon for now. :P
@Rikki - Is Robert Smith the Edward Scissorhands guy from The Cure? haha...you can tell how much I dislike the cure from that statement (although I do actually like Edward Scissorhands). I dunno. I am obviously in the minority with Robert Pattinson since so many women love the poor boy's angsty ways. If I'm going vampire, I'm Team Eric all the way! None of those Cullens interest me in the slightest because I'd actually want a good-looking guy to glamour me! LOL! You're going to hate me for saying this, but I think Charlaine Harris is overrated--the books are meh to me, but I LOVE the show. Sookie irritates me too. Her special power is to make all men boring.
As for Dan Brown...I am with you on him. I only read The DaVinci Code and while I thought the subject matter was interesting, his writing really lacked in the story department. Completely uninterested in the story! Very interested in the Gnostic Gospels angle! Let's just make the subject non-fiction and I would have liked it better.
@Sarah - Oh Fiona has a competitor for awesome ranty and hilarious commenter. I love your comments! Don't worry about upsetting people. The chat is supposed to be about our opinions. In fact, Fiona will probably run me off with a farmer's pitchfork for my term "Pottered Out" since she loves Harry Potter. I am beginning to get tired of the vampire angle a little as well, but I also do tend to enjoy paranormal fantasy some. I'm a bigger high fantasy fan I think, but urban and paranormal are definitely in my likes (can you say, "Harry Dresden"?!!). For television, I actually can stand the gorgeous drop dead sexual tension if it involves Vampire Eric from True Blood. Haha! See?!! I can be fangirly!
@Nymeth - I kind of feel the same way. I'm not the rush out to the store at midnight and buy the book kind of reader--I tend to wait for things in paperback so the hoopla kind of spoils my expectations sometimes. However, this was not the case with Harry Potter. I devoured all 7 books relatively quickly and even though some bloggers have it on their Hide-a-Shelf, I think Rowling is a quality writer and think that people shouldn't feel ashamed. I like them, but really...Harry has now bared all in a play and is all grown up. It's time for us to let him move on too. :) I like what you review because most people haven't reviewed the stuff you read!
@Rikki (2X) - I've only read 4 of the books, but I think she'll still choose Boring Bill.
@Reese - *High Five* Oh Oprah. Remember when you used to be, *ahem*, sane? I do. Then you decided to create Oprahism (what I call her self-religion) and got completely full of yourself. Here's were my un-book snobbishness comes in: Oprah thinks that EVERY book must be deep and thoughtful. Maybe she's just brilliant, but sometimes I like to read for escape. I don't always need to read Tolstoy or Morrison. That's what irritates me about her--everything's a spiritual journey or something. Everything has to be profound. I'm Oprah'd out too! Well said! *High Fives AGAIN!!*
@Carin B.: I know, right? You know what, Oprah? Living my best life is selecting my own damn books to read. Escapism and fluff can be a good thing.
Glad I'm not alone on the Oprah thing. ;)
@Reese - Now that is just hilarious! hehehe
*Breathes heavily*
Pottered out indeed! I have just spent a whole month re-reading Harry Potter (for the bazzilionth time) and I’ll be doing so next year and the year after and the year after and any future children of mine will be disowned if they do not admit their undying love for Harry Potter. I will Potter you out some more: thinking about Harry Potter and Hogwarts actually sends me to tears. Can you believe that? But I did start reading it when I was 13 and it is so much more then a book to me. It’s a part of me – I’ve read it so many times it is ingrained into my soul.
You will be glad to know that I will no longer be Pottering you out soon – I’ve finished my re-read and only have two or three Harry Potter related posts to make.
I do understand you though. I am sure if I wasn’t so deeply into the series I would be more irritated by them then I am. It’s just too much – all the books about Harry Potter, the $300 brook sticks, $35 wands you can buy, Harry Potter puzzles, movie picture books, Harry Potter sleepovers, Harry Potter theme parks. I wonder what that’ll be like in ten years? It’ll be great to think that it would still be as popular but you know… still. Sometimes you just gotta wonder how much more they can milk it. I’m sure Warner Brothers are dreading the end of the Harry Potter movies as they must be a sure fire money spin.
I think book hype is good and bad. It’s bad when they hype fails and you have to walk past those duds every time you go into the bookshop and be reminded what a waste of shelf space they are. No, seriously – I really hate that some books get more shelf space then others, even for those I do like. When one author is popular all the other authors whose surname begins with the same letter has been shunted off and out. I just want to say “hang on there!”
I get fed up of going to the YA section of the bookshop and having to walk around the vampire pyramid. There is more to YA then paranormal romance and fantasy. Is it just me or are dark historicals also becoming in vogue – with pictures of women wearing bodices on the front cover – because well obviously if it’s historical they have to have a bodice on the cover?
I think you find some real jewels in the YA section if you look past the fads. Diana Wynne Jones is the best YA fantasy author out there but she’s lucky to have two books squashed into the shelf and they’re always the same bloody books. You can’t go back and find a different book the next week. That is another rant for another day.
I do try to ignore hypes when I see them coming. I am pretty blind when it comes to them – it’s only thanks to twitter really that I found out about The Passage which I actually really want to read. I have read a few reviews and I know it’s spreading like wildfire at the moment but I haven’t really read too much about it. I love The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I helped hype that up as much as I could by recommending it to anyone who would stand still long enough. It was a bit like dominoes – where one started to fall, so did many others. Soon everyone was reading it around me!
I don’t really pay much attention to ‘the next new thing’ and as someone has mentioned here – I also tend to only browse blogs reviewing recent books. Most of the books I read are written in the 2000s (this year 15 of the 37 books I have read were written in the 2000s) so I don’t really read a lot of old books (I’m working on it) but I don’t read them as soon as they come out. So that way I think I avoid most of the hype that gathers around them…
Apart from The Passage which I’m looking forward to as I bought the hard back in a fit of “I-must-support-my-local-independent” that I only discovered existed last weekend. Very good place but alas, won’t be going back I am skint. I think it’s the only book I’ve bought, fresh out in hardback by an author I haven’t read before. I rarely buy hardbacks and usually wait until it’s out in paperback, unless I’m really impatient.
The trouble with hypes is that a good book can be ruined. The Da Vinci Code was a lightly entertaining book, but it wasn’t that great. Dan Brown just pissed the church off and then everyone heard about it and rushed out to buy it instead of that nameless, unhyped, unknown book over there… I think if a publisher put enough effort and money into it they could turn any book into a bestseller because people are more likely to pick up a book they recognise, which is true enough. I’ll pick up a book whose title I recognise over a book that I don’t. I’m not saying I don’t look at books I have never heard of – look at my TBR pile, it’s full of whimsical moments. But it’s a fact – my eye is going to be more drawn to a title I recognise. So if you get vast numbers of people buying it – you’re going to get a vast number of people loving it because more people are reading it then otherwise. Had it not been hyped many people would never have bothered picking it up – and maybe they wouldn’t have discovered a book they liked.
I always start off these things in one mind and then turn against myself. I started a whole long comment here saying how I hated hypes and thought they were a drain on society, but now I don’t know. I guess like everything, they have their place. Without some hypes, many great books wouldn’t be found. It’s just that the ones that did not work stand out the most.
I wouldn’t say a hype makes me read a book I otherwise would not, but it might, such as in the case of The Passage, make me notice them. The Hunger Games is hyped to the hilt but I don’t think I’ll ever read them, the story and the style just don’t interest me. I think I’ve learnt since not to read because of the hype – like I did with The Da Vinci Code and The Lovely Bones. I think without the hype I might have been a little less critical.
On the subject of TV book groups – I can’t comment on Oprah though she seems to have some good books on her list. We have had Richard and Judy – and some of their books have been good but when I look at them they all look a bit whoozy and mostly aimed at women. I’m just being judgemental – I never even watched the programme. Richard and Judy are a pair of married presenters who did a morning programme and then had a book club which helped sell millions. I read lately in an article from Guardian Books that when they ended there was a drop in sales. Authors (like Kate Mosse of the dreadful Labyrinth, my opinion only by the way) became very well known through them. I remember looking at Oprah books and seeing she had some really good, rather interesting ones on there. Much more adventurous anyway.
Well another TV book club has recently come on. I watched about five seconds of it. There was some empty headed celebrity (Peter Andre) flogging his book or something on there. He came across a bit vague to say the least. It all felt rather embarrassing actually, I don’t think they’ll cause any hypes any time soon. I read somewhere (so this is third hand, re-hashed information) that a couple of guests on that show admitted they didn’t even read. On a programme about books, well I never…
I wish there would be an interesting programme about books – all kinds of books and not just there to hype some up. There was the BBC’s The Big Read http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml which was quite interesting from what I remember. It was 7 years ago so not much as I have the memory of a forgetful goldfish. I wish they had more of those.
The only books I hate seeing hyped, are those Godawful celebrity books. I think I mentioned the one by the one with the big tits in one of the last coffee chats. Let’s see… http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238355.Angel please excuse me whilst I vomit. And she actually goes to book signings and people actually get their books signed. Do people actually read these books? And it gets all this shelf space and all this hype and it isn’t even written by her. And it’ll be in all the supermarkets and everyone who probably doesn’t touch a book, let alone think of a book…
Well that’s the inner snob coming out. Bad snob. And I’m getting off topic again.
Sometimes I do get a bit fed up of hearing about a certain book, or really just a certain genre really. I’m tired of vampires. Or are they over? I think dystopia is moving in isn’t it? The Passage is dystopic. I have read and liked (loved some dystopias but I don’t really wanna go out looking for something under the category ‘dystopia’ So I try not to associate books now with that genre. Well dystopia at least is more interesting to me then vampires. I guess that’s the thing. I’m not trying to bash people who are into vampires – it’s just that I’m not and it gets tiresome having the same old genre churned out at you over and over. Variety people, variety!
I guess, meandering back to the TV book club thing that is a good thing about them – they do have a selection of books they create a bit of a hype after. It’s just the inner snob in me doesn’t want others to think that I just chose that book because it was from the TV.
Anyway, I’m not against hypes really I guess but I do agree, they can give you a bloody headache.
I can't think of any individual books, but I can think of fads. and I agree. I am SO ready for teenage angst vampire books to die out. The sad part is that there are actually some GREAT vampire books out there, but since EVERYONE'S writing one (because it's cool), I'm just so sick of seeing them around, that I'm hesitant to try any.
Another fad is creating lightly entertaining, but poor quality movies, from any slightly popular book that hits the shelves. Percy Jackson for example. And Twilight. These books might not get so annoying, so quickly, if it wasn't for the bad B movies that come out.
@Fiona!!! Oh how I love your comments. You are amazing. I keep seeing raves about Dianna Wynne Jones from not only you, but lots of other people too. I have a feeling I will like her when I read her stuff. You haven't Pottered me out for sure--I just know your love of the books. I think I got Pottered out when the trailer came out for Deathly Hallows and everyone just about made Twitter blow up posting it and talking about it. That's what gave me the idea for this post. I think everyone is tired of vampires. They can be well done (I love The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova) of course, but yeah..I'm a little tired of them too. I also don't like that they've made vampires into this wonderful, lovable creature. They are bloodsucking killers! Let's let them be the bad guy! It's ok to stereotype them....they are not real! LOL!
I'm with you on celebrity books. I rarely read them (although I did read and love American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson). Most of them are so self-indulgent just like so many celebrities are. Even the few that I follow on Twitter sometimes irritate me when they post stuff that makes them seem more important than they really are. I know lots of people tweet them and some people get mad if celebrities don't tweet them back. If I had a million followers I probably wouldn't either. I don't really ever tweet celebrities though. I'm considering stopping my following of them (even though I love Nathan Fillion and Nick Frost).
@Kemendraugh - Oh awesome that you found my blog! I friended you on GoodReads and promise that I will check out your blog after I finish another chapter for Wallace's Read-a-Thon. I have heard that Percy Jackson is excellent. Have you read any of them? I haven't read any or seen the movie so honestly, I didn't even think about it being overexposed, but you are right...it kind of is! I see Percy Jackson stuff everywhere!
Well, I'm pretty tired of all the vampire stuff, but most especially Twlilight. I often feel books that become movies get over-exposed, and that does tend to make me "testy" after a while. I love some of the books mentioned already, but even so the hype makes me crazy!
Totally Pottered out on anything with vampires, werewolves, games that include hunger, tattoos with dragons, James Patterson and his gazillion titles a year, etc. I like to think that I am the sort of person that works hard at cracking open an oyster to find a beautiful pearl, some treasure that no one was even sure was there. These are the books that I want and get excited about. There is no over marketing, no jumping on the band wagon, & no surfing the wave of a fad.
This reminds me of that grand 'ole Public Enemy song, Don't Believe the Hype! Once the hype dies down, years from now, I might read it, but not know.
On the subject of celebrity books:
Sometimes (*rarely*) they can be interesting, but on the whole I find them to be boring and self-indulgent. I don't really own any, unless you count the titles by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. However, they do not take themselves seriously. I have those purely for escapism and amusement.
I have major issues with someone like Lauren Conrad writing fiction...and I really don't know why. It sort of isn't fair for me to be such a snob about that, but pretty much anything that airs on MTV just gets under my skin. Sorry Lauren, you were on "The Hills". I won't be giving you the time of day.
Oh wait, the book snobbery discussion was a couple of weeks ago, right? :)
Elaboration on my Oprah problem:
I admit that she has had some interesting books on her list. And I don't disagree with anyone who is trying to get people interested in reading in this age of twitter, FB, and the like. But what I do have a problem with is her "I shall bring reading to the huddled masses" attitude. It sort of negates whatever good she might be doing by having a book club feature of her show. I do not respond well to self-righteousness. :)
@Scrabblequeen - I think they hype often ruins books because it makes expectations SO high. I totally agree with you!
@Gwen - I will have to look up that Public Enemy song. I admit that I never listened to them. The Millennium Trilogy is getting a lot of attention but I have to admit that I'm a big fan. It is possible that it will all be ruined though once they make the American movie. :-/
@Reese - I thought Lauren Conrad's book was ghost written. I could be completely wrong of course because I didn't pay any attention to it at all! As for Oprah...you are preaching to the choir.
Pottered out, not yet. Still love Harry and am eagerly awaiting the last film. Twilight on the other hand, I am SO SO over. I read the books before the movies were released. I enjoyed them. Now I can say I am starting to hate Twilight with a passion. It is everywhere. Everytime I turn on the radio, the TV, teach a class, browse the net it's Twilight.. Twilight...Twilight... ARG! I almost want to go beat Meyer over the head with the damn book.
@Rachel - OMG...how did I miss your comment?!!! Ack! OK, I am now revising my Pottered Out to "Mockinjay'd out". Whoooo...there's just too much buzz out there. I'll have to wait until it's over to pick up the book. I did get sucked into The Passage buzz though, but my husband is reading it first to make sure I won't be afraid when I read it. I also am sick of Twilight. I just want it to go away; especially the movies. Kristen Stewart has the personality of a potato.
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