General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: You saw their boobs? Now go fuck yourself. [View all]ancianita
(36,055 posts)As a former English teacher at the high school and college level, I've seen that personal reading tastes of either college educated or non-college educated, tend toward confirming readers' current emotional 'habits' and 'maps' of their inner lives, not their outer lives. Reading examples like yours don't show that anyone's anywhere near in abusive relationships -- and I'm not claiming or thinking that you say that -- but that readers can identify with women who struggle with pain and redemption through some immersion in pop fiction. The shared readings give women some base for talking about their varied lives with each other. It's not a stretch to say that all these readers are normal by DSM IV standards but, like all of us, have their share of garden variety issues and some private need to 'grapple' vicariously.
Or they just like to read. Maybe they all want to form a bigass national book club.
(Off-topic, but I'm glad to see any book titles soar. Seeing people do the right thing for the wrong reasons still gives me hope about the educability of Americans. Reading an entire book shows a sympathy for intelligence, appreciation for the printed word, narrative arcs, detail and concepts. Hell, atheist that I am, I'm even happy to see anyone read the bible at length. Anyone's extended concentration in reading is to be appreciated.)