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blog by MOTHERREADER listed in categories: Book Planet

One of the bestselling preschool books of recent times was Walter the Farting Dog. At the same time the American Library Association named as one of its best books Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, a book in which Mr. Rosen talks about his despair over the death of his son. I believe that, for most of us, what we want lies somewhere between a flatulent canine and overwhelming grief.

Similarly, a 2002 bestseller; widely touted as a “good book”; was The Lovely Bones. This book was awful, preying on our worst fears and lurid fascination with rape, murder, and revenge. In the same year, we heard about Atonement, by Ian McEwan. Now, I am sure this is a great book. But if I, a dedicated and in-practice reader, can’t get through the first twenty pages, then what hope is there for everyone else? How do we find out about the books for us?

We are smart people, but are too tired from our busy lives to tackle heavy books. We don’t want to read something that is depressing to prove it is “worthy literature”; we want to be entertained and enlightened. We want good suggestions for our children, but we don’t always want to go back to the “classics”; We just want to read again, like we used to do.

Welcome. I hope I can help.

Posted in October, 2007