In Defense of Reading Bad Books
The room is spinning, oh, my favorite readers, and I want to get off.
Evidently, post-Covid Marian involves a lot of dizziness, all the shakes, and a heaping side of exhaustion. So pretty much my normal but on crack. I love it!
And the best way to survive all this fun is, naturally, lots of books. Yes, my husband informs me that reading with a headache or when the words are a little swimmy on the page isn’t normal, but when have any of us ever aspired to normal?
And so, favorites, today, I’m building a defense of reading bad books. But first, let me clarify what I mean by the word “bad”. I mean books that are never destined to be classics. Books that, quite obviously, are not going to stand the test of time. Some of them are fluff, but some of them, I admit, are just not well written. The prose is clunky. The plot is predictable. The cliches abound.
Trigger is embarrassed for me on my behalf for what I’ve been reading…
So why am I defending books such as these? With so many good books in the world to choose from, why would anyone defend the reading of bad books? Quite simply because I am braindead and therefore incapable of reading much quality language right now. And also, pickings are slim and beggars can’t be choosers.
But through this experience (of reading whatever crappy novels show up in my Libby app), I’ve still seen a few things of note.
First, and most obviously, sometimes bad books are just ridiculously entertaining. And here’s a dirty secret I shouldn’t tell you, sometimes they are entertaining because of how very bad they are. Sometimes, authors make hilariously bad choices with word choice and character development. If their editors didn’t catch these choices and help fix them, such mistakes are fair game for us to mock. But sometimes bad books are just entertaining because they’re the book form of melty marshmallow fluff, which is entertaining doesn’t require me to be quite as mean as I am when I’m mocking authors who actually managed to get published (when my manuscript is still languishing in despair).
Second, even badly written novels occasionally have a really good line worth reading or a lesson I need to learn. Nothing is wasted, if we’re willing to pay attention. But you may have wade through awkwardly written conversation and overblown description to get there. Still worth it. I got a line from a novel a few weeks ago that’s been sticking around in my mind in some really positive ways. Did I lose brain cells reading that novel? I might’ve. That line made it worth it.
Third (or possibly second and a half but third sounds better), sometimes reading bad books broadens our scope of understanding and leads to discussion. We’re forced to ask ourselves, what makes a “good” book? What defines quality literature? As a writer, this part of reading bad books is invaluable. If you’re not a writer, though, reading bad books will still help you be a more discerning reader and thinker. It might even help you question some of the choices you’re making in your own life that would make you cringe if an author wrote them into a book. It will help you see more clearly.
So, yes, here I am, encouraging a defense of reading bad books because sometimes they’re just plain entertaining, often they still have a redeeming silver lining, and always they offer the opportunity to broaden our scope of understanding and perspective.
Now, will I take that one step farther and give you actual Bad Book suggestions? No, I won’t. Because it’s easy enough to stumble upon them on your own, unlike Quality Books which seem to require a little more purposeful digging to find (and because one woman’s Bad Book is another woman’s favorite, and I really don’t want to make anyone self conscious when the point is to read).
And will I tell you to abandon the hunt for quality books and resign yourself to a future of bad books? Also no. All I will say is that if you are in a season of Reading Bad Books, cut yourself some slack. There is still purpose behind them…even if they only help you enjoy well-written, thought-provoking, soul-stirring books that much more.
And tell your dog to stop judging you. No one deserves that.
