Often, I come across people who are sheepish about what they read. At the same time, I also find people on Instagram and Twitter disregarding other people for their book choices or unpopular opinions. This has to STOP!
Seeing people on Instagram praising the book made me feel really bad about myself. I felt so ashamed that I hid the book from my bookshelf. But now, I have made peace with the fact that I did not like it and there’s no harm in disliking a hyped book.
“There’s no such thing as a good book or a bad book. There’s a book that matters to a reader”
— Maggie Stiefvater
When I was younger, I read books by Chetan Bhagat, Preeti Shenoy, and Savi Sharma. I agree that they weren’t the best reads but what matters to me is that I read books and I am continuing to read. More importantly, I am learning not to be ashamed of what I read.
Also, I’ve seen people easily book-shaming others. I don’t know why this happens but it does. And it’s as toxic as FOMO, if not more. No matter what you read, you are making yourself smarter while you do it. That’s the most important thing. Period. Stop belittling other’s choices and get a life!
Do you know that there’s a Banned Book Week? According to Penguin Random House, it’s “an annual celebration of the freedom to read. This campaign rallies thousands of libraries, schools, bookstores, readers, and community centers across America and around the world to celebrate our freedom to read what we want — and to explore the histories and reasons behind literary censorship.”
Obviously, I encourage readers to read widely. Because reading can help expand your vocabulary and your horizons. There’s a difference between encouraging and book-shaming.
In the end, remember two things.
- Be unapologetic about your book choices.
- Respect other’s choices.
“Don’t just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”
— Epictetus, The Art of Living.
