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Sunday, April 3, 2016

Books and Judgement

I had to do this. I'm pretty much on schedule with my reviews and this just caught my attention and refused to let me go. This discussion will be all about people hating on you or judging you because of your reading style or just the general fact that you read as much as you do. This is going to be a rather emotionally charged post so I'd like to warn in advance that I do not have the intention to hurt anyone. If this accidently happens, I very much regret that.



So, last week, I went to see my friends at one of their houses and somehow the subject of sleep and lack thereof came up. When I said I hadn't slept very much lately, my friends immediately asked me whether it was a book. I replied that this wasn't the case. (It was the Hamilton soundtrack. Judge me.) We were in the car, and her mom was driving us and we talked about my reading so much. Which is fine! I'm not happy that everyone knows how much of a book nerd I am, but I don't respect their privacy, either, so it's okay. But then one of my friends found it necessary to inform me that a girl in our year asked her whether I actually had any other hobbies than reading. When I asked how she got that idea, my friend said that she'd seen me reading on my phone during lunch break and in studying hours in a physical book. Okay. No. This is where it ends.




I have about a hundred things against this. First of all, what's wrong with reading anyway? One of my other friends asked me a while ago, too.
"What do you do in your free time?"
"Well, I read and--"
"No, what kind of hobbies do you have."
"Reading is a hobby."
"No. Reading is like school."
Uhm, we've been friends for three years. You shouldn't even have to ask that question. Also, it's not like you did anything eventful in the past weekend. Reading is just a hobby, like anything else and you know it. You wouldn't ask whether someone ever did anything else than listen to music, so why is reading different? I read during breaks because a.) I like to read and b.) if I drop out of conversations because of discomfort or people barely talking to me, I have something to do. That does not mean that I do not value human beings. It just means that I sometimes need a break from them as well.


Secondly, why do YOU, who has never shown any intention of interacting with ME, ask MY FRIEND that question? If you are bothered or even simply puzzled by my behavior, you come to me. And how is this your business anyway?
I am an introvert, which generally means that people outside of my friend group do not know too much about me. And I am very content with this. Being introvert does not mean that I am a shell of a person, it means that I do not want you to know what is inside that shell. Even my family and friends are not informed that I have this blog. (Or Goodreads or Pinterest, now that we're talking.) They just see a lonely girl with her stories. This is not the case. I'm trying to improve my writing with this blog and I just enjoy the reading community a lot.
And the thing is, there are more people in my school who read books during their breaks, but they don't get these questions, because they are outgoing. That's not fair. Why would you treat me any different than popular people? You don't know me, then don't judge me.
And for your information, I like to draw things, I like listening to music, and I like making up my own stories. I also like history and puzzles, even though I rarely make one. I'm also interested in politics and very much enjoy watching sci-fi movies. (You should all watch Snow Piercer.)
Also, friend, telling your already socially inept friend that other people think she only reads all the time is not going to make her more comfortable in the company of said people.

Now here's another one of my pet peeves regarding other people and books: What are you reading?
Fellow book lovers are happily invited to ask me AT ANY TIME what book I'm reading or better yet, what part I'm at, what I think about the characters because they've read it too. However, if you're just asking it to tell me afterwards how ridiculous it is? No. Get away now that you still have legs. And two people in my near environment do this:
A. My brother. I love him, and I even like when he asks it, because even though he asks it as a joke, he's genuinely interested. He will laugh at the book, but it's just a cool conversation to have. (And I love talking about books.)
B. My friend. This is the person who introduced me to the Hunger Games, and she's a cool person, but when she asks this...
picture
No matter what I say, it's always LIKE THE HUNGER GAMES, like THE MAZE RUNNER, or like INSERT JOHN GREEN BOOK HERE. No matter what book it is, she will always draw these comparisons. The Lunar Chronicles - plague - TMR. Throne of Glass - competition - THG. No. It doesn't work like that. I do appreciate that we've ranted forever together about The Scorch Trials, but sometimes it gets on my nerves.

So these were some of the ways to make me rather angry while discussing books which you might recognise from your own lingering existence. Tell me your experiences in the comments and I wish you all a good day.

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