The Monster
Librarian Presents:
About
Reading
Reading
is done
for one of two general purposes: information and pleasure. If you are
reading horror fiction, it should be for pleasure, as it gives you a chance
to escape into a story that should give you goose bumps and raise the hairs
on the back of your neck. If you are reading horror fiction for
information then it might be time to seek some professional help for your
tenuous grip on reality. My philosophy on reading is that not every book
is everyone's cup of tea. If after the first few chapters of the book you
aren't interested in the story then it might be time to put the book down
and find another. You shouldn't feel guilty about putting a book down or
not finishing it. It doesn't matter if that book is on the New York Times
bestsellers list or if everyone you know raves about it and thinks it is the
best thing on the planet. Your taste in
reading is personal. If the book you have isn't interesting then put it
down and find one that is. People who stop reading often do so in their
school years because they are made to read through books of little or no
interest over which they are then tested. The end result is that reading
becomes a chore and something to avoid. Don't let school push you away
from reading a book in which you might be interested. I hope you will find
one on the lists of reviews on the site.
The Genre
Readers Bill of Rights
The Genre Reader's Bill of Rights has been credited to being developed on a listserv by various authors(if
anyone has more details about the specific authors please let me know.)
I don’t know exactly where the Genre Reader’s Bill of Rights originated. I
know a version of the Bill was posted on LM_Net in 10/01/98 and that it
contains some elements from Daniel Pennac’s Reader's Bill of
Rights, which appeared in Better Than Life: Books. I know it has been
around since at least 1995. I came across it during one of many web
wanderings and thought it was fantastic and as the horror genre often
doesn’t get much respect in many circles that it was particularly
applicable.