PREVIOUSLY: BOOK SNOBS

Please read the link, if you haven’t before, as it says all I really have to say on this topic of Book Snobs, which is what I call people who are serious readers and/or writers, that take a particular delight in mocking certain books and those who read them. Personally, I hate that mentality, and I believe reading should be encouraged as a past time, and whether you prefer to read educational scholarly works, or cheap pulp novels, I don’t judge you for that.

But here we are, almost 3 and half years since I wrote that, and I’m still seeing this attitude directed in particular to E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey. Look, like it or not, this book and it’s two sequels have sold millions worldwide. The movie was a huge commercial success, with two sequels currently being filmed back to back, and the spin-off novel GREY was also a huge hit. So there is an audience for this. And if you’re not part of that audience fine, just carry on with your life.

But just yesterday, two of my friends posted the image of the quote at the top of this post on their Facebook pages, and each was joined by a dozen people commenting on how horrible it is, and making fun of the book’s success and readership.

Of course, there is just one small problem with that quote…

IT ISN’T REAL.

It would be bad enough even if it were real (and, to be fair, I have seen some images sharing actual quotes from the book and mocking them over the years), but the fact that it isn’t just exemplifies exactly what is so annoying to me about people like this. They’re mocking a book that they clearly haven’t even read or tried to read. They see the picture and don’t bother even trying to verify it before sharing it and joining in the ridicule. And they think they’re oh-so-smart?

And what does this say about the person who originally created this image? This quote was being shared at least as far back as 2012, around the time I wrote my first post about Book Snobs, it’s one of the most “famous” ones (google it, you’ll see). But someone hated this book so much, they decided to think up a really bad fake quote just to pass it off as being from this book, so they could make get people to make fun of it. Why? Seriously, WHY?!?

And what I hate most is how this is clearly aimed at aspiring writers, with the line about “When you feel bad about your own work…” So this is jealousy, plain and simple. If you are having troubles with your own writing, and are struggling to succeed, tearing down the writing of someone who has succeeded isn’t going to make your writing any better.

And, I swear, I’m not even a huge fan of the book or the movie myself. I have read the first book (not any of the others) and it was okay to me. I can understand if other people who read it don’t like it. Likewise, the movie was just okay to me too. I’m no E.L. James fanboy, and she doesn’t need me to defend her or her work anyway. I’m just a book-lover in general. And I think if you love books, you shouldn’t ever be made to feel bad about what type of books you love. And if you’re one of the people who does that, you’re just an a-hole.