"All the paragraphs.and she compiled all the last lines from each chapter. It is some damn funny reading.
Are written.
Like THIS!
BOO!"
All this was prompted by the discovery that, at the time, this stinker was at the top of the NY Times Best Seller list. As Mr. Patterson himself might comment:
"Utter. Freakin’. Amazement."
If the library didn't pander to the "popular" the library and best seller list could again have some literary merit. How many copies of Patterson's book did BCPL buy? Cut down on the number, make obtaining a copy a wait (for public copy) or expensive (buying hardbound when you never intend to read again). But no - it is a "Public" library and what the public wants the public gets. Is your aim to educate or keep those circulation numbers up? You gonna fight the system?
ReplyDeleteMom? Is that you? Can't be Dad, the spelling's too good.
ReplyDeleteIn point of fact, the 'aim' is to get the adults to bring their children in so that we can get books into the hands of the children. We do all sorts of crap to lure the adults, including super-stocking the best-sellers.
I don't actually care WHAT adults read, as long as they demonstrate to their children that it is a pleasurable, everyday activity.
Besides all that, erm, yes, it IS a "public" library, paid for with "public" money. Our budget gets approved every year, mostly because so many members of the "public" keep walking through our doors. And that happens because they have learned that the library has what they're looking for, whether it's a book by James Patterson or by Alexander Theroux.
Elitism for its own sake seems counterproductive in this case.