The Great Escape

I don't begrudge anyone "turning off their brain" to enjoy books. But if that's all you're doing, you're missing out.

Butterfly in the sky / I can fly twice as high / take a look / it’s in a book

Lyrics to the Reading Rainbow theme song. Written by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir. Performed by Tina Fabrique.

People read for all sorts of reasons. And, as a fan of books, I don’t think any of those reasons are bad. I mean, maybe if you’re reading a manual on anatomy to kill someone. That would be bad. Although it might depend on the person. But I digress.

Despite what I said above, the further I’ve dove into the book reviewing space as part of my efforts on BookTok and elsewhere, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. More and more, it feels like people are just mass consuming things to feel good. Not everyone reads a ton of books. Being part of BookTok, in particular, has warped my sense of what is normal. Once I got back to reading, I’d usually set my GoodReads* goal at around 60-70 books. But back then, that included a healthy heaping of graphic novels. Which are no “lesser than” other books, but they are quicker to read. These days, I set my goal at around the same number but it’s mostly prose novels. I’m reading more now than I ever have in my life. But not everyone makes the time for that much reading, or can. There is immense privilege in having the time and energy to read that much, I think.

So, if someone is reading one book a month or one book a year, and they want a fluffy or cozy book where they can turn off their brain and just enjoy some stock characters going through well-worn tropes, more power to them. Again, I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to judge what someone is reading.

*Yes, I know. I want to move away from Amazon-owned GoodReads. I am on StoryGraph and Fable, too, but old habits die hard.

Consumption Versus Reading

However, if someone is consuming dozens of books a month and they all fall into this category, then I start to worry a little bit. Because books, like anything, can be a drug. Escape isn’t bad in and of itself. I understand that desire and need, especially these days. The world can feel especially dark. But if that’s all one reads, that can start to distort one’s reality, too. Books are no longer “political” to them. They don’t like the real work intruding on their “book space.” That sort of thinking can be toxic in a community. Beyond that, I worry that people are denying themselves the full pleasure of what books have to offer. In a way, I think it can become toxic to the reader too.

I used the word “consuming” above because I feel like that’s more of an apt description than “reading.” To me, reading is an active pursuit. It’s about using your imagination, making connections between text and subtext. It’s about exploring themes, facing truths both dark and inspiring, and learning more about the world. It doesn’t matter what I’m reading. An audiobook, a prose novel, a graphic novel—I’m always thinking through and around stories. When there’s not enough there to chew on, I find my mind drifting and my interest waning. It’s the difference between enjoying the contrasting textures and flavors of a well-cooked meal versus swallowing down the familiar and reliably-okay greasiness of a Chicken McNugget. Both can taste good. I don’t think anyone should deny themselves either. But one’s an experience, and one is a quick, familiar serotonin boost. The issue arises, just as with fast food, in how much you consume of those high-fat, low nutrition meals.

Again, this isn’t about whether certain books are “bad or good” for you. And it’s not targeting any certain genre. Some people escape into the most horrific horror stories for comfort. The commonality of books that are pure escapism, at least in my experience, is that they feature stock characters and lots of tropes.

Teacher, Therapist, Friend

I can go anywhere
Friends to know, and ways to grow

Reading Rainbow theme song

The Reading Rainbow theme is permanently stuck in my head. I grew up watching it, of course. But it strikes me that sometimes people focus so much on the “I can go anywhere” part they forget about the “friends to know, and ways to grow”part. Because reading, unlike most other forms of media, allows you sustained time in other people’s heads. Some of the best books can still be escaped into. But what is waiting inside are people living lives totally unlike yours. By experiencing life through their eyes, you can gain a new understanding of people thousands of miles away in parts of the world you may never get to, or that no longer exist. And there is so much wisdom in books. Sometimes lyrically stated. Sometimes stated outright.

For example, here’s a passage from Percival Everett’s James, a retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the slave Jim’s perspective:

At that moment the power of reading made itself clear and real to me. If I could see the words, then no one could control them or what I got from them. They couldn't even know if I was merely seeing them or reading them, sounding them out or comprehending them. It was a completely private affair and completely free and, therefore, completely subversive.

Books have helped me process a lot of feelings and thoughts over the years. They’ve opened my eyes to the joys and plights of people far away—both in space and time. They’ve made me confront the ugliness of humanity. They’ve given me hope for the future. They’ve made me despair. I think all of these things are useful.

When things get too intense, or too sad, or maybe even too happy for your current mood, you can always close the book. And once it’s read to the finish, you can close it and put it back on the shelf or take it to the used bookstore. You can carry the people you met with you forever, or you can forget them. That’s incredibly powerful. It means you can experience those things through a book, and maybe you’ll be better prepared emotionally when you have to confront them in real life.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Pain, sadness, and other intense emotions in real life are not so easily managed. Despite what the “I want my book spaces light and politics free” crowd might like to think, many of us cannot simply close the book on our pain. We cannot stick a bookmark in our fear. While some of these people might have privileges that you and I don’t have, I don’t think they are so different when it comes to dealing with hard times. Everyone has hard times, no matter who they are. My fear is that—by denying themselves the very useful, controlled difficulties in a book—they’ve missed out on the opportunity to learn and grow from it. To become better at facing the darkness in the real world.

The thing is, I’m actually very sympathetic to the people who are tired of politics and the horrors of reality invading a space they tried to curate to escape that. It can be very exhausting, in this era of “culture wars,” to view everything through that lens. I think almost all of us have had those moments when it just becomes too much. The thing that gets me is when, rather than just skipping the video or post from someone who does want to talk about that stuff, their answer is to play victim. To talk about how they just wanted a “safe space.” That the very existence of people grappling with political and personal difficulties is an irritation to them to the point they have to make a post about it. They use hashtags like #hatersgonnahate and get a flood of incoming followers for this “brave” stand. What I’m about to say is purely anecdotal, but something that gave me pause. I unfollowed a lot of these sorts of people on TikTok recently. And, frankly, one of the common denominators ended up being the type of books they favored. Usually one genre. Often trope heavy with stock characters. And it made me wonder, is this where the failure of empathy came from, at least partially? Is this why they seemed incapable or unwilling to “read the room?”