Week Seven Prompt

            I decided to choose Angela Liao’s article for this writing prompt. First of all, I believe that the article is largely correct in assuming that “60% of people would like to read more often but feel too busy to read” (Liao, 2017, n.p.). Personally, I am too occupied with studies for college classes, so I usually can’t read for leisure on a regular basis. While I didn’t particularly read for pleasure, I used to read a lot during grade school and high school. Nevertheless, if one is motivated to read, that person will read whenever the person acquires the chance to accomplish the task of reading.

            Most books aren’t too difficult for me to read unless the terminology is complex or the subject matter is too boring. So, the article’s argument that some books are too difficult to get through is somewhat implausible (Liao, 2017, n.p.). I don’t appreciate perusing through a book in chronological order unless the book is extremely interesting; I have a tendency to skip and read certain sections of a book. So, if a book is too difficult for one to read through in a chronological order, a person should still be able to read through the novel at certain places. I believe that it’s acceptable to read books in parts or not entirely if they consist of a series of ideas. I feel that these ideas are individual stories “that feed our spirits, our emotions, and our intellects” (Saricks, 2009, p. 11).

            I also feel that it’s a bit strange to be motivated to read through the online book clubs of celebrities (Liao, 2017, n.p.), but I understand that it’s still necessary to discover a purpose for reading or to be encouraged to glance through a certain novel through a book’s online display or description. Also, while it’s remarkably simple to follow celebrities or other prominent individuals on Instagram through an internet search engine and an Instagram account, the use of this social media platform through celebrities has a negative side. It doesn’t really matter when a celebrity utilizes Instagram; they are merely advertising for a book club, satisfying a need for recognition through pictures of themselves with the books, or revealing a personal interest. The article could be correct with its argument that celebrities want to appear intelligent and relatable to other human beings (Liao, 2017, n.p.), but these celebrities with online book clubs are still drawing attention through social media posts for their clubs.

            In addition, while a book club might be sponsored by a trustworthy celebrity, it does not mean that the books that a celebrity promotes contain true stories. Celebrities, such as Oprah Windrey, have accidently promoted books that actually exhibited fake memoirs, such as James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces (TSG Industries Inc., 2015, n.p.). So, the novels that a celebrity promotes on a social media platform could contain false content.

            Also, posted information on any social media platform can grow exponentially due to the number of likes or comments that a post receives. The rate of escalation in an online context in response to a textual post can be intoxicating and can betray the quality and meaning of the post’s information. So, I often find the use of social media platforms for online book clubs to be rather shallow and obsessive.

            While I think that it’s interesting that Emma Watson is utilizing her “appointment as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador” to find feminist titles (Liao, 2017, n.p.), I don’t believe that the cause of feminism is very inspiring. I am aware that libraries wish to teach tolerance, but I don’t feel that the concept of feminism is actually tolerant (Saricks, 2009, p. 11). So, I personally don’t think that the promotion of feminist titles is empowering or being empathetic towards other people. Therefore, I don’t think that Watson’s cause for promoting feminist titles is a good one.

            Also, Watson is promoting fictional titles for her book club for feminism. The Handmaid’s Tale may seem inspiring, but the book is a piece of fiction (Goodreads Inc, 2018b, n.p.). It is also difficult to discern if the supposedly real-life parallels and aspects of The Handmaid’s Tale are actually applicable towards real life (Goodreads Inc, 2018b, n.p.). I suspect that much of the novel is false, since it is written by an author who wrote dystopian or horror stories (Goodreads Inc, 2018a, n.p.).    

            However, I am not against using social media for beneficial causes. I follow a handful of celebrities on twitter, such as Steve Burton. Burton appears to have a very personal and average sort of life, despite being fairly wealthy and being busy by traveling to work and meetings (Twitter, 2018, n.p.). He uses his role as a celebrity to cleverly promote and advertise his nutritional workout products (Twitter, 2018, n.p.).

            I also agree with the article’s argument about celebrities utilizing certain books to project a specific image of themselves to the public (Liao, 2017, n.p.). I think that posting the image of a book or a description of it creates a certain impression towards the person who posted the information. For instance, I felt that Reese Witherspoon and Emma Robert’s Instagram posts appeared reasonable in comparison to Emma Watson’s Instagram posts and book selections (Liao, 2017, n.p.). I also believe that it’s quite practical to use book clubs that are sponsored by celebrities to increase the number of book purchases and sales, such as the increase for sales for The Potion Diaries on Amazon’s website (Liao, 2017, n.p.). In general, celebrity book clubs can create “a terrific initial boost in sales” and popularity for a celebrity’s selected titles (Butler, Cowan, & Nilsson, 2005, p. 23).

            Also, I found that Sarah Jessica Parker’s statement about books in the article was quite repulsive. Books should not be viewed as companions (Liao, 2017, n.p.). Viewing and utilizing books as companions is very anti-social. While I did read many books at a young age, I typically read out of interest. Currently, I read a lot of articles or sections of books for college. Sometimes, I become involved with the story of a book if it’s written well or interesting. I try to search for value, art, ideas, and depth in books in a critical and analytical manner. However, books are not my friends; they are primarily reservoirs of ideas and information.

            Parker’s statement also gave the impression of a passionate and juvenile obsession with books and reading, which was distasteful to me. It’s dismaying that the American Library Association seems to be using Parker’s celebrity status to promote book clubs (Liao, 2017, n.p.). I don’t think that it’s always necessary to utilize celebrities in order to promote a cause. It would be better to appeal to a local community in a personal manner through certain relevant organizations or causes. I appreciate book clubs when they meaningfully connect with the local community or bring people together. However, some book clubs that are sponsored by celebrities without a good cause give a repulsive impression to me.

References:

Butler, R. J., Cowan, B. W., & Nilsson, S. (2005). From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the

            Impact of Oprah's Book Club Selections. Publishing Research Quarterly, 20(4), 23-34.

            Retrieved from

            http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=55

            133991-03da-49d2-aece-a9d2aa626230@sessionmgr4007

Goodreads Inc. (2018a). Margaret Atwood. Retrieved from

            https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3472.Margaret_Atwood

Goodreads Inc. (2018b). The Handmaid's Tale. Retrieved from

            https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38447.The_Handmaid_s_Tale

Liao, Angela. (2017, Jun. 30). Celebrity Book Clubs Create Virtual Reading Community.

Retrieved from https://www.bookstr.com/celebrity-book-clubs-create-virtual-reading-community

Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL:

            American Library Association.

TSG Industries Inc.. (2015). A Million Little Lies. Retrieved from

            http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies

Twitter. (2018). Steve Burton. Retrieved from  

https://twitter.com/1SteveBurton?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor