Earlier today, I had lunch with a friend, and we talked
about our mutual love for 80s music. I almost exclusively listen to 80s music
and artists, even their current stuff. My friend asked me when my cutoff year was
from when I stopped following newer music artists. (Somewhere in the early
90s.) Anyway, my follow-up reply was that if you knew me back then, then you
know me now and vice versa.
Before I began this post, I looked back at my original post
that described my reading profile. In that post, I discuss Smurfs, Scooby Doo,
the Muppets, A Nightmare on Elm Street,
Friday the 13th movies,
and TV’s The Facts of Life. When it
comes to reading, the previous statement about knowing me then versus now still
holds true. Nonfiction books based on pop culture will always be my go-to
reading because I’d rather know 50 things I didn’t know about The Brady Bunch than to be 50 Shades Freed.
Still, I will say that I have opened up myself to more
fiction in the last couple of years, but I suspect that might have something to
do with completing my master’s degree. In the last couple of years, I have read
several fiction books that I normally would not have read because they didn’t
approach subjects that I was not already interested in such as a Haitian
teenager trapped beneath rubble from the 2010 earthquake (In Darkness by Nick Lake,) a teenage girl who was victim of a
sexual assault and further victimized by her community (Asking for It by Louise O’Neill,) and several other books. (I will
exclude the New Adult genre because I’m just going to.) Essentially, I have
since found myself reading more fiction than I have in most of my adult life,
so I see my reading habits and choice evolving more now than ever before.
What about the future for reading and books in general?
First of all, print books are never going away. I think that a lot of the hype
about eBooks taking over relates more to reference materials and information
gathering than it does reading for pleasure. Books have been and will always be
a status symbol of sorts. I have always loved the quote by filmmaker John
Waters, “If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't f*¢k
'em!” Books are a sign of intelligence, curiosity, adventure, diversity, and
many other good things. Seeing someone’s book collection is a great way to see
who they are.
The big changes for books is in the coming years is that we’re
going to see more independent books coming back. Real independent books. Not
vanity publishers that were bought up by big name publishers. Self-publishing
is going to grow, and the digital format makes it easier than ever for anyone
to put out a book who wants to. We might not see the big advertising campaigns
that have more to do with making money than the love of reading. We’re going to
see word-of-mouth campaigns that will let art and connections be at the
forefront of reading again. The future of reading is going to cove more ground
and voices than ever before, but the big mystery will be how those voices will
be discovered.
