is reading unpopular books a waste of time?

maybe we should delete goodreads

Social media has commodified literature and turned “people who read” into “readers.” Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I think it’s had some negative effects on how I personally approach reading.

When I was in high school I used to read books as a form of travel since, as a teenager, I didn’t have the means to really do so. I especially enjoyed reading about countries I had little knowledge of; I loved feeling immersed in settings completely different from my small town outside Seattle. For example, Orhan Pamuk has inspired my deep love of Istanbul and Mohsin Hamid made me obsessed with Lahore and jalebi. I used to have a pretty good knowledge base of contemporary translated literature, but I totally lost it when I went to college.

jalebi 🤤🤤

This post was spurred by some thoughts I had while reading Sarah Cucchiara’s excellent article “carrying around a copy of the bell jar doesn’t make you look smarter.” I realized that going to college pushed me into the rat race of projecting my intellect, reading what made me look smarter. 

I especially remember being daunted when I took Medieval and Early Modern Literature. I felt like the stupidest person in my class because I’d only read a couple Shakespeare plays and virtually no classic literature from Europe. I hadn’t touched Flaubert, I’d dabbled in Gogol, but my natural interests had never really taken me to that area of the world. I was reading three books a week but what I read was useless in the conversational landscape of my university. 

I hated being silent when conversations turned to books just because I hadn’t read Sally Rooney or My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I wanted to have a strong opinion on them so that everyone would know I was smart. 

no hate to sally rooney btw i’ve actually read and enjoyed all of these :)

Goodreads too made me obsessed with staying on top of popular literature because I wanted to be able to say I’d read what all my friends had read. I wanted them to scroll down and see that Whitney had already given this book two stars and a scathing review because she’s better than pop-lit. 

But now I miss the free and intuitive way I used to read. I miss spending a week or two reading an 800 page books that I avoid now because it lowers my StoryGraph stat of how many days I spent per book and my Goodreads reading goal of reaching x amount of books. I stopped reading magazines and short stories and my friend’s writing because why would I read something I can’t log on my Goodreads? 

But I realized recently that I love people who read books I’ve never heard of, people who don’t hate Sally Rooney but simply haven’t gotten around to reading her. People who read like no one is stalking their Goodreads. It’s unfortunate that books and social media have become so intertwined, honestly. Reading is ultimately only for ourselves. But these apps trick us into thinking that we should be reading for the impressions of others. 

It is so much more interesting when people read non-canonical literature. Your brain becomes influenced by a much wider pool of thought and ideas. Your writing becomes more unique and developed. Also, there is absolutely nothing like connecting with someone else who has read less canonical books. I was in a bar this year where I found out the person I was talking to had also read Mohsin Hamid! We were so shocked but I felt instantly so close to them.

I think that reading is very similar to travel in this way. I had the privilege of studying abroad last year in Florence, where it was really cheap to go on weekend trips around Europe. At least to travel to less-touristy countries. I couldn’t afford to go to London or Barcelona, so instead I traveled to Albania and Budapest (both round trip flights were around 60 euros). I did shell out a hundred and fifty euros to see Paris, which was incredible, but when I got back home no one wanted to ask me about Paris. They were so much more curious about the countries they’d never been to.

I don’t really care to hear another review of Normal People but I’m dying to know if you have any translated Thai recommendations. Or any translated literature in general. 

Thank you for reading this kind of esoteric rant :) I feel like this is such a 21st century problem for chronic substackers that honestly doesn’t matter but it annoys me. And maybe it annoys you too. But I’m serious about the book recs!! Please leave me some <3 ✪

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P.S. I know I just went on this whole rant about book social media but I’m still addicted to Goodreads, add me here!