Ahh the great American novel. We used to read them in high school and for some of us, as early as middle school. We would escape to stories like "To kill a mockingbird" and "The Great Gatsby," and learn names of authors that were icons like Mark Twain and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Now, now we are just settling for books as well just books. This is an extremely important topic we need to address.
But Ty, why do we need to care? Well it's simple really. Have you SEEN the books and novels that are being put out and put on the bestseller's lists? Fad books are dominating the world of reading and if it isn't a fad book more than likely written JUST to become a blockbuster flick, it's some celebrity we all know putting out a self-help book or a biography. Is that really what writing has come to: fad books, another cookbook by Guy Fieri, or another political biography or political thoughts book by Hillary Clinton? Do we REALLY think that's good for literature as a whole? This millennial says, "Uh uh..."
Where have all of the authors that mean something have gone? Are they hiding? Are they writing independently? Are they just self-published? People are going to skewer me when I say this, and the majority will probably be female when I say Fifty Shades of Grey got A BAD REVIEW WHEN IT WAS A NOVEL. Don't believe me? Google Jen Doll's article form the Atlantic and that doesn't include all of the hilarious good read reading critiques out there. (You want a laugh google those too.)
Where are the great writers that introduced us to characters like Snowball and Napoleon in Animal Farm or Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451? Do we really need to see another fad book hit the big screen because someone wanted the fame and acclaim of Twilight or Harry Potter? No, we really don't. Or at the very least, we shouldn't.
There was a time when authors were treated like celebrities and had their own famous friends in Hollywood or putting out records because it was respectableto be an author. Yes, we have digital books but that should entice people to read good lit, not trash. We still have great authors like Gaiman and Grisham and for those of you who adore him, King. They sell a lot of books and rightly so, but what will happen when these aging authors die? Then what? There is only a certain amount of time for these guys to just touch a book they write and it turns into a New York Times Bestseller.
Millennials, it is beyond time to start reading something new and worthwhile. Broaden your horizons. Heck judge a book by its cover if it will get you to read it. Just don't let something that was so loved die and crumble right before our eyes. The great American novel is in trouble and it's honestly up to us to bring forth a renaissance.
Ty Pulliam is a graduate student at the University of Alabama. He has a bachelor's in English and Political Science and is an avid reader.
