𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢. 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘢 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺’𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘕𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘞𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘌𝘺𝘳𝘦.
Anyone who lists those as favorites is lying so they won't be insulted by professors.
Of ALL the books in the world ... find me 10 people who would HONESTLY say that Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre are their favorite books.
Find me 10.
Heck, find me 5.
When I was in school ... especially college ... the curriculum at that time was so cis-het-white-male focused and so uninteresting that I just didn't give a shit. Even in high school the reading assigned was BORING AF and the endless, pointless themes over and over of the SAME SHIT didn't resonate or motivate me. If I wasn't already an avid reader, it would have sworn me off reading all together. Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre oh for the love of god just stop with that nonsense.
Dames is a specialist in the novel, with particular attention to the novel of the nineteenth century in Britain and on the European continent.
I bet he's never read an African American author in his WHOLE LIFE let along anything YA or anything that isn't white centered.
𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦. - Kevin Ivers
𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘌𝘺𝘳𝘦. - Emily Marie Williams
I have cut people out of my life for even hinting at judgement about how I read and what I read. It's absolutely no ones business how people spend their time and what they enjoy consuming. Intelligence is not measured by how much you read and what you read ... sorry, it just isn't. Intelligence is way more complex and fluid than that. I hate literary snobs and linguicists as much as I hate racists.
Anything that acts as a way of sucking the joy and freedom out of reading for anyone is just evil and anyone who engages in that or enables it is just as evil. We should be encouraging any kind of reading, any kind of engagement with books. School nearly sucked the love of reading right out of me for that reason. My brother's wife was constantly trying to drill into my nephew that he should read, read, read and she asked me how to get him to engage more with books and I said "leave him alone".
I was never in the "smart kids" classes. I wasn't smart enough. I had learning disabilities. I had difficulty reading. I struggled constantly and still do thanks to #aphantasia. It was rough. Me discovering books and reading and enjoy them happened on it's own. Me having access to "higher literature" didn't happen in school. I read books I bought from the gas station or borrowed from the library. I read hundreds, thousands of books growing up ... reading made me want to become a writer.
If Wuthering Heights is your favorite book, good on you. Congratulations. Just don't judge other people who don't give AF and would rather read a million Cassandra Clare books. At least they are reading. At least they are picking up a book and enjoying that book.
Mind your business.
Leave people alone.
Stop yucking people's yum.
Reading Jane Eyre didn't inspire me to want to write. Reading IT and Piers Anthony books and abridged kids versions of classics that came free with our encyclopedia sets did.
Who cares what you read.
Just read and enjoy it.