‘What if I treated a book that was meant to be breezy and lighthearted as if it were one of the greats’ - that’s exactly what I did with one of my Christmas read. I did wonder whether I over-analyse/ over-interpret the book. But I like the meaning I’ve given to this book.
I really appreciate this post and all you invested into sharing with us here. Because I am writing a novel in the YA genre, I have been reading/listening to a lot of YA novels. Some of them have been absolute delights while others have just been drudgery. I’m often telling myself to resist comparing them to great classics or our modern works of literary art. But after reading your experiment, I’m going to approach these reads with much more intention and purpose than I have been. Maybe I’ll even stop using the word “fluff.”
Just finished the book and rushed over here to read your post. I loved the way you broke this down AND I found it very interesting that I had some different takeaways. I love that rom coms can speak to us all in different way meeting us wherever we are at in life. I really resonate with her journey to find balance between the safe and the risk. Thank you for writing this! I feel so inspired. ✨
This was great! So much thought goes into crafting stories that can be dismissed as fluff. It takes work and expertise to write a book that feels “easy” to read. I love balancing out my reading list with rom coms all throughout the year, and have found so much depth in many of these stories!
Yes! The writers of these books are very smart, and it's not easy to make a book a breezy read. I've never realized how much depth was in these kinds of books but after doing this I was like wait ... there's so much going on here! Thank you so much for reading 🥹🥹🥹 (and apologies I'm responding a month later -- I somehow missed a bunch of comments!)
This is a great read. I'm thinking of doing a Save the Cat analysis for a book published in the 1940s. Should be a similar post! It all helps feed the writing.
Hi Linda! Apologies for the incredibly late reply, I've missed some comments here it appears. Have you written the post yet? I am obsessed with that idea! If you've written it, please share!
Not yet. My first “essay” which may be more of a “ramble”, is about the 1970 three-hanky novel LOVE STORY by Erich Segal, probably coming at the end of January. I am conservatively planning four or five essays this year so… you’ll see it at some point.
Kolina, I love this so much! I think we do a disservice to books that entertain when we don't also treat them as art that's worthy of intellectual analysis. Thanks so much for sharing this and for the shoutout!
Thank you Sara! I completely agree, it is a disservice! I had a ton of fun analyzing this one, and I found there was more to the book (and the genre) than I'd thought.
Okay, this is so good!!!!!
THANK YOU love! It was a fun experiment and I recommend trying it out!
I don’t know how I ended up here but I liked it!
Ha! So glad you did!
‘What if I treated a book that was meant to be breezy and lighthearted as if it were one of the greats’ - that’s exactly what I did with one of my Christmas read. I did wonder whether I over-analyse/ over-interpret the book. But I like the meaning I’ve given to this book.
I love that you did it, too! Isn't it a fun experiment?!
Yeah, it’s more like an usual thing for me now🙃
I really appreciate this post and all you invested into sharing with us here. Because I am writing a novel in the YA genre, I have been reading/listening to a lot of YA novels. Some of them have been absolute delights while others have just been drudgery. I’m often telling myself to resist comparing them to great classics or our modern works of literary art. But after reading your experiment, I’m going to approach these reads with much more intention and purpose than I have been. Maybe I’ll even stop using the word “fluff.”
Thank you Alexis! I'm so happy this got you thinking about "fluff" differently. Have you approached these books differently yet??
Just finished the book and rushed over here to read your post. I loved the way you broke this down AND I found it very interesting that I had some different takeaways. I love that rom coms can speak to us all in different way meeting us wherever we are at in life. I really resonate with her journey to find balance between the safe and the risk. Thank you for writing this! I feel so inspired. ✨
I love that you rushed over to read this! (I somehow missed a bunch of comments on this post so apologies that I'm writing to you a month later 🤣🤣🤣)
So cool that you had different takeaways. You're right, we take what we need from them! Thank you, as always, for reading! ✨
This was great! So much thought goes into crafting stories that can be dismissed as fluff. It takes work and expertise to write a book that feels “easy” to read. I love balancing out my reading list with rom coms all throughout the year, and have found so much depth in many of these stories!
Yes! The writers of these books are very smart, and it's not easy to make a book a breezy read. I've never realized how much depth was in these kinds of books but after doing this I was like wait ... there's so much going on here! Thank you so much for reading 🥹🥹🥹 (and apologies I'm responding a month later -- I somehow missed a bunch of comments!)
This is a great read. I'm thinking of doing a Save the Cat analysis for a book published in the 1940s. Should be a similar post! It all helps feed the writing.
Hi Linda! Apologies for the incredibly late reply, I've missed some comments here it appears. Have you written the post yet? I am obsessed with that idea! If you've written it, please share!
Not yet. My first “essay” which may be more of a “ramble”, is about the 1970 three-hanky novel LOVE STORY by Erich Segal, probably coming at the end of January. I am conservatively planning four or five essays this year so… you’ll see it at some point.
Whoa, you are keeping busy! I'm looking forward to seeing the essays!
Kolina, I love this so much! I think we do a disservice to books that entertain when we don't also treat them as art that's worthy of intellectual analysis. Thanks so much for sharing this and for the shoutout!
Thank you Sara! I completely agree, it is a disservice! I had a ton of fun analyzing this one, and I found there was more to the book (and the genre) than I'd thought.
Thanks for imparting your lovely reading wisdom!
I love the idea of deeper reading, and the steps you laid out make it seem accessible instead of homework. Thanks for sharing this!
It's actually so enjoyable and not homework! It does take time but it doesn't have to take forever. I'd love to read if you try it out!
Great column! Made me think about redefining those "fluff" books that I usually pass up.
I just read Goes as a River by Shelley Read, based on true event of the flooding of Iola Colorado.
Am now reading All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker.
I am also reading the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths.
All the Colors of the Dark is on my nightstand! I haven't read it yet but I've heard many good things about it.
Yes, it's easy to skip over "fluff" books sometimes, but there's a lot more to them than I think we typically give them credit for!
Another really good, thoughtful piece. Finding one’s own “voice” applies to most types of art.
Thanks Barb! Happy holidays! 🤍🤍🤍