Book Talk

On Sunday night I happened to be watching 60 Minutes, and one of the segments was an interview with the author John Green. I was only slightly familiar with him as an author, and didn't know anything about him as a person, so I paid attention. I'm glad I did, because I learned a few things.

John Green is a YA author, probably most well known for The Fault in Our Stars. I knew that he wrote mainly for teenagers, but being decades beyond my own teenage years, I think I tended to dismiss him, or think of his books as somehow "less than" the literary fiction or nonfiction I favor. I'm ashamed to admit that, because while I might be far too old for YA, he is writing books that reach a whole generation of readers, and in turn, helping them to ask and possibly begin to answer the big questions of life.

He doesn't dismiss young adults, but thinks that even if they haven't had experiences with death, suicide, cancer, and mental illness (things he writes about), the feelings that these traumas engender are universal. And he knows what he's writing about, as he deals with anxiety and OCD every day.

I have a really rich, fulfilling life. I also have a pretty serious chronic mental health problem. And those aren't mutually exclusive. And the truth is that lots of people have chronic mental health problems, and still have good lives.

When I worked in elementary and middle school libraries, the librarians occasionally gave book talks. They shared a little about the book under discussion, spoke about the author, and always ended with a bit of suspense to keep the students wondering. Books that had been book talked always had a long queue of borrowers, and I can understand why. Sixty Minutes basically book talked another of Green's books, Turtles All the Way Down, and I felt compelled to read it. I started it last night, but I was surprised to find out from goodreads that I had read it two years ago. I'm going to finish my re-read because I didn't remember that I had read it, so I certainly don't remember how it ends. 

I'm still too old for YA, but I can see that books that reach many different and varied readers, all of them in different places, are a good thing. They are definitely not less than, especially if they can help readers ask some questions, answer some questions, and better understand mental health. I think I will always pay attention to book talks, and might even learn a thing or two.