Silly Little Books

Anonymous Patron writes “At baltimoresun.com (registration required) Stephen Kiehl says America is awash in stupid books. You find them stacked next to cash registers in malls. They fit neatly in Christmas stockings or are given as gifts on their own. They are popular at office goodbye parties – here, have some cake and this copy of Idiots at Work as a sign of our appreciation.”

April 26, 2005 by Uncategorized 3

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3 Responses

  1. simoleon101 says:
    April 26, 2005 at 2:27 am

    psh!
    I’m sorry for saying this, but I think the article was pretty much a waste of space for the Baltimore Sun. I didn’t even bother to finish it, because it started to get repetitive. So give me a negative, I’m cheating and may be eating my words. I mean, sure, America is awash in stupid little books. But does that mean the average American is dumber for it? How come we can’t have stupid little books, because we have stupid little Americans? (Note: this is not an attack against midgets, dwarves, or short people in general. My girlfriend is relatively short, so there.)

    It’s not every day that I want to pick up a Shakespeare Anthology and read each sonnet with a view to gathering new insight of love poems. Isn’t it enough to read for the joy of reading itself? Isn’t that part of what libraries are in existence for? Yes, cultural and social enlightenment as well as informative needs is what truly drives libraries, but when has Harry Potter driven social enlightenment? Hmm… now those are words I may eat! And Harry Potter is in libraries, because the average American Jane and Joe happen to want to be able to relax. Who knows? Maybe stupid little books are actually speeding up the reading rate for people who pick them up, since there’s little thinking involved with stupid little books.

    All that ridiculous ranting and raving to say: Who cares if America is awash in stupid little books? As far as I’m concerned, it makes for a good balancing act with stupid big SUVs that block my view when I’m trying to back out of a parking spot, putting me in danger of being hit by a non-parked stupid big SUV. So go figure. I have an opinion.

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  2. Anonymous Patron says:
    April 26, 2005 at 8:37 am

    This just in…
    America is awash in silly little articles.

    With too many column inches to fill, “journalists” on deadlines are casting about for cute little slices of life or things that make you (annoyed | go hmmm | get a warm cuddly feeling | doubt the existence of god | want to write to your congresscritter) that they can stretch and pad enough to fill the space between the mattress sale and LASEK(tm) advertisements.

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  3. birdie says:
    April 26, 2005 at 5:33 pm

    Re:This just in…
    Anon, you hsve a point, however, the publishing industry, including those publishers of the silly little books, should be carefully examined under the magnifying glass of society. They, and the big booksellers are catering to what they think Americans want (bestsellers and silly little books)…if that’s not what we want, we should tell them…as does this reporter. Of course the whole thing is a moot point, as the chains ‘purchase’ the silly little books, place them near the cash register, wait for someone to buy them and when they don’t, return them to the publisher to get their money back.

    Just be grateful that you don’t have to deal with those books at the library. When was the last time you checked out a copy of “What Your Birth Date Reveals About You” (uh, maybe, when my parents got romantic?), @ your library.

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