Propriety Pharisees

Every December, during the last week of the year: it starts: people post their Goodreads reading challenge goal progress.

"I read 50 out of 60 books. Maybe I'll make it next year!"

"I made it! 125 books! Yeah!"

"Who can tell me a short book that I can read in a day? Just two more books to reach my goal!"

I give thumbs up to posts by people I know, make suggestions for new titles, and celebrate as I have time. (I often suggest folks consider using Storygraph, a woman and Black-owned platform not associated with am@20n that tracks reading goals/challenges/facilitates interaction with others.)

Then, like clockwork, come the Reading Overlords, the Guards of Correct Choices, the Pharisees of Book Propriety.

"Sharing reading goals is ableist. What about people that don't own books?"

"Short books? Short books are cheating; books need to be 400 or more pages."

"I read 150 books a year. I've done that for the past 20 years; next year challenge yourself."

But that's not all. Oh, no. Now comes the Judgement of What Makes a Book a Book.

"I've checked out the titles you read and you cheat: graphic novels aren't books!"

"Hey- you've added audio books; they aren't reading. Listening to a story doesn't mean you've read it!"

"Twilight? Twilight is for teens not adults. Are you trying to earn a pizza?"

"What's 'romatacy'? How can you call that reading? It's just smut."

And on, and on, and on, and on, and on... Every year. Every year I watch people that don't know anything about the other person do their very best to quash and squash the joy and satisfaction in their life.

They demand that there is one correct way to approach reading, and it is their way. The right way. The acceptable way. Nothing else counts. Nothing else deserves mention. Nor sharing. Nor recognition. UGH.

As a career bookseller I want to be clear about this:

• audio books are books
• graphic novels are books
• any book the reader wants to read is exactly the book the reader should read
• Pizza Hut did more for Summer reading than any librarian (I said what I said)
• a personal reading challenge is for the person that does the reading. It's not a job interview. It isn't a political assignment. It is exclusively their own business.
• like pumpkin spice brings squeals of joy each Fall, genre is each person's own choice. Observe their happiness and stop harsh-ing their mellow.

But; Judey? It's June? Why are you writing about this now?

I'm writing about this now because something happened this past week that reminded me of all of this. There has been discussion, open comments, fingers pointing, etc. enough already, but please bear with me as I poke my irritated nose into things.

Comments.

It's about Vocal commenting, folks. There are strong feelings about the satisfactory way to comment. THAT. That is what reminded me of the judgemental December Doldrums regarding the Proper Proclaimers of Reading Acceptability.

Take me, for example. Sometimes when I see on Facebook that someone has posted a new Vocal story I click on the link and read it, only to find that I can't 'heart it' or comment since accessing it in that way means I'm not logged into the platform.

Why? I have no idea. I don't make the Rules.

But does that mean my read didn't 'count'? No- it does not mean that at all. ALL reads on Vocal count. Even if a Vocalite isn't logged in? Yes. Even if it's your Great-Aunt Thelma that can't log into a cabin; it counts. They just can't interact with it.

Let's say I want to comment so I do the click to log in- I am now on my Home Page and to comment I need to search and find that posting. Will I do that? (Hint: experience and history tell me *shakes Magic 8 Ball* 'It's Doubtful')

IN a perfect world I am logged in, I heart it, I comment with something fast because my husband needs access to our one bathroom/they just called my name at the coffee shoppe, or whatever. Does my read count more? Nope.

Does my comment count less? I'm a paying Vocal+ member and I am aware that comment help people get onto the Leaderboard. Sometimes? Sometimes I don't post more than a few words. Sometimes I just Heart. Sometimes I leave a comment that might leave the author/creator scratching their heads, often I make typos.

Rarely am I creative enough to leave an emoji because, on a phone, I can't figure out how to do that on the Vocal platform, and on a laptop I forget to be fancy. I love the way it looks, though and am always happy when I see them in comments on my work. I know that the commentor went to extra trouble and I appreciate it.

Frankly- self-appointed judges of readers and commentors aren't the things that keep me up at night. I just feel sorry for people that have lives empty enough that they need to fill them with imposing their personal standards on the actions of those that never asked for such dubious feedback.

But that's just me, I suppose. Now, though, I've made myself hungry for pizza......