Nostalgia Reading

Perhaps some of you have heard of this obscure little YA book series called Twilight. Well if you haven’t you are most likely not reading a blog or conscious, so I’ll go ahead and assume that all of you have at least heard mention of Stephanie Myers’ name, or seen a poster and thought, “He’s not THAT cute.” What? I know I’m not the only one.

Anyway, it seems everyone and their mother has now read Twilight, the same way we’ve all read Harry Potter. No, I am not interested in comparing the two series, because clearly HP wins hands down (sorry tweeny bloodsucker lovers), nor am I interested in arguing the positive or negative effects these series have had on the literacy of youth. I have noticed though, that adults seem to have become so enamored with these books intended for young readers, they’ve taken to discovering or rediscovering past classics and favorites from their youth.

It started when I saw a woman reading The Golden Compass on the train. Sure, the movie was out recently, but it got horrible reviews and didn’t do nearly as well as the previously mentioned books or The Chronicles of Narnia. But I began to notice more and more adults indulging in YA novels of the Gossip Girl and other teen drama variety. Personally, I am obsessed with The Luxe series. (Think Gossip Girl at the turn of the century.)

And now I wonder how long it would be until we were all back to reading Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine, and Roald Dahl. I have the complete set of Little House books sitting above my desk, which I’ve been dying to delve again ever since I completed them back in 4th grade. Are the Boxcar Children far behind? How much will we regress in the name of nostalgia reading?

Now maybe it’s just the movie and TV tie-ins that have ushered us back to adolescence, and what this says about the state of literacy and literature in America today, I don’t know. But when even Oprah is picking 576 page novels for her book club, I guess you can’t blame us for seeking out a little ‘light reading.’

What’s your guilty reading pleasure?