- Share This Post
- submit
- 8
-
Sparkle (0)
Sometimes life... well it just needs escaping. Maybe the economy has you down. Maybe you are trying really hard not to think about Thanksgiving with extended family. Maybe you are trying to ignore the fact that there are already radio channels dedicated to Christmas carols. Maybe it's all of those things and all you want to do is get away. If that's the case, escapist reading is where it's at. Step into a book and be another person, sit on a sunny beach, rescue the prince and maybe slay a dragon or two along the way.
A recent article in Reuters suggested that people are turning more to escapist reading, especially thrillers. I think that sometimes we just need to step away from life and plunge into something different, even if only for ten minutes at a time. But what is "escapist literature"? Well, you can Take Nina's Word For It when she says that it means different things to different people.
How would you define escapist literature? I suppose it means different things to different people. It could be anything from thrillers to romance novels, humor, fantasy, science fiction, cookbooks, or – one of my personal favorites – the Ikea catalogue.
Escapist for me may mean a Georgette Heyer or a reread of Harry Potter. Maybe for you it is Tom Clancy or Anne Rice. Maybe for others it is one of recently deceased Michael Crichton's novels. Global Gal was so absorbed in his Andromeda Strain that she failed to notice her sunburn.
A few days later I lay on the beach so engrossed in the book that I failed to notice the deepening red burn working its way over my legs and stomach, not unlike the way Andromeda ate through all those Piedmont residents. It was only 285 pages and it lasted me all of a few hours, but I couldn’t get the story out of my head.
Between the Covers found herself sucked into the inexplicably addictive teenage vampire phenomenon that is Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.
I found myself deeply interested in ‘what happens next’ and, like millions of young girls across the world, I became a sucker for a vampire in a cashmere turtleneck.
Somewhere I Have Never Travelled is wondering if she is taking the easy road.
I guess that it hasn't been the easiest year on record, so maybe this pull towards total escapist reading is not so mysterious. I just feel like lolling in complete self-indulgence (as far as books are concerned). I have a list, in the back of my mind, of more 'grown-up' books that I'd like to read, but really all I want to do is finish this string of thrillers, and then move on to a month of ghost stories. Is that so wrong?
Nope, not a thing wrong with that at all. So pick your favourite escape, curl up on the couch with your favourite hot drink and run away for a little while.
Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
