Blogging with Jill Shure
Why do Americans believe that reading a novel is like taking toxic smelling medicine? Is it because we were often forced to read extremely boring texts throughout high school and college? Did reading Beowulf and Paradise Lost forever kill your ability to enjoy a good book? I, too, did my time reading books which were supposedly good for me. Like spinach, they were meant to nourish me. But my personal belief is that the pretensions of educators and certain factions of the public make reading less of an adventure and more like a tedious journey.
I personally grew up devouring Nancy Drew books. My older sister handed me down the original versions published before 1959.
And though my grade school teacher discouraged me from reading these mysteries, I read the entire series. Yes, I was also forced to read the classics. But those early reading pleasures of curling up with Nancy Drew inspired me to go on to enjoy all sorts of adult fiction. I finished high school having read works by Tolstoy, Joseph Conrad, and Dostoyevsky. In college I read most of William Faulkner, Hemingway, Eugene O’Neil, Tennessee Williams, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald, now regarded as a literary genius, actually wrote popular fiction in his day, achieving early fame with his first novel, This Side of Paradise. This bestseller was not praised for its high literary appeal but for how well it depicted the post World War I generation. It was Fitzgerald’s 1920′s view of wild youth indulging in outlawed whiskey, sexual misconduct, and what we would call excessive “partying” today.
I just wish the public would accept that reading should be pleasurable. Because books can improve your imagination, your vocabulary, and educate you about the world. And kids will read if they’re inspired to. Just think of those Harry Potter books and those vampire novels kids are devouring.
So if your eleven year old son hates reading, try finding a biography of a sports hero he admires. Or the autobiography of a musician he’s wild about. And if children see you reading for pleasure, they might get the idea that sitting on their beds with a good book is fun.
Don’t worry about someone else’s idea of what literature is. Read whatever you like. And if you hate a book, put it down. There are too many wonderful books out there to bore yourself.
Because reading encourages more reading. It certainly did wonders for me. I enjoyed it so much I became a writer. In fact I wrote a mystery called, A CLAUSE FOR MURDER thanks to those hours spent with Nancy Drew. It’s a cozy mystery which will give you hours of pleasure and make you laugh. Because I also believe that laughter is one of the greatest pleasures on earth.
Jill Shure, a New York native, had a creative knack since she was young. Making her stage debut at the ripe old age of 10, she knew she was destined for greatness. Moving became a family pastime and the constant uprooting and changes in her life encouraged her to seek creative outlets in both the theater and writing. Shure majored in Language and Fine Arts at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
After graduating, Shure moved to Washington, D.C., and worked on Capitol Hill. After three years, Shure packed her bags and headed for Southern California where she attended graduate school in San Diego for teaching. She then pursued writing and worked with screenwriter Howard Browne and later on with novelist Joan Oppenhiemer. During this time, Shure kept her foot in the performance arena, starring in a production at San Diego State University and working in Children’s Theater.
Shure has written several novels from Young Adult to a Psychological Suspense Thriller. Her first script, The Levy’s Tomb, was optioned by a 20th Century Fox executive. Shure became a finalist in both The Austin Heart of Film Screenwriting Competition and twice in The Academy of Motion’s Pictures’ Nicholl Fellowship. Shure also studied screenwriting at UCLA, and with such notable gurus as Syd Field and Linda Seger.
Her fiction harvested awards at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference and twice at the San Diego State’s Writers Conferences from editors at Berkley Putnam and Harper Collins. Jill’s writings appear in The Love of Friends (Berkley Putnam 1997). In 2002, she won the BEN FRANKLIN AWARD for Popular Fiction for her novel, NIGHT JAZZ.
Jill is currently active in Sisters-In-Crime, Scripteasers, The Southwest Writers Association, Women in Film, and The National Writers’ Association, among others. An avid supporter of animal rights, Jill is a benefactor at The Helen Woodward Center in Fairbanks Ranch, California.
November 15th, 2010 at 6:44 am
As a matter of fact, “forced reading” in college very nearly did kill my ability to read for pleasure. Fortunately, I rediscovered my passion for reading just before I got pregnant with my son (11 or so years after graduation), and I’ve been happily addicted ever since. But now I choose my books because *I* want to read them!
~Lindy
November 15th, 2010 at 7:28 am
I agree. I remember growing up how much I enjoyed reading. So much so that I was surprised when my little brother decided he did not like reading and would fight my mother when she tried to push him to read more. The only thing he showed interest in reading was the newspaper, especially the sports pages, and that satisfied my mother that he was practicing his reading enough. Just a sign of the fact that you have to read what you like. Not to say you should not go out of your comfort zone occasionally and try something new.
November 15th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Reading was such a major part of my growing up. The library was my favorite place to go and I had such a desire to read everything in it. I really believe that you start when they are really small and maybe they will grow up wanting to read.
November 15th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
I discovered books at a young age and have had a book in my hands constantly ever since. My husband wonders why I can’t leave the house without taking a book with me. I am glad that two of my three children love to read and so do many of my grandchildren. Now that I have retired, I have plenty of time to read, so I started reviewing. I have also discovered many new authors in the process and found that I enjoy more genres than I initially thought. Right now I am reading A Clause for Murder and it is terrific. I am enjoying it immensely.
November 16th, 2010 at 6:51 am
I can remember seeing my grandmother reading at a young age and when I was in the middle school she moved right behind our public library. I think from then on I spent as much time there as at her house during the summer. I devoured whatever books I can get my hands on. When I had my first child I read to him which he enjoyed but he hated to read. When he was 8 I read him the first Harry Potter book and from then he was hooked he reread it and then read every one of them that was out by hisself. He still reads big thick fantasy books and loves them. My second child is more along the lines of me. He’ll read the back of cereal boxes if he as nothing else to read.