Readicide

Genre fiction is not less "worthy" that literary fiction but, rather, have different purposes. Both types of books are important in their own sense and that should be taken into account in judging them. Literary fiction is appreciated because of its artistic and literary elements. They are books that require the reader to think critically about certain issues or ideas. Genre fictions are the books that the public reads for enjoyment and as a result they have the highest sales. These plot-driven, character focused, engaging books may lack the strong writing of their literary counterparts. I find both types of books are important and should be treated similarly, keeping in mind the purposes of each. Though I believe they both follow some of the same guidlines genre fiction books can, and do have spectacular writing and literary fiction can have a very captivating plotline. "I read a lot of commercial fiction and a lot of the same themes and wisdoms I find in commercial fiction are the same themes and wisdoms as what I see lauded in literary fiction". Jodi Picoult said this and I completely agree because even though people would like to think genre fiction and literary fiction are so different, the core of them are the same.

Schools should add commercial books into the reading curriculum. A good mix of both literary and genre fiction would give students the ability to read books they like but also appreciate the artistic qualities of literary fiction. The way the schools teach books in today's classrooms turn off students to reading of both the classics and popular fiction. Very seldom can students just read a book without worrying to have to do many little activities along the way, analyzing every single chapter. The best solution is to have a mix of both types of books with less analysis of the books because honestly nobody likes to have that many distractions when they are reading a book they like.