Appreciation post: A woman at my library group in Boise argued that we should only read books by authors under 40.

She said it with such conviction during our discussion of 'The Great Gatsby' that it completely derailed the meeting for a solid 20 minutes, and honestly, has anyone else had a debate get that heated over a selection rule?

3 comments

3 Comments

rayadams11d ago

What about all the great books written by people who started writing later in life? You're just going to cut out Frank McCourt or Harriet Doerr because they weren't young? That rule feels like it's more about a vibe than the actual words on the page. Maybe the real hangup is wanting books that feel current, but you can find that in any decade.

eva_moore11d agoOG Member

Forget the age limit, that's just silly. The real problem is picking books by committee at all. Someone always brings a weird personal rule to the table and it becomes a whole thing. Our group switched to a rotating pick, one person chooses each month, and the fights stopped. Lets you read stuff you'd never pick yourself, even if the writer is old.

aaron88011d ago

Rotating picks saved our group too, cuts out the endless debate. You end up reading outside your comfort zone which is the whole point. Stops any one person's weird hangups from derailing the whole thing.