The first interesting thing I encountered reading this section, was when the author writes about there being certain books assigned to different genders. I have never really thought about this before. You know there are certain books that are designated for a certain gender, but that does not mean the other one can not read it. Obviously a book with a pink cover is designated more to a female audience, but that does not mean guys are banned from reading it.
One thing that kind of shocked me was the amount of people stealing books with the sole excuse of just wanting to have that rare book. There are quite a few things I could name that I would absolutely love to have, but that does not mean I can just go and steal them. But the thing that was even more interesting was the fact the bookstore owners did not seem to mind too much and knew it was going on.
The thing that interested me most in reading this was when Manguel talks about a book actually belonging to someone. I’ve never really thought about a book in terms of being “mine.” To me the owner would always be the author and I am just kind of holding the book for a while before passing it on to the next reader.
Personally, I completely understand how people can come to be very possessive over a certain book to the point that they consider that book "theirs". Sometimes, when a text touches me so deeply, I hate the fact that other people have read it to a degree because I feel that what I shared with the author and the characters was such a personal and emotional experience that it almost feels like being violated when I think about someone else reading the same book.
ReplyDeleteI believe that gender assigned reading is such an inhibition to the development of children as they learn to read and just perpetuates stereotypes towards both genders as to how they're "supposed" to be. There are lots of parents out there who want their children who fear that a child's sexuality may be decided so easily by what sort of reading material they are exposed to as a child, which is quite a ridiculous proposition, in my opinion. So, I understand why a boy who steal a book intended for girls because it's almost like buying condoms: it's admitting that you are doing something that's seen as a slight taboo in society. I am glad to know that bookstore owners allowed this act of stealing because in the end, it helps that child delete any close-mindedness they may have developed otherwise.