enthusiast

Liz Toohey-Wiese, 2024.

"A sign installed in the largest wildfire burn I’ve ever seen, along the BC/YK border. Borrowing the aesthetics of BC Recreation Site signs, once again pointing to the overlaps of outdoor recreation, resource extraction, and the consequences of the climate crisis. Most recreation sites in BC exist along previously built logging and mining roads.

“Forced into a great and difficult transformation” was a line I heard in a lecture on Buddhist philosophy I was listening to on my drive up north. But it became another mantra I thought about while living in a place that’s been utterly transformed by resource extraction over the past century, and as I thought about the burnt landscapes I drove through."

Boiled grain

Flatbread with various toppings

Flatbread wrapped around filling

Fried lean meat

Stew of fatty meat and starch

Fermented vegetable

Oily sauce

Aromatic herbs

Stimulant alkaloids

And this was meant to be a BAD thing. A problem. But if you actually believed that a massive population of low-literacy adults were buying books, becoming obsessed with them, and discussing them at length… wouldn’t that be a great thing? That’s how one moves from low literacy to high literacy: by practicing reading

Now the take OP saw is objectively wrong. I don't think romantasy is inherently bad, and its definitely not bad BECAUSE it's catering to bad readers. There are a lot of issues with the publishing industry right now and i think a lot of authors aren't getting the editing they need to make better books. That's a different issue, not restricted to romantasy.

I sincerely hope these low-literacy readers gain literacy this way, but the odd thing ive noticed is they... DON'T seem to be practicing reading. As in, the book they read in their mind is not the book on the pages their eyeballs are seeing. It's bizarre. Like, to the point where theyre making recommendations and discussing aspects of the book.... and then like, my friend checks it out and reads it and is like "I have no idea where they got the idea that this size kink porn book was breaking down feminine stereotypes".

Anyway i just wanted to go off on a tangent. I distinctly remember fucking Twilight being hailed as a gateway book for the first several years it was out - like yeah it wasn't the best novel, but girlies got obsessed with it and it made them seek out more books. Which was undeniably a good thing.

All of the straight romantasy bestsellers SAY they’re female empowerment, their authors truly believe they’re female empowerment (after all, she’s writing her fantasy! As a woman!) but as far as I’m aware none of them are really challenging dominant gender roles or heteronormativity. It takes a more advanced reading skill to realize when someone is actively lying to themselves and to you about the content of a book.

If you were a good reader when you were very young, you’ve probably already made this step. You’ve had time to be in spaces where people actively dissect media they enjoy and criticize it. If someone is JUST NOW getting into reading as a hobby, then they haven’t had that time to build context and analytical skill.

Your friend’s experience describes people who ARE practicing reading. They just haven’t mastered it yet. What you describe as “not actually reading” is first of all what most people do when they’re just reading for fun, and secondly, a stage every high-literacy person also went through at some point in their lives, you just maybe don’t remember being in it because you are a statistical outlier

homage to Lenin