A Book-ie’s Version of “Get Real on the Internet Week” (Thanks, Real Simple)

By Jennie Cottrell | Published January 14, 2014

by Robin Ferrier

Real Simple magazine is one of my favorite magazines. And this week, it’s sponsoring an initiative it’s calling Get Real on the Internet Week, which it kicked off with a “Reality Check” piece by the magazine’s managing editor, Kristin van Ogtrop, on the Huffington Post yesterday. The week is all about being completely honest on social media, and the magazine and its editors and staffers are all participating. (They’re using the hashtag #rsgetreal. We encourage you to participate.)

What does that have to do with books? (After all, this is a Book Festival blog, right?)

Well, how many of you are willing to admit that your favorite book is chick lit? Or a comic book? Or a young adult book? How many instead claim “Pride and Prejudice” or “War and Peace” as a favorite when asked that “favorite book” question?

How many of you are willing to admit you didn’t like a novel that received critical acclaim? That everyone was talking about?

How many times do you pretend to know who an author is or to have heard of or read a book that, truth be told, you didn’t even WANT to read?

So for Get Real on the Internet Week, I’m encouraging you to Get Real about what you’re reading. About what books (or authors) you’ve loved or hated.

My confessions?

I hated Harry Potter and only read the first one. I like the effect it had re: getting kids reading. But the books themselves? Well, I barely made it through the first one.
I hate the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I took a Pop Lit course in college. We got to opt out of reading one book during the semester. I opted out of the Lord of the Rings book.
I love chick lit. Silly chick lit. I have a graduate degree in fiction writing, and I appreciate/enjoy the more “serious” reads — like Anthony Marra‘s (now award-winning) “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena” (have we mentioned he’ll be at #GBF14?) — but I also like to sit down with something that is just a fun, silly read on a regular basis.

I could add to that list. I have plenty of closet confessions related to my reading habits and my literary likes and dislikes. But enough about me. How about you? Tell us your deepest, darkest book secrets. After all, it’s Get Real on the Internet Week.

Robin Ferrier is the Vice Chair of the Gaithersburg Book Festival.

Photo courtesy of @christinaorso and her Hungry Meets Healthy blog.