So, what’s the deal? Should a youngin’ have to approach fiction via the moldy oldies? Brian and Rekka share a (perhaps obvious) opinion on this.

Episode cliff notes:

* Premise

* There’s a portion of the reading population that firmly insist new readers should begin with the classics.

* The Discussion and Arguments

* Brian, an English major, had to read English Literature all the way back to the Roman occupation of Britannia.

* In terms of seeing the evolution of how stories are told and how craft is developed, reading classic literature is useful.

* But it is unimportant for new readers.

* Brian posits that the premise is backwards. New readers should read whatever draws them into reading. Once they develop an interest in story craft, then studying older works makes sense.

* When you first start reading to children, you’re reading them simple stories they can relate to. Once they have a handle on reading, we start force-feeding them these ‘classics’ and it’s at this point that many young readers start looking for entertainment elsewhere.

* New readers should be reading stuff they enjoy. When they understand craft and genre, then classics can come up

* Rekka says to take a young reader to a bookstore and let them browse and find books they are interested in.

* (Rekka is against policing young readers’ selections. Brian is ALL about providing a filter for the maturity level of the book.)

* Brian says telling kids they can read something when they’re older, the kids aspire to the day they can read that book.

* Offer them alternatives if they’re not interested in reading long-form.

* Graphic Novels

* Audiobooks

* Genre classics are potentially detrimental to someone who’s new to Science Fiction and Fantasy.

* Brian tried to enter SF and got some bad advice, but got better reccs for Fantasy and really learned to love that genre. (The G R R Martin book Brian references is Hunter’s Run, not Logan’s Run)

* Rekka senses an elitist pressure from the moment she opens a ‘classic’ as though she is going to pass/fail some test based on whether she can appreciate the title.

* There’s no reason why you should HAVE to love a book written before your parents were born.

* Why do you read? If you’re recommending something to a new reader, what are you trying to instill in them? If you want them to fall in love with reading, you send them on an adventure, you don’t want it to feel like homework.

* Smol Rekka picked up books to experience a story, not to understand the craft of writing.

* Read one or two classic for a point of reference, but genre is having an ongoing conversation that shifts with society and politics and technology and new readers are part of this contemporary conversation.

* There’s a certain amount of romanticism with only reading classics. J.R.R. Tolkein created the epic fantasy in the context of elves and humans and orcs as we take for granted now. That doesn’t mean it’s going to get new readers into the genre.

* People are trying to police what other people enjoy.

* Everyone likes something different.

* Brian’s youngest son got hooked on Harry Potter

* Brian’s middle son got into Goosebumps and Diary of a Wimpy Kid

* Brian’s daughter was started on Little House on the Prairie, Princess Bride, and Throne of Glass

* You can learn iambic pentameter without having to read a full text book of Shakespeare plays (which should be observed as a performance, not read in text)

* Recommendations

* Start with contemporary stuff and get an idea of what the genre is not what it was.