Visited the old library in my hometown and noticed they tossed all the debate books

I stopped by the Maplewood Public Library last weekend and saw they cleared out the whole section on literary criticism and book club guides, which gutted me because those were the books that taught me how to argue about fiction without being a jerk about it, so where are we supposed to send new members for discussion tips now?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaronrobinson10d ago

That really stinks honestly. Libraries are supposed to be places where people can learn how to think and discuss stuff, not just grab the latest bestseller. Tossing debate books and lit crit guides is like taking the instruction manual out of a toolbox. Its already hard enough to find people who want to have a real conversation about a book without it turning into a fight or them just saying "it was good." Stuff like that is what taught me to actually listen to someone elses take instead of just waiting for my turn to talk. Gotta push back on that kind of thing if you can, maybe talk to the library board or something.

jana_hill2710d ago

Oh, that's just heartbreaking! I remember when our town library did the same thing about ten years ago, and I was so disappointed. What really helped me was starting a small book club with some neighbors. We meet once a month at a local coffee shop, and we just talk about what we read. No fancy rules or anything, just folks sharing what they liked or didn't like about a book. It's been working great for us, and we've even had a few new people join who were nervous about speaking up at first. If you can get even three or four people together, you might find it's just as good as those old debate books for learning how to talk about stories without fighting.