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“I am a proud non-reader of books” says Kanye West.

Now, I don’t listen to his music, I’m no fan of rap or hip-hop (or heavy/death metal for that matter) though I understand that many others do enjoy listening to those genres of music.  I don’t have anything against Kanye West – I really don’t know much about him.  I just feel sorry for him, not knowing just how wonderful books can be.  It sounds like he’s never read a good book before (which is surprising given that his mother was an English professor).

I also find his statement somewhat hypocritical – you’re not a fan of books but you “kind of” wrote one (it was a collaborative effort and, given that the description of the “tome” states that some pages contain just a few words while some pages are completely blank, leads me to feel that it didn’t necessarily require a momentous effort on his part) and you want your fans to buy it?

I think my biggest issue with this is that I’m sure he’s got a huge fan base – many of them young children and teenagers, and I worry that his scorn of books will influence them negatively.  As it is, I already think that not enough people read, preferring instead to turn to TV, computer/console games, or the internet for entertainment. (not that there’s anything wrong with those as a form of entertainment – they are also a valid and fun way to pass time…as long as it’s done in moderation and not at the expense of other important things – like reading. 😉 )

What frustrates me is that many people now prefer information “bites”, a la twitter, or the quick 30-second infomercials on TV, or skimming through magazines…instead of picking up a real book and actually reading it.  Kanye’s “book” sounds like more of the same – easily digestible tidbits of “thoughts” that you can read once before moving on to the next hot topic.  Heck, apparently you also have blank pages you can use to rest eyes that have been oh-so-strained from the act of absorbing such brain-heavy dictums as “Get used to being used”.  Ponderous thoughts indeed.

I’m just hoping that not too many will interpret Kanye’s pride of being a “non-reader” as cool and strive to emulate him…

To end on a positive note, I leave you with a picture of that best of combinations – books and food! (image shamelessly taken from Cake Wrecks – a great site which is also where I stumbled across the link to the Reuters article that trigged this overly lengthy post..)

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