Hardback Thieves

One of my favorite places, literally in the world, is the bookstore. I'm home there. I love to be surrounded by the works of my heroes, by the texts of budding authors, and ultimately by a massive amount of information at my disposal. I am always in awe of how much I don't know in a bookstore and my appetite is whetted to learn new things. That being said, my love of the bookstore comes from my profound respect for authors and their craft. To build a world out of words, to construct whole human beings with histories and scars, to paint sceneries and smells out of diction alone, and invest your readers into the fate of a character that is so real- they move in the struggle of the protagonist as if it were their own. So I find nothing more completely outrageous than people having the audacity to publish works that rip off the genius of true authors.

The newest wave of thievery is the vampire rage created by Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. Now, walking into the store, you are bombarded with books about vampires. A few years ago, it was The Da Vinci Code ripoffs everywhere. Books about cracking the code, breaking down the mystery, exposing the truth! (Everyone failed to notice the word "novel" on the cover, I guess) And I'm not fan of Dan Brown and his mass manipulation of Catholicism and its history, but the line of people who jumped on board to cash in on his writing was never ending. And it's not ethical.

And here comes the real atrocity. If I had a nickel for every book I've stumbled upon that rips off Jane Austen, I would be a rich woman. To her credit, almost every modern love story in existence has borrowed the romantic plot line of Pride and Prejudice. But I'm talking about overtly blatant robbery. Books with titles like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or "Mr. Darcy's Lover/ Letter to Elizabeth/ Daughters" Mr. Darcy Presents his Bride, are authored by looters. There is no simpler way to put it. These people and the companies that publish them are nothing short of thieves, can't come up with their own art, so they piggyback off the success of someone else to pay homage to the almighty dollar. And not only that, but they bastardize the genius of the original work. How dare you, random name-not-worth-mentioning-author, have the gall to brazenly pick up where a timeless classic left off and continue those characters and that story in your barely C+ writing style.

It's really outrageous. And it does seem that there are bigger fires worth putting out in this world, but understand that I love these works. I respect the authors of truly great works. They have significantly impacted my life and helped shape me into the woman I am today. I have no time for sensationalism, in literature or otherwise. So yes, this is me- angry about books.