Are the Most Popular Books Really the Best?
Harry Potter took the literary world by storm in the past few years, and more recently it seems like Twilight is the new trend. As a result of their popularity, J.K. Rowling is now a very rich woman, Twilight is a movie series along with Harry Potter, and Robert Pattinson is a deity. Theres no question that Harry Potter and Edward Cullen represent a couple of the most popular books around, but whether notoriety is more like it is another matter.
Stephen King recently commented on the two authors and their respective series. King had nice things to say about Rowling, but he described Meyer as not writing worth a darn. Her many readers might disagree, but whose opinion should we believe? Does Twilights popularity really speak for itself? As for the Harry Potter series, some praised it for reviving childrens reading in a time where video games and TV have taken over. Others mourned the death of quality literature, considering an interest in reading about magic and wizards to be base. Undoubtedly both have intriguing plot lines, but the public disagrees about the nature of that intrigue. Does popularity correlate with quality? Are the most popular books the best? Generally, it seems fair to say so, since its hard to imagine bad writing being a hit with readers. On the other hand, trashy tabloids could be described as popular, but maybe comparing novels to magazines isnt a fair comparison.
What makes a good novel? Is it the writing style, the story, or maybe the impression it leaves the reader with? TIME Magazine once released a list of what it considered the best 100 novels of all time. Many of the books on the lists were definitely classicsclassics are classic for a reason, but even whether classics are good can be debatable. This is because what is good is subject to personal preference. But should everyones opinion be considered equally? A list of the most popular books probably should consider a wide variety of opinions, but some would hesitate to give the same consideration to the opinion of a scholar as opposed to an uneducated reader.
You dont have to like a good book. You can appreciate it as a work, but maybe its just not your style. It seems that the most important factor of the most popular books is that they have appeal, and appeal doesnt necessarily have to come in the form of elevated writing. Harry Potter and Twilight continue to enjoy widespread popularity because they appeal to a wide audience, and even if the public disagrees over whether their popularity is warranted, no one can deny the impact that theyve made.
