Randomly Annoying

I was cruising along yesterday searching for articles on girls and graphic novels, and one of the annoying things about using such general terms to search is the stuff you come up with. Frequently, reviews pop up from things like School Library Journal and other publications. I stopped and read one of the reviews, and it made me grind my teeth.

I know the author wasn't trying to be offensive, and I'm probably the only person in the universe who did take offense. The reviewer talks about how this particular manga title didn't break new ground, blah, blah, blah, but it was okay. That's fine, we don't like everything, I've never read the book, I'm not looking to add it to my collection, so I don't really care if she liked the book or not. Then came the final line, where she comments that 'manga readers won't care that it's not a great story and doesn't break any new ground, they'll just be happy with a new title to read.'

Really? They'll just read anything as long as it has drawings of big eyed people? They don't care if the story is any good? They'll just read anything you put out there?

I find that attitude offensive. 'They' won't just read anything because you put it out there. Why should we spend our limited budgets on crap books nobody wants to read? Young adults don't need to be patronized by their librarians. Ugh.