I think Crichton's books were the first literary "fad" I ever picked up on. I wanted to read them because other people at school were reading them; I thought they were "cool" and I needed all the cool points I could get at that stage. (Another middle-school literary fad I can remember: Richard Preston's THE HOT ZONE -- similar to some of Crichton's books, but true.) I think they caught on because they were so cliffhanger-friendly, but also carried the tag of "adult" books,
Crichton came under fire last year for introducing a very unflattering portrayal of someone who had criticized him into his book NEXT, but I'll always remember late nights under the covers trying to figure out what the gorillas were up to. So what literary fads have you noticed recently around you? Here's what I've got:
- Picking up TWILIGHT just to see what the fuss is about (I'm speaking of adults here) and racing through the Meyer series
- Tana French -- her name seems to be popping up everywhere I look.
- Microbooks rushed into print like STUFF WHITE PEOPLE LIKE (blog born 2008, book published mid-2008) and BARACK OBAMA IS YOUR NEW BICYCLE. As fast as a reprint, but more topical (although maybe more people will read ...IS YOUR NEW BICYCLE now, to see what other things Barack Obama is).
