You know two lines that the author of the story chose to crop out of what she said for use in a puff piece that was going to run in a small town newspaper.

Thank you! This makes a lot of sense.

She’s 24.

It’s not about censoring one book, it’s about choosing a *better* book for a program with very limited spots and resources.

So Nelson didn’t say “these books are only for teenage girls,” speaking of taking Nelson at her word and not putting things in her mouth.

How is that an issue that she had a particularly strong opinion about a particular book that was under consideration?

One thing I’ve learned from following writers on Twitter is that 99 percent of them, no matter what level of fame they’re at, have Google Alerts on their name.

Of course young women are allowed to dislike books “written for them.” (Although it’s worth noting that intended audience is a marketing concern, not a literary one. Most of us can get something out of most books, regardless of whether or not we’re the intended audience, and thank god for that. Reading books you’re…

The sexism, in this case—as evidenced by the student’s quote about Dessen’s work being for “teen girls”—isn’t about the author, it’s about the perceived audience. The books you mention were marketed at cross-gender audiences, and either entirely or partially to adults. (Even Thomas’s book, which is ostensibly YA, was…

You’re right, not liking a female author’s work isn’t misogyny. No one’s saying it is, though.

It’s not about a library. Did you read the article?

It’s not about them not “liking” her work, though. It’s about them blocking her work from being selected for a reading program solely because “it’s fine for teen girls,” but apparently not anybody else.

Yeah, some of the author responses were insane.

It’s not a non-sequitur; it’s just missing context. One of the previous selections for the list was Ernest Cline’s YA novel Ready Player One. So Weiner’s point is that apparently the same student had less of an issue with a mediocre YA novel written by a man, for teen boys, but not a mediocre YA novel written by a…

I’m not sure how familiar you are with Dessen’s work if you’re arguing that Stephanie Perkins is writing more nuanced, deeper stuff than her. I’m not a huge Dessen fan, but she’s tackled a number of heavier issues in her books—domestic violence, sexual assault, eating disorders, teen pregnancy—often with plenty of…

Are Sarah Dessen’s books written for teen readers?

I would have more sympathy for the viewpoint that the “student” (she’s actually an alumna now) in question was looking for intellectually challenging books if the other Common Read books were actual Man Booker prize winners. But they’re not. We’re talking about stuff like Ready Player One here. The singling-out of…

A lot of people just want to have something streaming in the background that they can pay minimal attention to while they do something else, though. The Office and Friends are not wildly popular on Netflix because they’re discovering new audiences there (although to some extent, they are). They’re popular because…

I was just thinking recently about how the streaming service I want most is basically just Soapnet. Dallas, Knots Landing, 90210, and 50 years’ backlog of General Hospital.

She more or less did say she wasn’t running; Jezebel just left that part of the quote out. The thing she said immediately following “Never say never” was something along the lines of “but as of this moment, I have absolutely no plans to run.”