Can we all stop trying so hard to impress others with what we watch, read or listen to?

Photo by Fabiola Peñalba on Unsplash

I’m unsure if it’s just because I’m getting older, or if the whole of society is shifting, but I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about what I watch or read. At least…I try not to.

It’s engrained in my head that I need to be cool, sophisticated, so totally not basic when it comes to anything in life. I need to have read all the classics, and all of the smart books that make me look and sound intelligent, and of course, well read. Never should I pick up anything fun or fluffy or Harlequin. I should be quoting Proust and believing in the words of Hemingway.

While I have read the classics and I do have a quote tattooed on me from Oscar Wilde, my ‘guilty’ pleasure bookshelf (which is in our bedroom and my closet, safely hidden from the public eye) is filled with Harlequin romances and books that are all about the fluff. Because they’re fun. Because when you read Annie Jacobson during the day or claw your way through A Tale of Two Cities, you need a little happy, a little softness before bed (there I go trying to impress you with what I read…).

I was at a dinner party recently with family that was going along wonderfully. Then, it came to the talk of literature. Usually, I love when the topic turns to books and lean in greedily, excited to hear…