|
Written by Staff
|
|
Tuesday, 28 April 2009 10:49 AM America/New_York |
- As I was looking through galleys of forthcoming titles recently, I came across a book that I thought looked interesting from a small but long-established publisher. It sounded like it might at least earn an online mention and so, before I assigned the review, I looked through more carefully. Centering on a “bucket list”-type theme, the book offered a set number of activities to do before you pass away (“hug someone,” “plan your own funeral”). Morbid topic but the book livened it up a bit.
- Actually, the book livened things up a lot. One of the suggestions was to go “skinny dipping.” This wasn't a marriage book and in the instructions it even mentioned “companions” (notice the “s” at the end). Besides advising you and “companions” to line up and “rip clothes off,” it also gave a few references to nudism and the beauty of nude bodies, using Scriptures from Adam and Eve's first few days as a reference.
- So then I wonder – does the strength of the rest of the book make up for what would surely be a hot-button topic when placed on a Christian store shelf? There's some other really good stuff in there, but based on the readers who look to us to provide a perspective on the products they sell to their customers, I just didn't think it was the right fit. By and large, our readers would most likely feel it wasn't worth the attention. Was I right?
- As a retailer or even as a reader, what do you expect in the content of the books you sell or buy? Fifteen years ago, when I worked as a frontliner at Christian retail, I would advise customers to not assume everything we sold was “safe.” LifeWay bookstores have been known to place warning stickers and signs with books of questionable theological content. So there are gatekeepers and safeguards in place, but what if this particular gatekeeper has a completely different set of values than you?
- What do you think? Is it unfair to even put that weight on the shoulders of Christian retailers when general market retailers pretty much stock from one extreme to the other?
|
