#Scene On Three 2 - Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger

Jadi bagaimana cara berpartisipasi dalam Scene on Three :

1. Tuliskan suatu adegan atau deskripsi pemandangan/manusia/situasi/kota dan sebagainya ke dalam suatu post.
2. Jelaskan mengapa adegan atau deskripsi itu menarik, menurut versi kalian masing-masing.
3. Jangan lupa cantumkan button Scene on Three di dalam post dengan link menuju blog Bacaan B.Zee.
4. Masukkan link post kalian ke link tools yang ada di bawah post Bacaan B.Zee, sekalian saling mengunjungi sesama peserta Scene on Three.
5. Meme ini diadakan setiap tanggal yang mengandung angka tiga, sesuai dengan ketersediaan tanggal di bulan tersebut (tanggal 3, 13, 23, 30, dan 31).

Judul Buku: Everyone Worth Knowing

Penulis: Lauren Weisberger

Penerbit: Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster, Inc)

Ternyata, gue ketagihan ikut meme ini. Selain itu, gue juga lagi baca buku ini dan ada satu scene yang gue banget. Gue juga yakin, fellow readers apalagi juga penyuka romance, akan setuju dengan scene ini. Agak panjang, jadi siap-siap aja, hehe.

I stared at my feet, feigning unfathomable shame. "The Very Bad Boy is brand new ... and higly anticipated. I'm hardly alone--it's one of the most preordered books on Amazon and had an mailing delay of three weeks after publication."

Will looked at Simon, shaking his head in disbelief. "Darling, I just don't understand why. Why?"

Why? Why? How could I ever answer that questioned? It was something I'd asked myself a million times. It had started innocently enough, with the discovery of an abandoned copy of Hot and Heavy in the back pocket of a plane seat during a flight from Poughkeepsie to Washington, D.C. I was thirteen and old enough to sense that I should hide it from my parents, which I did. The damn thing was so good that I claimed a sore throat when we got to the hotel and begged out of the NARAL march they were both attending so I could finish reading it. I learned to recognize romance novel instantly, ferreting out the right library shelves in seconds, slipping them off the wire turn-carts at the bookstore and quickly handing over my meager allowance in the pharmacy section of the drugstore while my mother paid for her purchases up front. I went throught two or three week, vaguely aware that they were contraband and therefore keeping them hidden in the little crawl space of my closet. I read them only after lights-out and always remembered to restash them before I falling asleep.

When I first discovered romance, I was embarassed by the obvious suggestions of sex on the cover, and of course by the graphic depictions inside. Like any teenager, I didn't want my parents to know that I knew anything about the subject, and sneaked my reads only when they surely wouldn't see. But by the time I was about seventeen, maybe in junior or senior in high school, I'd come out of the closet. I'd accompanied my dad to a local bookstore to pick up a special order he'd placed, and when it came time for him to pay, I slid a copy of Her Royal Bodyguard onto the counter, casually murmuring, "I didn't bring my wallet. Can you buy this now and I'll pay you back when we get home?"

He'd picked it up and held it between two fingers as though it were roadkill. The expression on his face indicated he found it about as appetizing. A moment later, he laughed. "Bettina, come now. Put this awful thing back wherever you found it and select something worthwile. I promised your mother we'd be home in twenty minutes--we don't have time to play around anymore."

I persisted and he bought the book, if only to leave the store as soon as possible. When he mentioned

my purchase at the dinner table that night, he sounded confused. "You don't actually read those things, do you?" he asked, his face scrunched up as thought he was trying to understand.

"Yes," I said simply. My voice not revealing the embarrasment I felt.

My mother dropped her fork and it clattered on the place. "You do not." It sounded like she hoped it would be true if she stated it forcefully enough. "You can't possibly."

"Oh, but I do, " I sang in halfhearted attempts to lighten the mood. "And so do fifty million other people, Mom. They're relaxing and interesting. I mean, there's agony, ecstasy, and a happy ending--who could ask for more?" I knew all the facts and figures, and there was no denying they were impressive. The two thousand romance published each year create a $1,5 billion industry. Two-fifths of American women buy at least one romance a year. More than one-third of all popular fiction sold each year are romance. A Shakespearean scholar (and Columbia professor) had recently admitted she'd authored dozens of romance. Why should I be ashamed?

What I didn't tell my parents then--or explain to Will or Simon now-- was how much I loved romance. Escape was part of it, of course, but life wasn't so miserable that I had to revert to a fantasy world. It was inspirational to read about two gorgeous people who overcame all obstacles to be together, who loved each other so much that they always found a way to make it work. The sex scenes were a bonus, but more than that, the books always ended happily, offering such optimism that I couldn't keep myself from starting another immediately. They were predictable, dependable, entertaining, and most of all, they depicted love affairs that I could not deny--no matter how much feminism or political correctness or women's empowerment my parents could throw at me--I desperately wanted more than anything in the world. I was conditioned to compare every single date in my life to The Ideal. I couldn't help it. I wanted the fairy tale. Which, needless to say, does not describe Cameron, or most New York liaisons between men and women. But I wouldn't stop hoping--not yet.

Ngerti, kan, kenapa gue suka scene ini? Sebagai penyuka romance, anything about romance mulai dari contemporary romance, chicklit, young adult romance, dan mulai nyoba baca new adult romance juga, gue ngerti banget perasaan Bette di novel ini. Begitu juga dengan pembaca lain. Booksnob itu ada di mana-mana, bahkan orang terdekat kita pun enggak bisa dicegah kadang judging pilihan bacaan kita. Gue ngerti kenapa awalnya Bette merasa malu, ya karena booksnob itu tadi. Bahkan yang jadi booksnob adalah orangtuanya. Padahal, seperti alasan yang dikemukakan Bette, apa salahnya, sih, baca romance?
Jadi, sekarang jika ada yang mencela pilihan bacaan gue, gue cukup menunjukkan scene ini dan dia bisa baca apa yang gue dapat dan rasa ketika baca romance. Gue rasa ini semacam curhatan Lauren Weisberger karena bisa saja dia pernah dicela oleh para booksnob.
Selain itu, sama seperti Bette, kadang gue juga membandingkan apa yang gue rasa dan apa yang pengin gue lakuin dengan apa yang gue dapat di novel yang gue baca. Gue tahu itu enggak sahat, byt I couldn't help it.
Jadi, ada berapa banyak yang setuju sama scene ini?

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