book talk my bisshes.
Mar. 27th, 2009 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gfrancieThis comic artist did a couple of funny pieces on getting hooked on the Twilight books. (and she gives a great summary of the four books) I found it entertaining as I know many people who found themselves hooked on them. They are in many ways the antithesis of good literature, but that isn't why people read them. We don't need to go into any long discussions about these particular books as there are plenty of places that can handle that with a deft hand.
There are plenty of books that can be described as literary droolers (a fantastic term from the 19th century) that do sell well. They come at the right time, are marketed just so and shazaam, an author can buy a round of ponies for everyone. I remember seeing it fairly often when I worked in book shops. I admit it put me off a fair amount of popular fiction at the time. There were a number of best-sellers I didn't read because after a long day in the trenches I really didn't want to "take my work home" with me. Does that make sense? I only read Atonement about a year ago, despite shilling it like it was a dimebag when it was at its initial height of popularity. (quick opinion: while I admire McEwan for being a good friend to many authors, I still would like to take that book, attach it to a brick and throw it at a window of his house and say, "WTF PAL???")
I read a few things that were big. I read a galley copy of The Da Vinci Code. I knew it was going to be a hit and the Church was not going to be a fan. It had tighter editing than his previous book had and had the kind of pacing that was good for the beach or airplane. It didn't demand much of you. That is what droolers typically have in common. You can pick it up, have a good time and call it tasty. It allows for quick escape. Some popcorn hits have a little more depth to them and that is always pleasant. Nothing too scary or morally vague but good solid Joseph Campbell-esque themes. I don't have any problems with that. I like a number of those books just fine. Some people have a hate-on for things like Harry Potter and how well it has done and again one could get into a big giant Academic wank-a-thon about its place in the grand literary canon. I don't have enough boxes of tissues to handle that party.
Everything has a bit of validity in the grand scheme of things. Yeah people will be irritating with their, "OMG YOUMUSTREAD THIS" and "I dont read such things, excuse me while I read Stendhal." Here you go folks. A gold star for reading or not reading. Wear it proud.
I haven't read the Twilight Books. I have a giant pile of books to read. Okay I will be honest here, I have several piles around my house of books to read. I also have my giant list of books I desperately want to get my paws on. I had a conversation the other day with a friend where I was suggesting books to read after reading Mariana by Monica Dickens. (if you can get your paws on this, do read it. It is such a brilliantly written book. It is just an absolute gem of a book) I read it recently, fell completely in love and I grieved it being over and she was about to enter the same situation so I began to rack my brain for similar things. Then because the ex-bookseller in me will never die, I began to look around for things and I found an author I really want to read. (I shared this author with my friend and I think we both want to read a few of the same books now) And so it makes the list grow longer. Plus I have the pregnant brain so getting through books is hard. very hard. I am also on a current theme of inter-war fiction with English people being mildly repressed and mildly rebelling against that repression and falling in love and out of love and well you know the same old same old. (yes. Me and the Cazelet chronicles are tribe these days) Pretty much I am always on a repressed English people having repressed English people problems literary kick. So until I get through my piles of books, Twilight will have to wait. I suspect I will knock off those abstinence allegories sometime in my late 80s. I know I know... what a twit. But I want to read all of Dawn Powell's books. And I want to read all of Angela Thirkell's books too. They trump vampires. Plus I have this enormous book on the history of Venice that I have been reading off and on for a few years. I would like to finish that before I die. I have excuses. Look at my house.
There are plenty of books that can be described as literary droolers (a fantastic term from the 19th century) that do sell well. They come at the right time, are marketed just so and shazaam, an author can buy a round of ponies for everyone. I remember seeing it fairly often when I worked in book shops. I admit it put me off a fair amount of popular fiction at the time. There were a number of best-sellers I didn't read because after a long day in the trenches I really didn't want to "take my work home" with me. Does that make sense? I only read Atonement about a year ago, despite shilling it like it was a dimebag when it was at its initial height of popularity. (quick opinion: while I admire McEwan for being a good friend to many authors, I still would like to take that book, attach it to a brick and throw it at a window of his house and say, "WTF PAL???")
I read a few things that were big. I read a galley copy of The Da Vinci Code. I knew it was going to be a hit and the Church was not going to be a fan. It had tighter editing than his previous book had and had the kind of pacing that was good for the beach or airplane. It didn't demand much of you. That is what droolers typically have in common. You can pick it up, have a good time and call it tasty. It allows for quick escape. Some popcorn hits have a little more depth to them and that is always pleasant. Nothing too scary or morally vague but good solid Joseph Campbell-esque themes. I don't have any problems with that. I like a number of those books just fine. Some people have a hate-on for things like Harry Potter and how well it has done and again one could get into a big giant Academic wank-a-thon about its place in the grand literary canon. I don't have enough boxes of tissues to handle that party.
Everything has a bit of validity in the grand scheme of things. Yeah people will be irritating with their, "OMG YOUMUSTREAD THIS" and "I dont read such things, excuse me while I read Stendhal." Here you go folks. A gold star for reading or not reading. Wear it proud.
I haven't read the Twilight Books. I have a giant pile of books to read. Okay I will be honest here, I have several piles around my house of books to read. I also have my giant list of books I desperately want to get my paws on. I had a conversation the other day with a friend where I was suggesting books to read after reading Mariana by Monica Dickens. (if you can get your paws on this, do read it. It is such a brilliantly written book. It is just an absolute gem of a book) I read it recently, fell completely in love and I grieved it being over and she was about to enter the same situation so I began to rack my brain for similar things. Then because the ex-bookseller in me will never die, I began to look around for things and I found an author I really want to read. (I shared this author with my friend and I think we both want to read a few of the same books now) And so it makes the list grow longer. Plus I have the pregnant brain so getting through books is hard. very hard. I am also on a current theme of inter-war fiction with English people being mildly repressed and mildly rebelling against that repression and falling in love and out of love and well you know the same old same old. (yes. Me and the Cazelet chronicles are tribe these days) Pretty much I am always on a repressed English people having repressed English people problems literary kick. So until I get through my piles of books, Twilight will have to wait. I suspect I will knock off those abstinence allegories sometime in my late 80s. I know I know... what a twit. But I want to read all of Dawn Powell's books. And I want to read all of Angela Thirkell's books too. They trump vampires. Plus I have this enormous book on the history of Venice that I have been reading off and on for a few years. I would like to finish that before I die. I have excuses. Look at my house.
