Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Sure, I can see that POV. (See what I did there?!)
I read the interview, and I was turned off my some of her thoughts, for certain, but...hmmm, well. All I know if that I will still try her books, but this info will inform my views and thoughts, and I'll have more stuff for my brain to crunch on. Maybe this will make me pass on some of her books, depending on the blurb; maybe no.
I can totally see it, though. I refuse to read Orson Scott Card, even though Ender's Game is supposed to be really good, because I read too many CRAXY interviews with him before I'd ever read any of his books to even swallow the idea of supporting his whackness. So I get it. But I liked Tepper before the whacky became overt to me, so I'm still "Maybe I can still get the good out of her?"
Dunno.
I'm more likely to reread Ender's Game (but not spend any money on it) than Tepper. Her crazy bled into so much of her adult books, I realised looking back. I can't take it out. Card, much less so. I don't feel I'm getting cooties by association. I'm putting them there myself, if they get there. His early books, I mean. He does get a note and hammer the hell out of it. I only need so many abused little boy stories, thanks.
Also, he's a plain better writer.
Fair enough. It's food for thought.
It's a chilly, rainy night here, and I think I'll tuck myself in bed with a writer I don't have any conflicts over. Anyone read Dorothy Allison? I plain love Bastard Out of Carolina, have taught it, and also love Cavedweller and her collection of SS, Trash, talking of damned fine writing AND good stories.
Dorothy Allison is brilliant, but hard to read if I'm not in the right mood (based solely on
Bastard
-- I can't remember if I read
Cavedweller
or not).
I've never read Tepper, and based on that interview, I now have absolutely no wish to. She might tell a decent tale, but ... whoa. Too much crazy for me. And nasty crazy, too.
Cavedweller focuses more on mother/daughter dynamics. It's not got the abuse triggers that Bastard has, but it has the same lovely, gritty writing.
I did read it! I knew I had read more than one of her books. Oddly, the title didn't ping me but the Amazon description about Cissy spelunking did. DUH.
Stay classy, Grey Lady.
Well, the NYT is excellent at pronouncing new trends about 10 years after even backwaters have embraced them (wasn't it last year, or 2 years ago, that the NYT had that article about "Hey, adults read comics, and there are movies made from them!"?)
So I assume that maybe 5 years from now they'll have a groundbreaking piece on the hot trend of women reading SF/F.
(Upcoming headlines: "Facial Piercings: Not Just For Criminals!"
"Did You Know Cellular Telephones Also Allow Textual Communication? Will The Public Embrace It?"
"HOLY SHIT: Hybrid Automobiles?!?")
Snerk, Tep!
Amy, I just re-read CD last week, and I'm working through BOOC again; it's a once a year book for me, like Morrison's Beloved.
I haven't re-read any of Harlan Ellison's work since some of the big blow-ups at conventions in the recent past. Maybe someday, I'll be able to read his work again.
it's a once a year book for me, like Morrison's Beloved
There's so much new (and old) stuff I want to read to do that anymore, and I don't read as quickly as I used to, either. I will cheat sometimes, though, and reread favorite *parts* of favorite books. On really bad days, there are certain chapters of
Little Women
and
A Little Princess
I can read over and over again.