That is such a sweet idea! For years at my last job, I mostly only read books off our free shelf. It was a great mix, including one coworker's cast-off book club books and another's chick lit.
What should I do, then? Send her a gift? Sacrifice? … Unholy fruit basket?
Angel ,'Just Rewards (2)'
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."
Jesse - May 17, 2012 5:35:17 am PDT #18799 of 28333
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
sumi - May 17, 2012 5:39:03 am PDT #18800 of 28333
Art Crawl!!!
I discovered that there is one in my town. Now I have to go patronize it!
Connie Neil - May 17, 2012 6:00:29 am PDT #18801 of 28333
brillig
They ought to throw some P.G. Wodehouse at Emmett's class--funny, can lead to discussions of class consciousness and snobbery, and it's funny.
Fred Pete - May 17, 2012 6:16:43 am PDT #18802 of 28333
Ann, that's a ferret.
Agreed on the Wodehouse, but not too much at once. I once read a Bertie Wooster/Jeeves collection in 2 days. Mistake.
One or two stories a day is great. But all the stories have the same plot: Bertie (or a friend) has a mild to moderate problem. Bertie has a solution, which he puts in motion despite Jeeves's warning. Bertie's solution makers matters worse. Jeeves then saves the day.
Wodehouse rings some great changes on the idea, but I started to sense a certain sameness after 4 or 5 stories in a row. It's kind of like eating a pound of chocolates in one sitting.
Jessica - May 17, 2012 6:20:19 am PDT #18803 of 28333
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
HA.
The thorn in my side on Goodreads finally hit a wall with her "Dan Simmons is popular and some things that are popular are crappy therefore Dan Simmons is crappy" line of reasoning and went straight for "Hitler used to be popular too!"
I WIN.
(Sorry, I know this is of no import to anyone but me, I just felt the need to backchannel a little. Literary seemed the best place to put it.)
Consuela - May 17, 2012 6:45:07 am PDT #18804 of 28333
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
... Dan Simmons is popular? The guy who wrote Hyperion? I mean, SF folks know who he is, but I do think it's a stretch to think of him as popular.
hippocampus - May 17, 2012 6:50:07 am PDT #18805 of 28333
not your mom's socks.
(Sorry, I know this is of no import to anyone but me, I just felt the need to backchannel a little. Literary seemed the best place to put it.)
It is of import. And funny. You totally win.
sumi - May 17, 2012 6:57:57 am PDT #18806 of 28333
Art Crawl!!!
It was funny and you win. . . but she won't ever believe it because that is her weakness.
Kate P. - May 17, 2012 7:16:57 am PDT #18807 of 28333
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
Jess, thanks for the recs! Press Here looks fantastic, and we actually got the pop-up nursery rhyme book as a Christmas present, though I haven't looked at it yet.
I'm having fun reading a Jeeves & Wooster collection in my spare time these days -- it's just the right level of light & funny and can be put down after 2 or 3 pages without interrupting the flow of the story at all.
JZ - May 17, 2012 7:22:11 am PDT #18808 of 28333
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Two other great short story masters: Dorothy Parker and Flannery O'Connor. Both of whom I've devoured in quantity, but never for a class and I always kind of wished some teacher had actually assigned them, because they are both just bristling with stuff (both ideas and style) that's great to talk and argue about.