I am reading a Dana Stabenow mystery for the first time. I'm liking her.
YAY! Kate Shugak or a Liam Campbell?
Oh, and when I say "old," I mean 1956.
OUCH!
We can come by between classes. Usually I use that time to copy over my class notes with a system of different colored pens. But it's been pointed out to me that that's, you know...insane.
Willow ,'Showtime'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
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."
Java cat - Feb 25, 2004 3:59:43 pm PST #1016 of 10002
Not javachik
Volans - Feb 25, 2004 4:05:57 pm PST #1017 of 10002
move out and draw fire
Wrod. Or porn to happen.
On the SF/romance/fantasy/whatever spectrum, I've had the experience of going into the SF/fantasy section at the bookstore and flushing out nervous guys...it's very much like walking into an adult store. Doesn't happen in "normal" fiction or mysteries. I've also had guests (mostly not-friend guests) look at my bookshelves and do the little Grimace of Judgement at anything that isn't a Very Important Book. I've had people ask what I'm reading, and if the answer's something with the word "dragon" in the title, respond, "oh." I don't personally care - I'll read anything I damn well please in public - but I've noted it, and I do think it's sad that Tom Clancy is more socially acceptable than Robert Heinlein.
Horror breaks down differently, I think. If you are reading Lovecraft, intellectuals will think "One of us!" and gamers will think "One of us!" and mundanes won't know enough to judge. Some horror, like House of Leaves" is even generally hip. King, Koontz, Straub, and Barker are always acceptable, but if you get too far off that path, ware the stigmatizing.
§ ita § - Feb 25, 2004 5:12:24 pm PST #1018 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
OUCH!
I don't know the market -- when was the peak of of the procedural genre?
Micole - Feb 25, 2004 5:26:37 pm PST #1019 of 10002
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.
Suela, the discussion you're thinking of was on lj. There was much snarking at the article for its ignorance and major logical flaws.
It is my impression that respected literary reviews, i.e., The New York Times Book Review and the New York Review of Books, rank genres in the following fashion:
literary fiction
mysteries
science fiction
fantasy
romance
children's books
This is an entirely unscientific statement based on nothing more than my perception. Feel free to dispute based on opinion or, shockingly, actual fact.
There's also a huge tendency among literary reviewers to describe anything in one of the lower genres that they like as "transcending genre," which is why I can no longer see that phrase without snarling.
Ginger - Feb 25, 2004 5:31:20 pm PST #1020 of 10002
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
It reminds me of Kingsley Amis' "'Sf's no good,' they bellow till we're deaf. 'But this looks good.' 'Well then, it's not sf.'"
sarameg - Feb 25, 2004 5:38:49 pm PST #1021 of 10002
Oddly, my judgemental self would rate kids books higher. Probably a product of being an elem school teacher's child. All books are a badge of honor, and good kids books rank way up there. Hell, last xmas I got 2 and gave 2, to adults.
Off conversation, Jenny Boylan was on 48 Hours or somesuch. She wrote She's Not There about her experience being transgendered, and her decisions. Book was interesting and well written and I do recommend it. I felt she came off a little self centered, and not because of the decisions she made in her life. Just..generically self centered. It may also be the nature of the book itself, as it is about him becoming her, from the inside perspective, not the outside. Which I suppose is appropriate, but was to the detriment of my connecting with the book.
Astarte - Feb 25, 2004 6:15:20 pm PST #1022 of 10002
Not having has never been the thing I've regretted most in my life. Not trying is.
See, I find most Litfic stultifyingly boring.
Notably, I assayed "Atonement" on the strength of it's glowing reviews and thought "This is what passes for Literature these days?"
The pace was soooooooo slow and the subterranean volcanoes of angst so neatly bordered that I was just ready to gouge my eyes out. I soldiered it out though, and it picked up later but SHEESH!
Frankenbuddha - Feb 25, 2004 6:27:35 pm PST #1023 of 10002
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
One of the most gripping Josephine Teys (not telling which)
Betsy, could you white-font the title. I'm curious - there's one book of hers I've always heard is one of the best - period. Whitefonted: Daughter of Time I think.
msbelle - Feb 25, 2004 6:54:52 pm PST #1024 of 10002
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
Java, It was a Kate book. I finished and liked it and will seek out more.
Micole - Feb 25, 2004 7:30:47 pm PST #1025 of 10002
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.
Ken, the title is
Miss Pym Disposes