Some mysteries are officially Real Books now. It's complicated. Lehane may even qualify.
Yeah, but you're an amateur fry cook and I come from a long line of fry cooks that don't live past 25.
Buffy ,'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."
Betsy HP - Jul 10, 2004 5:00:54 pm PDT #4918 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
erikaj - Jul 10, 2004 5:02:51 pm PDT #4919 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
And me without my handbook, Betsy.
Betsy HP - Jul 10, 2004 5:05:48 pm PDT #4920 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
Hey, I wasn't issued one, either.
My rule of thumb is that it takes 50 years before you know if it's a real book. Before that, it's on probation. And books can be promoted or demoted retroactively.
Jesse - Jul 10, 2004 5:22:12 pm PDT #4921 of 10002
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
I'm sure you're kidding, Betsy, but every book is a real book! I remember a whole discussion when we were opening this thread about if we could call it "literary" if we were mostly going to be talking about genre books and light reading. We said yes.
erikaj - Jul 10, 2004 5:23:24 pm PDT #4922 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
yeah, we're just being smart.
Jesse - Jul 10, 2004 5:25:23 pm PDT #4923 of 10002
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
I will defend mysteries as a genre to the death, as they make up 90% of what I read, and many are actually, you know, good books. I admit some are good reads but not good books per se, but still!
Betsy HP - Jul 10, 2004 5:52:36 pm PDT #4924 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
Jesse, I completely and passionately believe that every book is a real book. I was riffing on Erika.
The point being, there are books you can tell your English professor you read without flinching. Those are the Real Books, which is different from being real books.
msbelle - Jul 10, 2004 6:12:31 pm PDT #4925 of 10002
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
I was very restrained today at the Strand and only bought 3 books from my TBR list, but I also treated myself to a 1959 Modern Library of Out of Africa with a fabulous dustjacket.
I am still plugging away at The Night Inspector. Really lovely language, I think people would like it. Also, Melville is a character in it, which is interesting with the recent discussion in this thread. Makes me think I should finally getting around to reading him, but not right now.
§ ita § - Jul 10, 2004 6:20:18 pm PDT #4926 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Real Person Fic!
::runs away screaming::
victor infante - Jul 10, 2004 6:25:47 pm PDT #4927 of 10002
To understand what happened at the diner, we shall use Mr. Papaya! This is upsetting because he's the friendliest of fruits.
The hardboiled kind...Mosley, Paretsky, Grafton, Lehane. Pretty respectable stuff and still I felt like saying "I read real books, too."
Mysteries are real books. Some of them are even good. Less than I'd hope, of course, but there you are.
Mosley, for instance, rocks my world. "Devil in a Blue Dress." He rips into the world around him with such a beautiful mix of scathing intensity and deepfelt humanity, and manages to tell a ripping good yarn.