Chaos Reading discussion
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I am here alive.... never seem to have time to catch up to these groups..
Yikes!I should know better by now to invoke Pink Floyd in an internet discussion. Now I've sicked frogs of all things on people . . .
Yay! Ah the Top End .... So many ways to die (also so amazing)
Are the tree frogs trying to kill you too? Or are they just horrifyingly big?
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Ask me my opinion about GR and the sense of entitlement it bestows on countless readers. Then you can watch me have an episode. I've got one guy in a public thread who thinks Franzen has his nose out of joint and is writing specifically to alienate Oprah and win the Pulitzer. (You may agree with him; I don't. Oddly, I understand Franzen, although, as with any relationship, sometimes it takes a few days.)
There are people who are educated above their intellect (e.g., someone graduates at the bottom of every class, medical, legal, MFA). Some readers are in over their heads.
Let me channel Jeanette Winterson. Some people believe art doesn't cater sufficiently to them, personally. And that any art that doesn't come and bring them flowers and chocolate and take them out to dinner deserves to be ripped limb from limb.
Talk to me. I'm standing on the bridge. (Not to jump, just to push other people off.)
There are people who are educated above their intellect (e.g., someone graduates at the bottom of every class, medical, legal, MFA). Some readers are in over their heads.
Let me channel Jeanette Winterson. Some people believe art doesn't cater sufficiently to them, personally. And that any art that doesn't come and bring them flowers and chocolate and take them out to dinner deserves to be ripped limb from limb.
Talk to me. I'm standing on the bridge. (Not to jump, just to push other people off.)
Mod
I think we should bolster this notion of Franzen writing specifically to alienate Oprah until it's some sort of meme. Maybe it deserves its own hashtag: #JFatWarWithOprah
Marc wrote: "A belated welcome to the group, AnnLoretta! I laughed aloud at why you're standing on the bridge.
I think we should bolster this notion of Franzen writing specifically to alienate Oprah until it's..."
Marc wrote: "A belated welcome to the group, AnnLoretta! I laughed aloud at why you're standing on the bridge.
I think we should bolster this notion of Franzen writing specifically to alienate Oprah until it's..."
Excellent. All writers should write in little boxes about little problems that Oprah can fix by giving out hidden presents beneath her audience's seats. Except I think she doesn't have a show any more. No TV. Don't know. But I do know that if the general populace of readers is going to be happy, all books must have a very happy ending, and no one must die or dislike their spouse or their family. There must be no allusions or books which are 21st century takes on ancient Greek or Christian myths which only confuse people, This will become law at some point, and all books will be printed in formats like Mao's little Red Book. I'll be gone by then, or else I'll be in a Home for the Bewildered with a book I haven't chosen yet. But it won't much matter, because each paragraph will be forgotten, however much it may have delighted me when I read it three minutes ago, and so the book will always be fresh. I'll read aloud at the dinner table, while my deaf and happy companions try to keep their canned corn on their spoons.
I think we should bolster this notion of Franzen writing specifically to alienate Oprah until it's..."
Marc wrote: "A belated welcome to the group, AnnLoretta! I laughed aloud at why you're standing on the bridge.
I think we should bolster this notion of Franzen writing specifically to alienate Oprah until it's..."
Excellent. All writers should write in little boxes about little problems that Oprah can fix by giving out hidden presents beneath her audience's seats. Except I think she doesn't have a show any more. No TV. Don't know. But I do know that if the general populace of readers is going to be happy, all books must have a very happy ending, and no one must die or dislike their spouse or their family. There must be no allusions or books which are 21st century takes on ancient Greek or Christian myths which only confuse people, This will become law at some point, and all books will be printed in formats like Mao's little Red Book. I'll be gone by then, or else I'll be in a Home for the Bewildered with a book I haven't chosen yet. But it won't much matter, because each paragraph will be forgotten, however much it may have delighted me when I read it three minutes ago, and so the book will always be fresh. I'll read aloud at the dinner table, while my deaf and happy companions try to keep their canned corn on their spoons.
Mod
To appeal the general populace, you have to find the lowest common denominator...
The only thing that really drives me nuts on GR (thus far) is when people review/rate books before they're even published (and they are not basing that review/rating on an advanced copy or anything they've actually read). Roving self-promoters drive me a little nuts, too, but that's not specific to GR.
Marc wrote: "I think she still has a magazine. You can get your subscription transferred to the Home for the Bewildered of your choice!The only thing that really drives me nuts on GR (thus far) is when people review/rate books before they're even published (and they are not basing that review/rating on an advanced copy or anything they've actually read). .."
I AGREE! There was 'flame war' that I suppose I more or less started some time back on GR about this very problem. A book popped up as a 'featured read' on GR, including paid ads, that I couldn't buy anywhere. Then it started getting one 5 star review after another. Turned out that all the reviews were either employees of the publisher, friends of the author, or recipients of advanced copies. They were not a friendly bunch when I questioned the sincerity of their reviews for a work that wasn't yet for sale!
When finally available for sale, the only place where you could purchase the book was an iffy website that didn't work but wanted my credit card and a lot of information.
Yet to read the book, but would if it was available elsewhere.
CD wrote: "Marc wrote: "I think she still has a magazine. You can get your subscription transferred to the Home for the Bewildered of your choice!
The only thing that really drives me nuts on GR (thus far) is..."
That explains a lot. I've always known there were advance copies out there, that's how I read Jurassic Park, when they sent it to one of the geologists I worked for at S___ University for a scientific check. Silly me, I thought that's how advance copies still worked, that they were sent out to strangers. I keep forgetting that we are in a publishing bubble. It's all about the money.
Synchronicity: This is a blurb from today's LitHub email. The people who are looking for what James Patterson describes here always seem to be the ones I run into, they're looking for a simple entertaining story and they review books scathingly, as if the book were a personal attack on them by the author when they have simply chosen their reading material poorly. I've got absolutely nothing against the industry Patterson engages in. It's not my thing.
"Why muck around with interiority? Why must a mass-market paperback aspire to the thickness of a foam travel pillow? Why not test the demand for low-commitment narratives priced at five dollars a hit?� On James Patterson and his new project, BookShots. | The New Yorker
The only thing that really drives me nuts on GR (thus far) is..."
That explains a lot. I've always known there were advance copies out there, that's how I read Jurassic Park, when they sent it to one of the geologists I worked for at S___ University for a scientific check. Silly me, I thought that's how advance copies still worked, that they were sent out to strangers. I keep forgetting that we are in a publishing bubble. It's all about the money.
Synchronicity: This is a blurb from today's LitHub email. The people who are looking for what James Patterson describes here always seem to be the ones I run into, they're looking for a simple entertaining story and they review books scathingly, as if the book were a personal attack on them by the author when they have simply chosen their reading material poorly. I've got absolutely nothing against the industry Patterson engages in. It's not my thing.
"Why muck around with interiority? Why must a mass-market paperback aspire to the thickness of a foam travel pillow? Why not test the demand for low-commitment narratives priced at five dollars a hit?� On James Patterson and his new project, BookShots. | The New Yorker
That is, that isn't Pimpin'?