Back when I still had a touching faith in the discernment of the New York Times Book Review, I’d read Edna O’Brien and Anna Quindlen and Margaret Drabble, and I wasn’t sure I ought to be questioning the taste of my betters, but was slowly growing doubtful of the form.
My response is that if it's on the NYT Best Seller list, it's probably trash. lol
Same kind of thing happening in popular fiction as what happened with TV... Jerry Springer-ism. A lowering of life and of thought and of talent and of creativity and of depth... etc.
But my dear, I don't think you realize the gift you have-- I'm not trying to fawn over you or suck up or anything like that, because that's not what I do. But honestly, your writing is superb. It's a GIFT, you have it, and you give it to us. Thank you.
I'm really grateful to have your regard. I discovered a decade ago I was a niche taste so finding my audience is the absolute gift fer shure.
Re those best sellers--I admire anyone who makes a living from writing--even if it's just for the marketing rather than the art. And every century has its pulp fiction. I didn't start thinking well of Dickens until I read his "Child's History of England" which absolutely floored me, it was so truly moving. If he hadn't been paid per word for his serialized novels, he'd have been a lot better.
And Thomas Hardy was dreadful, and Jane Austin is deathless for Pride and Prejudice but some of her stuff is just tedious.
But all of them at least had plotlines and people struggling to *do* something.
These days I mostly reread the children's books on my shelves; we better start secret crypts for the classics of the 19th and 20th centuries for when the Drought Years end...
I didn't mean NONE of the best sellers were good, but a lot them are just slog, in my opinion, and I feel the same way about a lot of music these days-- I grew up in the 60's & 70's, when rock music was outrageously good, and funk, I like classical, too, and a fair amount of the punk stuff.. I read Harry Potter books every once in a while, repeatedly, not so much for the writing but for the spirit of it, and the humor, too. I admit I read more articles online than I do books. I hate starting a book and then finding it to be crap!! But I read political stuff, and history... Your stories are such a treat, just a treat. Niche or not, you have a gift. It's a rare thing, my sister. You bring the heat. xo
What frustrated me about the Harry Potter books was abysmal character development in the midst of a brilliantly sustained magical environment. The Quidditch matches were thrilling. And I absolutely cried at the end because I *knew* Snape wouldn't turn out to be a villain and his lifelong devotion to Lily was almost, you know, unendurable...
Have you read Edward Eager's Half Magic series? They're funny and charming, and the final book is a hilarious send-up of Ivanhoe.
Also The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. I've only read this first book in the series but it's great.
And yeah, I hear you... I overlook that because I have a big imagination. I do like the wisdom she has about people, generally (isn't it kind of prescient in regard to Covid and all this? Interesting, and probably not consciously done), and about kids and teens, etc. But yeah, maybe she was trying to make it easier for youngsters... I don't know, but her charm lies elsewhere, indeed. That said, I am so taken with the story and all the detail and interesting little bits, I can forgive her a lot of rather mundane aspects... She ain't got what you got, babe, but she's got heart and soul.
Damn straight, Skippy. I admire her guts. She's cool.
Funny tidbit on Rowling: When they approached her about making a movie series, she said yes, of course, with the caveat that it would be made by English filmmakers, NOT Americans, LOL. I was relieved about that, too. ;)
Hugs back. Something I learned through some extremely rough times myself is just get through each 15 minutes, or each half-day, and take that as your victory.
I will feel either much relieved about some of this hell tomorrow afternoon, or much worse... We'll see. Then there's the less immediate hell... THAT doesn't bother me as much as being persecuted by a raging psychopath brother... Sigh. I should write about HIM.
I started to have a nagging feeling 20 years or so that the purpose of popular art and fiction wasn't to hypnotize or numb us but to crush our spirit and drive us to despair, and to find cynical pleasure in competing with each other for who was the more jaded vampire that could withstand, say, child pornography or gang rape with a bemused smile.
I began to notice that before any heroine triumphed against her adversaries, she first had to be beaten nearly to a pulp; probably raped; and then, instead of using cunning and subterfuge and brilliant strategy, etc. etc., she just blasted the bad guys with an excess of the firepower they had.
I have no problem with violence and savagery as a necessary part of a story. Two of my favorite films are "The Wild Bunch" and "The Night Porter."
But torture porn for the fun of it? My God, the scorn I have for people who just adored anything after the first season of Game of Thrones. Even the way Daenerys was such a shitty parental unit to those dragons of hers--I was just baffled.
And everything, everywhere, shot in that miserable shades-of-gray cinematography so we can't see anything happening, and everyone mumbling so we can't understand what they say, and almost every ending is failure and loss. Everyone smokes, to make clear to any moron who hasn't yet caught on that they are defeated and hopeless characters.
They're trying their damnedest to uproot the least idea of individual initiative in children. Everything must be collective action. One cannot have vital impulses of imagination and even resistance.
Even some quite remarkable films are still predicated on the child loving and protecting the abuser. "Let the Right One In" in the original Swedish version was extremely well-done and yet the premise was appalling.
My response is that if it's on the NYT Best Seller list, it's probably trash. lol
Same kind of thing happening in popular fiction as what happened with TV... Jerry Springer-ism. A lowering of life and of thought and of talent and of creativity and of depth... etc.
But my dear, I don't think you realize the gift you have-- I'm not trying to fawn over you or suck up or anything like that, because that's not what I do. But honestly, your writing is superb. It's a GIFT, you have it, and you give it to us. Thank you.
I'm really grateful to have your regard. I discovered a decade ago I was a niche taste so finding my audience is the absolute gift fer shure.
Re those best sellers--I admire anyone who makes a living from writing--even if it's just for the marketing rather than the art. And every century has its pulp fiction. I didn't start thinking well of Dickens until I read his "Child's History of England" which absolutely floored me, it was so truly moving. If he hadn't been paid per word for his serialized novels, he'd have been a lot better.
And Thomas Hardy was dreadful, and Jane Austin is deathless for Pride and Prejudice but some of her stuff is just tedious.
But all of them at least had plotlines and people struggling to *do* something.
These days I mostly reread the children's books on my shelves; we better start secret crypts for the classics of the 19th and 20th centuries for when the Drought Years end...
I didn't mean NONE of the best sellers were good, but a lot them are just slog, in my opinion, and I feel the same way about a lot of music these days-- I grew up in the 60's & 70's, when rock music was outrageously good, and funk, I like classical, too, and a fair amount of the punk stuff.. I read Harry Potter books every once in a while, repeatedly, not so much for the writing but for the spirit of it, and the humor, too. I admit I read more articles online than I do books. I hate starting a book and then finding it to be crap!! But I read political stuff, and history... Your stories are such a treat, just a treat. Niche or not, you have a gift. It's a rare thing, my sister. You bring the heat. xo
What frustrated me about the Harry Potter books was abysmal character development in the midst of a brilliantly sustained magical environment. The Quidditch matches were thrilling. And I absolutely cried at the end because I *knew* Snape wouldn't turn out to be a villain and his lifelong devotion to Lily was almost, you know, unendurable...
Have you read Edward Eager's Half Magic series? They're funny and charming, and the final book is a hilarious send-up of Ivanhoe.
Also The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. I've only read this first book in the series but it's great.
And again--you sure make my heart glow.
Half Magic was way better than I expected it to be.
I have never read Aiken. I will now.
And yeah, I hear you... I overlook that because I have a big imagination. I do like the wisdom she has about people, generally (isn't it kind of prescient in regard to Covid and all this? Interesting, and probably not consciously done), and about kids and teens, etc. But yeah, maybe she was trying to make it easier for youngsters... I don't know, but her charm lies elsewhere, indeed. That said, I am so taken with the story and all the detail and interesting little bits, I can forgive her a lot of rather mundane aspects... She ain't got what you got, babe, but she's got heart and soul.
And I'm really glad she has enough fuck-you money to both stick to her guns and help others to do so too.
Damn straight, Skippy. I admire her guts. She's cool.
Funny tidbit on Rowling: When they approached her about making a movie series, she said yes, of course, with the caveat that it would be made by English filmmakers, NOT Americans, LOL. I was relieved about that, too. ;)
Oh, thanks for the recommendations. I'll have to check them out... I need to get a new library card...
And that glow in the heart is mutual. xo My life is kinda rough right now, and this is one of the good things, reading your stories. So... hugs. ^_^
Hugs back. Something I learned through some extremely rough times myself is just get through each 15 minutes, or each half-day, and take that as your victory.
I will feel either much relieved about some of this hell tomorrow afternoon, or much worse... We'll see. Then there's the less immediate hell... THAT doesn't bother me as much as being persecuted by a raging psychopath brother... Sigh. I should write about HIM.
I started to have a nagging feeling 20 years or so that the purpose of popular art and fiction wasn't to hypnotize or numb us but to crush our spirit and drive us to despair, and to find cynical pleasure in competing with each other for who was the more jaded vampire that could withstand, say, child pornography or gang rape with a bemused smile.
I began to notice that before any heroine triumphed against her adversaries, she first had to be beaten nearly to a pulp; probably raped; and then, instead of using cunning and subterfuge and brilliant strategy, etc. etc., she just blasted the bad guys with an excess of the firepower they had.
I have no problem with violence and savagery as a necessary part of a story. Two of my favorite films are "The Wild Bunch" and "The Night Porter."
But torture porn for the fun of it? My God, the scorn I have for people who just adored anything after the first season of Game of Thrones. Even the way Daenerys was such a shitty parental unit to those dragons of hers--I was just baffled.
And everything, everywhere, shot in that miserable shades-of-gray cinematography so we can't see anything happening, and everyone mumbling so we can't understand what they say, and almost every ending is failure and loss. Everyone smokes, to make clear to any moron who hasn't yet caught on that they are defeated and hopeless characters.
They're trying their damnedest to uproot the least idea of individual initiative in children. Everything must be collective action. One cannot have vital impulses of imagination and even resistance.
Even some quite remarkable films are still predicated on the child loving and protecting the abuser. "Let the Right One In" in the original Swedish version was extremely well-done and yet the premise was appalling.
You deeply vindicate my deepest beliefs, and therefore I like you, because that's how souls work.
I'm glad you chose to visit me here in my own parlor.