Monday, December 11, 2006

 

On reading

I am not a literary snob. I will read practically anything that I can get my hands on, and I have read everything from George Orwell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Neal Stephenson to Michael Crichton to Tom Clancy to Jack London. I spend twenty times more time reading than watching television. Were it not for news and the brothers Klitschko I would not even have cable. Cable modem, hell yes - cable television, not so much. I am always open to suggestions on what to read next, and I anticipate reading thousands more books, both good and bad. I have known a few poseurs who only read the "literary" books and flit about, martini in hand and name-dropping authors that everyone in that room merely pretended to have read. I prefer to spend time with readers who will hunker down and discuss any book seriously, no matter how much disdain is poured out by the square-spectacles crowd. I am an equal-opportunity reader, I will give most anything a chance. However, if your writing sucks do not be surprised when I trade in your bestseller/doorstop for a stack of paperbacks from writers I have never heard of.

Remember authors, just because the intellectuals like your book does not mean that it, and you - are not full of shit.

I started re-reading my brand new copy of "The Gunslinger" tonight. When I read it the first time a few years back I burned through it and the next six books. Now that there is a seventh I will take more time and re-read through the end.


Comments:
George Orwell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Neal Stephenson to Michael Crichton to Tom Clancy to Jack London

'Not a snob' indeed. I'd find that more convincing if you'd included Alice Adams, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Louise McMaster Bujold, George Eliot, Rebecca Goldstein, Mary Gordon, Zora Neal Hurston, P.D. James, Mary McCarthy, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Helen Santmeyer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Muriel Spark, Donna Tartt, Fay Weldon, Rebecca Wells, or Edith Wharton. I omit Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, of course, as I find them both most tediously pretentious.
 
George Orwell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Neal Stephenson to Michael Crichton to Tom Clancy to Jack London

'Not a snob' indeed. I'd find that more convincing if you'd included Alice Adams, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Louise McMaster Bujold, George Eliot, Rebecca Goldstein, Mary Gordon, Zora Neal Hurston, P.D. James, Mary McCarthy, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Helen Santmeyer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Muriel Spark, Donna Tartt, Fay Weldon, Rebecca Wells, or Edith Wharton. I omit Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, of course, as I find them both most tediously pretentious.
 
George Orwell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Neal Stephenson to Michael Crichton to Tom Clancy to Jack London

'Not a snob' indeed. I'd find that more convincing if you'd included Alice Adams, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Louise McMaster Bujold, George Eliot, Rebecca Goldstein, Mary Gordon, Zora Neal Hurston, P.D. James, Mary McCarthy, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Helen Santmeyer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Muriel Spark, Donna Tartt, Fay Weldon, Rebecca Wells, or Edith Wharton. I omit Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, of course, as I find them both most tediously pretentious.
 
George Orwell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Neal Stephenson to Michael Crichton to Tom Clancy to Jack London

'Not a snob' indeed. I'd find that more convincing if you'd included Alice Adams, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Louise McMaster Bujold, George Eliot, Rebecca Goldstein, Mary Gordon, Zora Neal Hurston, P.D. James, Mary McCarthy, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Helen Santmeyer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Muriel Spark, Donna Tartt, Fay Weldon, Rebecca Wells, or Edith Wharton. I omit Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, of course, as I find them both most tediously pretentious.
 
George Orwell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Neal Stephenson to Michael Crichton to Tom Clancy to Jack London

'Not a snob' indeed. I'd find that more convincing if you'd included Alice Adams, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Louise McMaster Bujold, George Eliot, Rebecca Goldstein, Mary Gordon, Zora Neal Hurston, P.D. James, Mary McCarthy, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Helen Santmeyer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Muriel Spark, Donna Tartt, Fay Weldon, Rebecca Wells, or Edith Wharton. I omit Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, of course, as I find them both most tediously pretentious.
 
George Orwell to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Neal Stephenson to Michael Crichton to Tom Clancy to Jack London

'Not a snob' indeed. I'd find that more convincing if you'd included Alice Adams, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Louise McMaster Bujold, George Eliot, Rebecca Goldstein, Mary Gordon, Zora Neal Hurston, P.D. James, Mary McCarthy, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Helen Santmeyer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Muriel Spark, Donna Tartt, Fay Weldon, Rebecca Wells, or Edith Wharton. I omit Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, of course, as I find them both most tediously pretentious.
 
Ack! Betrayed by a nefarious Blogger into repeating myself!
 
Ack! Betrayed by a nefarious Blogger into repeating myself!
 
I am guessing through the use of repetition you are trying to stress something? Perchance?

Nay, dear Lady - I am not the literary epicure, and while I have a passing familiarity with a portion of the more famous authors listed in your post(s) I freely and unabashedly admit that I have not heard of others... Barbara Pym? Helen Santmeyer? Many of the writers that you mention seem to have a proclivity for elucidating the female experience, something I confess I have spent little time researching.

An unusual series of decisions that I made early on ultimately made me prefer the ascetic over the aesthetic as a young man. While I was force-fed a diet of PBS as a youth, I came to resent it deeply. Indeed, I am the resident (mainly) non-hostile philistine at your blog, uncultured and uninformed regarding artistic endeavors.

As I settle into the indian summer of my life I have made an effort to find some color in my rather monochromatic world. I trust that you will not devalue my contributions simply because I have a palette that contains only the primary hues. I refuse to pretend to know more than I do, or pretend to be more than I am. That is my nature.
 
I am guessing through the use of repetition you are trying to stress something? Perchance?

Nope. Just a glitch in the system.

I trust that you will not devalue my contributions simply because I have a palette that contains only the primary hues.

You have mastered, at least, the subordinate clause, which is adequate for the time being. ;-)
 
heya cromsanvil.blogspot.com admin discovered your site via yahoo but it was hard to find and I see you could have more visitors because there are not so many comments yet. I have found site which offer to dramatically increase traffic to your blog http://mass-backlinks.com they claim they managed to get close to 4000 visitors/day using their services you could also get lot more targeted traffic from search engines as you have now. I used their services and got significantly more visitors to my website. Hope this helps :) They offer most cost effective services to increase website traffic at this website http://mass-backlinks.com
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?