Comments on: “Yeah, but you can tell how much it’s gonna cost”

By: I enjoy this program

I enjoy this program — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 11:49:07 +0000

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By: Ana Kristofferson

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By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:22:42 +0000

Jane – Is it really true that literary books are about the death of relationships and romances are about the birth of them? What about The Catcher in the Rye? Isn’t that book about Holden’s healing? What about Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley? Sure, these are only two examples, but I think a lot of literary fiction is about the quest for human intimacy — sometimes that quest is fulfilled and sometimes (all right, admittedly, more often) it isn’t, but is your presentation of literary fiction too reductive?

On a side note, thanks again for linking (repeatedly) to my blog. I’m still figuring out the whole blogging thing – what voice I want to use in my writing and what kind of posts will generate discussion. I know it’s ambitious, but someday I’m even hoping to reach ten comments on a single post.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:29:13 +0000

I read because I love to read. I can’t call it escape because I prefer tragedies and deeper reads. I like to pull out humanity, examine its flaws and beauty, and find it redemptive in some way. When I want an easy read I go for sci-fi and mysteries. I have learned that most people do not share my taste, though. “A slow read” is not necessarily a bad thing for me.

I really liked the Book Thief. And The Glass Castle. And Peace Like a River. And A Thousand Splendid Suns, too.

By: cousin sylwia

cousin sylwia — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:45:22 +0000

shannon

when are you going to read the glass castle? it’s a book about a truly bad mother. you could totally blog about that…

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:27:28 +0000

Sarah in Georgia — I’m glad you all liked The Book Thief. It sounds a bit grim, doesn’t it? And yet I’m excited to give it a try.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:26:54 +0000

Coral Rose — You make some very good points, and Lahiri’s writing was, indeed, beautiful. She did capture the loneliness, and the day-to-day frustrations, and I did love how she explored the caregiver parent’s special struggles through both female and male eyes.

I admit that I am spoiled — by books where Something! Happens! on every page. So it is hard at first, and then a treat, to read something slower, yet just as rewarding, in a different way.

Laura Williams — You’re absolutely right. My favorite, favorite romances are those that are as well written as “literary” books. All the ones I linked to here are, imho. I could add Much Ado About Nothing, A Room With a View, The English Patient, the rest of Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, and many more. (On the YA side — The Witch of Blackbird Pond, etc)

By: Sarah in Georgia

Sarah in Georgia — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:18:40 +0000

I don't think Death is more real than birth for the purpose of literature; I think birth is harder to write about deeply than death is. I love, love, love The Blue Castle and another one called The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter. *sigh* My book group read The Book Thief several months ago and I loved that one, too. I think it may be one of the favorites of all of the wide-range of sisters in the group.

By: Sharla

Sharla — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:01:33 +0000

Oh, man! I wondered whatever happened with those books. That seriously stinks. I never could find it where we live either. Maybe I’ll have better luck with this one. Oh, and I agree with you 100%. I like to read about relationships growing, not dying. I am still laughing at Memarie Lane but don’t know her well enough to know if she’s joking…

By: Laura Williams

Laura Williams — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:00:22 +0000

Last night I remembered again why I prefer romance. It is nice to escape the harsh reality of literary works.

In response to your comment that a book is usually romance or literary I would have to disagree. As I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns, a book I would say is “literary,” I was happy there was a bit of romance at the end of all the “literaryness” because otherwise I would have been seriously depressed after finishing it.

By: Coral Rose

Coral Rose — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:29:58 +0000

I would agree that Lahiri is no Montgomery, but I found Unaccustomed Earth to be searing and beautiful. Perhaps it is a tenet of the confusing mid-life years, where we realize that we don’t belong anywhere, that no one’s life is as easily resolved as the novels we hold so dear, and where even in relationships we feel so alone, but I thought this book really spoke to everyday hurts. Not the kind of hurts we find in Montgomery – orphans whose early troubled years we skim over, landing softly in the middle of schoolroom wars and vanity mishaps, but the ordinary, every day loneliness of responsibility, of being so busy you forget to be in love with your spouse/significant other or to rejoice in your children’s vibrance rather than be overwhelmed by their ability to create havoc. I found this book to be uplifting in the knowledge that we are not alone in our loneliness, in our travels on unaccustomed earth, but that we all yearn for something that (I, at least, believe) is promised to us not in this life.
Maybe this is my own form of sentimental drivel. Feel free to disregard. (And please know that the one book I refused to leave home when I left for college was The Blue Castle. I adore that book.)

By: Angie

Angie — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:58:50 +0000

Jane,
I totally agree. I love reading, but as an escape, maybe to make my life seem not so boring (as I write this, I have my current novel sitting in front of me and thoughts of getting the living room clean at the back of my mind). I love being home with my kids (when I am not hating it) and want what I read to reflect positive feelings. I get enough negative from my own psyche… And I have to heartily agree with your opinion on Some Kind of Wonderful. It DOES cover all of life in an amazingly short time span! Watts is full of wisdom, especially at the end when she tells Keith, “Well, you’re stupid. I always knew you were stupid.” Sums up everything, right there… Thanks for the post. I loved it!

By: Memarie Lane

Memarie Lane — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:38:15 +0000

I must disagree, there are plenty of literary books about the birth of love. I just finished one. Unfortunately it turned out to be about lesbians.

By: Jordan (MamaBlogga)

Jordan (MamaBlogga) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:31:55 +0000

Great point!

My BFF and I were talking about books the other day (as we are wont to do), and I mentioned another friend who doesn’t like books who have sad endings. Like The Great Gatsby. (Although I must say, the real sad ending there would have been if Gatsby ended up with Daisy. She didn’t deserve him! She could never live up to the image of Daisy in his mind anyway! Holy crap, I feel a literary novel coming on!)

My friend spontaneously mentioned The Book Thief as falling in this category, and said it was one of the best books she’s read in the last year. We have almost the same taste in books, so I’m def. going to try and track this one down.

By: kikibibi

kikibibi — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:29:12 +0000

p.s. I have a typo. Strike “line” from the second, um, line.

p.p.s. I totally had to look up “suburban dystopia.”

By: kikibibi

kikibibi — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:24:38 +0000

Jane – you’ve hit the nail exactly on the head re: literary fiction vs. romance novels. Your line comparison of “pointing out” flaws vs. “celebrating” connections is brilliant. You are a great writer, did I ever tell ya that?

Here’s the difference, for me, between “real” books and trashy romance novels: I check out real books from the library; I buy the trashy stuff when it’s in a sale bin at the grocery store or when I’m running through an airport. A few times I year, I buy “real” books at B&N, so that when my in-laws come to visit, I look deep. I hide the trashy stuff under my bed, and when it overflows, scoop them all up into a paper bag and drop in the library’s “donations” box. That’s warped.

MUST READ… “Dream House” by Valerie Laken. I’m about halfway through and love love love it! I went to college with Val, and it’s freakin’ me out that she was reviewed by NYT!!!

By: captain kirk

captain kirk — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:19:57 +0000

VERY well written, Jane! And correct.

I think I too like books of birth, rather than death. Though my genre’s are different than yours, I think your ideas apply.

Thank you.

By: cousin sylwia

cousin sylwia — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:26:03 +0000

i borrow 50 books per week from the library. (i have kids that read at 4 different reading levels.) since most books cost in the 20 dollar range, i don’t mind paying fees to the libraries. if i end up paying 20 dollars per year to them, i’m still saving roughly 50 thousand dollar per year…

By: jennie w.

jennie w. — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:57:11 +0000

I spied some nifty Harlequin Nascar books at the grocery store yesterday. Shall I send them along? (via media mail, of course.)