Gail's comments (member since Sep 11, 2009)

Gail's comments from the Constant Reader group.

Oh, are you finding it worth the slog? Some folks have said it's great, others not so much.

Gabrielle, my husband looks at me in complete astonishment sometimes when I buy books. However, I have the great good fortune to be married to one who also has his little "collections" (for example, fifty million...uhhh...make that just fifty or so...books on WW 2. He taught Social Studies at a high school and was often invited after his retirement as "guest lecturer" on the subjects of WW 2 and Viet Nam using personal experience plus piles and piles and piles of books on the latter), so he's not too hard on me. I'm trying to cut myself back, but it's really difficult.

Carol, uh-oh. I'll have to look at more reviews, I guess. But the subject matter and the over, uh, feel of the book are very appealing to me.

Eh? Reykjavik Mysteries? Good grief. And here I thought I was well up to speed in the mystery department. Are they police procedurals?

Almost broke my tiny heart today when I had to pass by The Childrenn's Book at our local B and N. That and one about the witchcraft trials are on my to-buy list for February (on a cruise in January, probably spending enough money that month). The Mystik Craft of Dame Somebody or something similar is the title. Can't wait!

Edit: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is the other new one. I read a great review by someone who has tastes similar to mine, I grew up in Salem Village, I really, *really* want this book.

Hmmm. I'd like to re-read (does that hyphen belong there? Seems so awkward without it.) Anna Karenina this year, trying to pick up on all that I missed last go round, and I'd really like to tackle W. and P. I last read that in...ummm...the Pleistocene Era. Almost.

I was amazed (And how dumb is that? Wouldn't it make sense that this big old Russian book which is still popular would actually be *good*?) at how much I enjoyed Anna. An engrossing marvelous read, surprisingly contemporary and fascinating.

Heh.

Best 2009 reads:

Anna Karenina
Possession
Testament of Youth
Life in a Medieval Castle
The Wee Free Men
The False Inspector Dew
Mystic River
Dry Storeroom No. 1
Author, Author
Homage to Catalonia
Middlemarch

Huh. Hadn't realized my tastes were quite so eclectic.

I loved Posession. It was my favorite book of 2009. I thought it was amazing that Byatt could create so many distinct voices, not only in the story itself, but in the poetry which surrounds it.

Must say: One can agree to disagree. One doesn't and indeed can't always convince others of the rightness of one's ideas. That's what I like about life.

And Joe, gee, I hated "The Jungle" but I know it's an important book in many ways. Perhaps Sinclair's reputation (I'm not saying it was deserved, I'm just saying he had it) of being a muckraker interfered with appreciation of his work as literature.

Joe, the site below was mentioned some time ago somewhere here at ConstantReader, but I'm putting it here again in case you missed it. If you click on it and type in John Cheever, you'll get a map, more or less, of authors considered similar to him.

http://www.literature-map.com/john+cheev...

For myself, I find Updike and Roth somewhat similar, but Cheever really has his own unique voice.

Ah, good to know, Ruth. I'm going to try more short stories as a genre exploration next year. It's a format I love, but have negelected for some time.

Joe, I read The Wapshot Chronicle many years ago and absolutely loved it. Recently he's come back up on my radar as I was able to score a really cheap copy of Susan Cheever's book about him. I'd like to revisit the Chronicle next year, try the short stories, maybe touch on the Scandal; I'm not sure how far I'll get with this as I'm very easily distracted and drawn to other things. I've heard his short stories are superb; what's your take on them?

Ah; much, much clearer now, A.J.; thanks. And I meant to say congratulations on the award as well as on being published.

And point well taken on authors responding to Amazon reviews; who would want to do that? Seems silly, self-defeating, and a waste of good writing time to me.

I look forward to your book---and Gabrielle, any future work by you as well.

Gabrielle, "In many ways it'd make me feel as though I had to take a bath." Great line; polite and yet precisely on point.

This discussion has really forced me to think through some of my preconceived notions a bit more carefully.

Gabrielle, I'm glad you answered my post, although I'm still hoping that A.J. will do so as well. In fact, your post has helped me see that perhaps I wasn't as clear as I first thought. So let's discuss a bit more, if you don't mind.

Perhaps "communicating" wasn't the perfect word to use, but I can't think of a better. And I do understand (oh, do I ever) about genre writing being the most lucrative and possibly the easiest sort of things to write with the single goal of making money. What I meant was, is being published only a means to either make money for its own sake, and/or to make money and become recognized enough to be able to publish more? What is the desired end of being published? Is it validation---how could one help but feel validated if one's work is published?

But that leaves me still wondering. If one writes to perfect a craft, or to use A.J.'s idea, which I really like, to construct a model, or to create a work of art, then why publish (or have an art show)? Isn't at least some part of public display of one's work a hope that others will see it and respond? And repsond positively?

All that is easy for me to say, isn't it, since my last published stuff was in a college magazine, which hardly counts as being published at all? I can see that A.J. has many valid points, quite a few of which I agree with, but I get lost when he says that writing is more of an interior activity. I feel that way, but I was under the impression that I feel that way because I'm not very good at it, and because I'm not driven by it as much as some others.

This is a most complex and interesting subject.

A.J., congratulations on being published; quite an achievement! I read the brief exerpt and was intrigued, not that I'm expecting you to really care about that.

I was surprised by your views on writing. I'd always presumed that at least one part of each author's motive was to communcate his thoughts to others. I hadn't thought about it as a private exercise. Of course I'm referring here to authors who want to/try to/succeed in getting published. Not arguing with you, just discussing. So, are you saying that you write to create your model, without regard to communcating with others? All right, I understand that and engage in it myself. But then, does that lead to the idea that the author seeks publication only for the purposes of making money? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) I'm trying to make sure I understand you. I would have that publishing would be a desired sharing of one's ideas/models with others.

Bravo, Beej.

Barnard's "The Skeleton in the Grass" is an excellent work, with the mystery taking a backseat to the rest of the story, which I found both intriguing and well-written. For a really funny take on opera, I can recommend "Death on the High C's". It's a more standard mystery, but his writing puts it above the average. An interesting observation on low-down modern life in Britain is called "Death at the Haworth Tandoori". He has one called "Out of the Blackout" that looks wonderful, but I've not had chance to read it yet.

For a very fresh voice, try "Deadly Slipper" by Michelle Wan. It's fascinating.

Also, I know I've mentioned him before in these threads, but do give Peter Lovesy a try. He's wonderfully funny and dark.

Yeeps, Sylvia, I'd completely forgotten Brides of Christ. A great series. I'm not sure if Married to a Dancer is available on Netflix, but it's also great.

Any thoughts on the Forsyte Saga interpretations? I preferred the first series by a wide margin, but Damian Lewis(?) as Soames turned in a superb performance in the later adaptation.

Here's a bit of a different viewpoint that I ran across in doing a bit of Medieval reading this year: Norman Cantor, an expert, however biased, on the Middle Ages, strongly recommends the movie of "The Name of the Rose" as a portal into the actual feel of those times.

For myself, I loved the book the first time I read it, many years ago; I loved it much more recently, when I understood quite a bit more. I think it bears repeat readings, however widely spaced.

So nice to find out that (some of) my well-read and intelligent online friends enjoy a good mystery from time to time. To me, mysteries are like comfort food from one's youth, perhaps because they were among the first "adult" books I read. It helps that I enjoy logic and a good puzzle, as well as some snarky humor. I recently discovered Caroline Graham; her books are interesting. A much under-rated author of mysteries, im(not-so)ho, is Robert Barnard, whose output is somewhat inconsistent...but his better books are very good indeed.

Can't stand Cornwell (my apologies to her fans), and I grew both weary of and appalled by the steadily escalating violence and degradation encountered in Elizabeth George's books. Too bad; I think she's got some writing talent.