Choupette's reading progress
Choupette
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on page 41 of
The Dispossessed (Sf Masterworks 16)
"So far, I have my normal scifi problems." — 24 days ago, 01:56AM
"So far, I have my normal scifi problems." — 24 days ago, 01:56AM
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Choupette wrote: "Definitely a gender divide, now I think of it. Boys and machines, I guess, and girls and magic - how we fulfil all the stereotypes! Also it seems to be fashionable for people of the literate persua..."
Well, I was thinking actually that fantasy has a lot less made up words than SF. Novels like LOTR notwithstanding most fantasy type stuff just uses fantastic creatures that are part of our vocabulary already. SF on the other hand.... whole alien cultures thing here.
I was kinda wondering about the SF thing since you're a science student so I didn't figure that was the problem. :-)
Choupette wrote: "Greyweather, that's true. I don't get the cringe factor with Card. I think maybe... actually no, I have no idea why. Actually yes, maybe it's just because he makes up fewer words."The Lathe of Heaven will probably be well suited to you then as I don't think she made up any words for this novel.
Choupette wrote: "Well, some fantasy then. Le Guin hardly counts because she writes so much sci-fi anyway."
If you count her YA novels she's written more fantasy than sci-fi.
Choupette wrote: "I think that's definitely a large part of it. I usually find that once I'm used to the new vocabulary and the new reality - in other words, once I get into the book - it stops bothering me."I like the way I think Theodore Sturgeon put it -- science FICTION, not SCIENCE fiction. Altho I don't think it's always along gender lines -- I got the Ben Bova Mars trilogy, thinking my husband might like it (he was interested in Mars exploration at the time), and he threw it against the wall after about 25 pages. He couldn't get into Neal Stephenson at all, either.
Well, some fantasy then. Le Guin hardly counts because she writes so much sci-fi anyway. Here, watch all my old prejudices coming out of the woodwork! I may just shut up now.
Definitely a gender divide, now I think of it. Boys and machines, I guess, and girls and magic - how we fulfil all the stereotypes! Also it seems to be fashionable for people of the literate persuasion to look down their liberally-arched noses at genre fiction in general.
I think that's definitely a large part of it. I usually find that once I'm used to the new vocabulary and the new reality - in other words, once I get into the book - it stops bothering me.I don't think it's uncommon for people to like one or the other of science fiction and fantasy. Paul Bryant and Manny, for example, both seem to read a lot of sci-fi and basically no fantasy. And (probably a teenage-girl thing) a lot of my friends read only fantasy and have no interest in sci-fi.
Not at all. Or rather, I have a slightly different kind of cringe for fantasy, one that I'm much more used to ignoring. In any case, I have over the course of my life read quite a lot of fantasy, but very little science fiction.
I'm curious as some people I know who do not like SF also eschew fantasy. Is that the case for you as well?
Greyweather, that's true. I don't get the cringe factor with Card. I think maybe... actually no, I have no idea why. Actually yes, maybe it's just because he makes up fewer words. Robert, I like this enough now that I'll try those others you (and the rest of the WORLD) recommend. Someday.
I still don't think this represents LeGuin at her best; The Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven are much superior in my view.
