Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 122

When Is a Book Too Much of a Comfort Read?

I was looking for comfort reads, the mashed potatoes of literacy, and I read a book that had been highly recommended (lotta five star ratings on Amazon) with the caveat being that it was just the story of what happened to this guy, episodic not escalating. And I thought, “Great, a picaro story” and raced right through it.

It wasn’t a picaro story.

A picaro narrative is an episodic story of a rogue’s progress through life. Think Tom Jones, Moll Flanders, Don Quixote, the Murderbot stories taken as one story in five parts. A picaro’s story is not one goal/one conflict, it meanders, following the rogue’s adventures. I thought the important part of that definition was the episodic nature of it, following a character through different spaces and interactions. Turns out the key is “rogue,” as in anti-heroic, iconoclastic, amoral protagonist.

The book I read has a classic beginning–orphaned boy forced to find his way in the world–and it was fun to start with. For one thing, everybody liked this kid and helped him out because they could see how good/smart/honest he was, and that was comforting when the real world is nothing but conflict. He got a very low status job on a spaceship, but it just worked out that he really knew this job because his now-deceased mother had been obsessive about that a particular task, and everybody on the ship loved him because he was the best there ever was at this one thing. Competence porn. Loved it.

Then he helped a friend pass a test he couldn’t pass before, solved the financial problems of several crew members while evoking fond memories in the captain, aced four advancement tests, got a great idea for saving the ship money, researched another way to make the ship’s trips more profitable . . .

I wanted a comfort read, but by three-quarters of the way through, I really wanted a plague to attack this guy, or a bullet, or at least somebody who slapped him. I wanted him to make mistakes and learn from them instead of always doing the right thing at the right time with the right people. I wanted a protagonist who broke the rules and paid the price, had uncharitable thoughts and flaws, and–for the love of god–engaged in CONFLICT.

I wanted a picaro.

It was right about then that I began to entertain thoughts that maybe this guy was a con man, that he was working the ship for an ulterior motive. For one thing, he lied about things. He said he didn’t like his name, it was embarrassing, but every time he introduced himself, he did it quoting the first line of a classic novel. Yeah, that’s flaunting your hame, not being embarrassed by it. (Also why the hell are people still reading an eighteenth century novel a thousand years in the future, so much so that everybody he talks to gets the reference. I’m not sure a lot of people now would get the reference.). Plus he withholds information from people. He doesn’t tell his friend that he’s arranged for an oral test instead of a written even though that would have eased his friend’s anxiety a lot, although this is also the friend that played a trick on him during a safety drill and got him laughed at, so maybe it’s revenge? This guy has to be on the con, right?

Nope. He’s just a really good guy which everybody recognizes and applauds him for.

And that’s bad because without conflict, this guy can’t arc. He’s essentially the same guy at the end that he is at the beginning, albeit with more skills. Mostly, he’s boring.

So I went back and read some Murderbot again. People keep trying to kill him, he gets exasperated with his clients, he makes mistakes, he’s rude, he hates having relationships with people but he keeps getting drawn into them and panicking, he runs away a lot once he’s saved everybody, he’s flawed and funny and cranky and marvelous, a rogue Security Unit with some human parts and a lot more human emotion than he’ll admit. Like the other protagonist, he’s a really good guy, but a good guy who works outside the law, engages in conflict, and has character arc.

He’s a picaro.

I can’t keep reading the Murderbot books over and over, I can practically recite them now, so for heaven’s sake, Martha Wells, write another one.

Because it turns out I need comfort reads that aren’t that comfortable.

This is a Good Book Thursday, June 11, 2020

This week I read Maria Rivans’ Extraordinary Things To Cut Out and Collage.

There were a lot of pictures, which helped.

I also read all five Murderbots for the fifth time. I have no idea (well, I have a little idea) why I find that series so comforting, but it’s practically my digital teddy bear at this point.

And I read a new book that made me think about comfort reads in a different way. I’d tell you the title, but I think I’m going to write a post tomorrow criticizing it, so no on that.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, June 8,2020

I cleaned my e-mail in box out this week. It sparkles now. I worked.

I also found a notary and got the doc shipped off to the bank. Then I came home and had a coughing fit (got something caught in my throat, NOT the virus) and threw up on myself. I looked down at my nice clean navy dress, now pretty disgusting, and thought, “This is a metaphor.”

Which is when I realized I was overthinking things and it was time to get over myself and get back to work. So I’m back to work. Bob and I did the third week post for HWSW and we’re agreeing on pretty much everything. I’m starting to think this isn’t a good idea. But at least it’s access to the old stuff. Krissie and I are doing a Zoom on collaborating for ARRA (Hello, Australia!). The recycling goes out today and the trash tomorrow. I ordered watercolors and supplies to start painting again. And tracing paper so I can do some of Lily’s drawings.

Nothing but good times ahead.

What did you work on this week?

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh Just Hell

I’m going to be missing most of this week on Argh (don’t worry, I’ll put the Wednesday and Thursday posts up) because, uh, I’m losing my mind, what little there was left of it. But because people have asked in the comments and in private . . .

I also have an ancient T-shirt somewhere that’s this:

Or there’s my fave light bulb joke: “How many mothers does it take to change a light bulb?” “It’s all right, I’ll just sit here in the dark.”

So, from the dark side (I have no cookies but I did eat an entire pumpkin pie this week):

The Good:

My country is (please please) going through a metamorphosis that will result in a better future for everybody.

The weather here is glorious and sitting in the side yard listening to the wind in the trees is better than valium.

I still have Diet Coke.

The Bad:

I have been all over god’s little acre trying to get legal docs notarized, but since we’re (a) rural as all hell and (b) an hour away from the epicenter of the virus, nothing with a notary is open in either of the two towns I’ve tried. Heard a rumor that the UPS store one town over has a notary. It reminds me of trying to score mescaline back in the day.

My brother has sold the family home, and when he told me I thought, If you’d left that to me, I’d have burned it to the ground and salted the ashes. So clearly I have some childhood issues to deal with there. Fortunately, I have Jamie the Therapist every Thursday.

Donald Trump just sent me a letter saying he was delighted to give me $127 in stimulus funds in the enclosed gift card. There was no gift card. Does that guy ever not lie?

I’m going to put Nita on hold until I can deal with it the context of what’s happening now. Now is not a good time to have a cop protagonist or a plot about discrimination and race written by aa clueless white person. Also my brain hurts when I think about it.

More Good (because I don’t like ending on Bad):

He Wrote She Wrote Again goes live on Saturday, and yes I will post the link here. We’ve got eighteen weeks planned, but we’re also adapting as we go because we’ve both changed a lot in fourteen years, so who knows what it will be. It is not monetized, although it’s a free WordPress blog and they keep putting little boxes in the posts that say there might be ads there. If those turn out to be annoying, we’ll pay the ransom.

I’m thinking my fiction is increasingly irrelevant, but my teaching isn’t, so I’m going back to the writing book I’ve been planning for decades. I’m good at teaching writing.

Oh Just Hell

Did you know that after an extraction/implant/bone graft you have to sleep sitting up? You haven’t seen cranky until you’ve seen me without sleep.

More Good:

Milton, Veronica, Mona, and I are now going out to the side yard to sit in the late afternoon light (beautiful light) and listen to the breeze, and count our blessings, which are many and include all of you.

Also word of advice, avoid oral surgery during a pandemic uprising financial recession that comes right after your mother’s death. There’s multi-tasking and then there’s just being an idiot.

Happiness is Brevity

What made you happy this week?

This is a Good Book Cherry Saturday

I have no idea what holiday it is, I just know it’s the day after my-root-canal-turned-out-to-be-an-extraction-with-implant-and-bone-graft-and-I-need-stronger-pain-meds. So I will be MIA today, but I thought this would be a good time to put up the request for books by authors of color, movies by directors and writers of color, music by composers of color . . . you get the idea.

Also, just in passing, a couple of people have mentioned that they didn’t think the community here is diverse. Just wanted to say that I have no idea. We do not keep stats on any of you so we have no information on you short of the e-mail addresses you use to sign on, and we don’t keep those. We will never sell your information and we will never ask you for demographic or any other personal information. Because we don’t care, we know who you are from your comments and that’s all we need to know.

Now I’m going to go try to sleep sitting up while avoiding any pressure on the right side of my head. There’s a good chance I’m going to be bitchy for a stretch here; I’ve already warned Mollie, Krissie, and Bob, none of whom were surprised.

Knock yourselves out.

What Do You Want Argh To Do?

I’m having a hard time concentrating this week, even harder than usual, because my country appears to be imploding. Since I’m firmly on the side of the protesters, I’m thinking this is a good thing, the kind of thing that brings about change that’s much needed, but there’s so much bad to go with it, which means I should be doing something, saying something. Also I’m getting a root canal today. Added to all of that is the knowledge that the few times I’ve spoken up, I’ve gotten clobbered with “Oh, Jennifer, I’m so disappointed in you,” from readers who evidently thought that I must agree with them in thought, word, and deed or fall from grace, and my inclination is to step aside, not so much so that I won’t disappoint anybody (fuck them, my job is not to live up to their expectations) but because what I think and do are irrelevant. I think this is why I’m obsessively rereading the Murderbot stories: They’re about a powerful being with a strong central moral core who protects good people and defeats the bad, and it doesn’t hurt that when he needs to escape reality, he watches stories obsessively.

So my inclination is to keep rereading, survive the root canal, and try to make sense of the last HWSW chat Bob and I did Tuesday because my part was all over the freaking place. And to go out for the first time in two weeks to get my bank papers notarized and pick up some brioche so I can go face down in butter and jam sandwiches on lethal white bread after the root canal. (I’m assuming I will be given good drugs.) Also possibly doughnuts.

In the meantime, I’m trying to decide if writing Argh posts to directly talk about the flames is a good thing or a bad thing. Not that we’d try to stop anybody from talking about what’s going on, but is it better if this is a place where people can come to talk about books and roses and dessert without having to address the revolution, or do I need to write a post that says, “Racism is bad, I stand with the protestors.” Racism is bad and I do stand with the protestors, but I’m thinking maybe holding a door open for people to escape from the chaos may not be a bad thing, either.

Or it may just be me evading my responsibilities. Because the revolution that’s happening is not just an interesting news story, it’s my country, it’s the world, it’s everybody.

Also, I need sleep, so my decision making is not up to par. Plus there’s a bank and a root canal in my immediate future so my focus is lacking.

Argh. What do you want it to be right now?

This is a Good Book Thursday, June 4, 2020

Hey, I found a very short Murderbot prequel story and read all the Murderbots a fourth time. No, I don’t know why. Also Ratthi looks like Sendhil Ramamurthy. Also, this is fun (Murderbot and ART answering questions on Instagram). (Yes, I have also been reading Martha Wells interviews.)

What did you read?

Working Wednesday, June 3, 2020

It’s been one of those weeks where I tried to do a dozen things at once and ended up doing all of them badly: I worked on Lily and Nita and made stir fry and . . . you know, the stuff I always do. It’s going to hit 89 this week (IN THE FIRST WEEK OF JUNE? We’re gonna fry this summer) so my outdoor work is going to be limited, but I have big plans for inside, BIG PLANS . . .

Oh, hell, tell me what you worked on this week and let me live vicariously.

Re-Read-Ability

I don’t remember when I started reading the Murderbot stories, but it couldn’t have been more than ten days ago, and I’m on my third reread of the entire series. What I want to know is, why?

That is, what makes a story re-readable or re-watchable?

I must have read The Grand Sophy well over a dozen times. I’ve seen the pilots of Leverage and Person of Interest at least a dozen times. And now I’m obsessively reading the Murderbots. Why do we go back to the same stories again and again?

If you were hoping I had an answer to this, turn back now. I don’t think it’s character; Stephen King’s very excellent Bag of Bones had great characters and I will never read it again. It’s not a soothing plot; I just read a fun romance that was pure fantasy and enjoyed seeing every unrealistic dream come true for the heroine, but I’ll never go back to it. It’s not emotional resonance; Shadowlands is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, but it was so emotionally powerful, I doubt I’ll ever watch it again.

So I’m pretty sure we don’t re-read or re-watch just because a story is really good. So what is it?

Over to you all.