mark’s Comments (group member since Sep 18, 2012)

mark’s comments from the Completists' Club group.

Gross.

It's so ::shrug::

Lobstergirl wrote: "We must judge authors by the books we randomly pick off the library shelves, not just by their greatest works...."

no way, not with books and not with anything! I'm going to judge Oates by her best work not her throwaways, just like I'm going to judge Hitchcock by Vertigo not Family Plot and my friends by what they've done that's awesome rather than what they do that they regret.

although I do see your point. I'm just resisting its logic!

you should have picked a good one. it's like you don't want to like her!

Braddon! recently read Lady Audley's Secret and thought it was fantastic. then went on a Project Gutenberg spree and downloaded a bunch more. man she's prolific.

thanks David

what are your recommendations for entry points? she sounds very interesting.

thanks for the recommendation regarding Dodo and the ghost stories. I have both but have yet to read them.

you both are amazing. seriously! those are genuine accomplishments.

i think Nightwood is amazing. definitely deserves to be on any list of key literature.

now that you mention it, i'm surprised at the lack of Woolf on that list.

2 by Gaddis and 3 by Beckett. huh.

in the entire history of the world.

that one is my favorite! but then i am not a fan in general of Ellis.

A Law for the Lion! i remember loving that one. but it has been a while.

i've read Public Burning and Gerald's Party. thought both were interesting. tried Pinocchio in Venice but couldn't finish it.

i quite enjoyed Quincunx, but it did not inspire me to search out his other novels. at least not until i read more Dickens.

i'd like to add that anyone interested in reading Peake should check out Cecily's (above) excellent series of reviews for some of his major works. i think she gave him his own shelf, so the reviews should be easy to find.

David wrote: "Philip K. Dick is hardly lowbrow...."

by "lowbrow" i am including those authors who are specialists in populist genres like science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, crime, etc. authors who are not considered "literary authors".

although i know others in the world - in and out of GR - agree with this description, i am not quite sure i do. and so i use it both begrudgingly and as a kind of easy shorthand. i am not Atwood or Lem, and so i see much literary value in genre fiction.

i think Dick and Silverberg are authors whose best work can sit comfortably with many literary authors. Delany, Mieville, Le Guin, Lem, Colin Wilson, and many others as well. but i'm not sure that any of them besides Delany/Dick/Le Guin have transcended their genre trappings.

Traveller wrote: "well, it's not really edifying, is it?.."

eh! i often get enough edification in my daily life. sometimes i just want pretty words and intriguing situations.

priorities are important!