21st Century Literature discussion
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Have You Connected With Anyone Of A Different Generation Over 21st Century Lit? (8/11/19)
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Marc
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Aug 11, 2019 08:55PM
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Marc wrote: "Parents certainly count, Hugh! Hmm... was generally thinking 15 to 20 years age difference. I hadn't even thought about how online relations might obscure or leapfrog generational concerns (since o..."Some Successes/failures:
I managed to get my dad, who only reads clive cussler, wilbur smith and colin forbes to read the White Tiger. He loved it!
I then suggested Purple Hibiscus - he told me pretentious rubbish.
Mum reads anything from Virginia Woolf to Lesley Pearse - One summer I kept giving her the easier booker titles such Disgrace and Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night Time. However she didn't like Life of Pi too much.
There's a 13 year age gap between my partner and I, she's an English Lit/media communications graduate but at Uni of Malta, the emphasis is on classic literature so her knowledge of 21st century books is meagre. So far I've lent her The Goldfinch, Eileen, The way of All Flesh and A Ladder to the Sky, all successes. However the big failure was Danielewski's House of Leaves (and also catcher in the rye - but I am noticing that the more recent generation are not liking it but preferring Chobski's Perks of being a wallflower, a book I find terribly shallow).
When I was a senior school librarian, I would give a list of 21st century lit fiction to the students, who I felt had potential. To this day they come up to me saying that they're working their way through the list.
Last one - I had a student who was way more advanced in his reading abilities than his peers so when he was in his final year at school, I lent him my copy of The Curious Incident. He came back three days later saying that he couldn't put it down but then asked me why the writing seemed robotic.
I am in two book groups, both have members with about a 25 year age gap from oldest to youngest. I'm in the middle. One of the groups we read a specific book each month and it's almost always 21st century lit, the other group is a discussion group where we each share what we've read lately and recommend books to each other, and while there's no parameters on that it's also primarily 21st cent lit. I'm not sure of the ages of the people in this group.
Since the last 4 books of the original Harry Potter series were published in the 21st century and I did not read any until the 21st century, J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series seems to fit. In the early 2000's I had wonderful conversations with my law partner's daughter, then in middle school, concerning the series.Another borderline (some 20th, some 21st century) series - Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - was suggested to me, in the early 2000's by the teenage son of good friends. We had many conversations about the series (before the TV series). When he brought four of his college friends (over 21 but under 25) to my second home for a visit about 7 years ago, we spent the time drinking wine and discussing sci fi and fantasy books. He remains a good friend and we still talk about books.
And then there are the Millennials and Gen Xers in this Group who are among my GR friends - you know who you are - with whom this Baby Boomer has had many discussions about many books published in the 21st Century.
