Bad endings

"Many of the world’s best novels have bad endings. I don’t mean that they end sadly, or on a back-to-work, all-is-forgiven note . . ., but that the ending is actually inartistic—a betrayal of what came before." - Joan Acocella

Any of these come to mind for you?  Stories that were great until the end, when they imploded.

Another book I'll have to read (with pleasure)

I read this quote and thought of my earlier post about fans and their potentially vicious hatred of movie adaptations of books they loved.  This person says it way better.

There was that miniscule chance you’d get it oh-so-very-wrong and then I’d have to become all nerd rage-y and rip the book apart, because that is something unfortunate we fans have a habit of doing. We love these things so much, when we feel they are not being treated with the respect they deserve, we tend to become irrational jackasses in an effort to protect whatever it is we love. - Source: Geeky Pleasures

Yes, that's it exactly.  Sounds like maybe John Scalzi's Redshirts (an apparently loving and very competent send-up of those poor guys who die inevitably pretty much every episode in the original Star Trek TV series) manages to avoid this problem of inciting nerd rage and irrational jackassery.  Sigh, now there's another book I have to read even though I don't think I've ever seen the original Star Trek series in its entirety.  (Note that this is one of Mr. Scalzi's comic novels, like Android's Dream, not one of his uber-serious military sci-fi epics.)

another reminder that I should not comment on books I haven't read

Someone repeated a quote to me about the Twilight books.  It was something about how the Harry Potter books are about friendship, good and evil, and other important, weighty themes, and Twilight is about the importance of having a boyfriend.  I reflected upon it and days later decided on the following responses.

• If one hasn't read books, one should probably not pass judgment on them.  This one is hard for me.  I got an MFA part time over six years, and I've interacted with a lot of lit majors in my time.  I am excellent at the game where you talk intelligently about books and authors you've never read.  Heck, I passed a CLEP test by reading a Norton's Table of Contents.  It's much easier to sneer and dismiss something I haven't read because it sort of precludes discussion, which is maybe the point if I don't want someone to call my bluff, but I love books enough that I shouldn't let myself be lazy and dishonest like this.
• Be careful where you throw your stones if you live in breakable houses.  This quote makes it sound as though Harry Potter is "real" or "good" (or at least better) "literature" (and Twilight is not).  This makes me laugh because there are so many people who happily look down their noses at Harry Potter and dismiss it as trash and only children's literature.  I mean, every genre seems to have another genre or subgenre it looks down on.  It's perhaps the way of the world.  But to those outside, it just looks silly. 
• The themes of Twilight have less to do with boyfriends than they do with the meaning and importance of love and commitment, sacrifice, good versus evil, morality, self-control/willpower, the danger of believing uncritically what you're told, trust, the meaning of family, what it means to protect, and other themes that can't be so easily dismissed as trashy.  I'm not saying it's "highbrow literature," but it's a compelling read that can provoke thought and discussion if one lets it, and I don't think it should be bashed quite as freely as it is, especially by people who haven't read it.  
• People who read a book only to bash it and not give it a fair chance should probably not say anything, either.  Nicholas Condon commented on a great John Scalzi post, 'There seems to me to be a very clear and obvious distinction between, “I did not like or appreciate the work in question,” and, “The work in question is bad and only a fool or a liar would say otherwise;" many critics write as if this distinction doesn’t exist.'  I think what he's saying applies here, too.

Not that I am claiming that the Twilight books are masterpieces of literature on par with Joyce or Tolstoy; I don't think anyone is because that's not what they're trying to be.  And I'm not claiming the books are without fault even in their own genre (not to be crude, but there are certain physiological functions leading to pregnancy that cannot occur without a working circulatory system).  I am just saying that if I haven't read a book and given it a fair shake, I should keep my mouth shut.  I really, really should.  Hold me to that, please.  : ) 

Ask the question, "Have you read it," and keep asking it even if I hem and haw, and if my answer is ultimately, "No," then call me on it and end the discussion unless you've read it and have something to say about it.  Thank you in advance!

The Quotable Rothfuss

Hey, fans, if you've read NotW or WMF, drop on by the blog o' Rothfuss and read everyone's favorite quotes and post some of your own. 

Them's fighting words

Publisher's Weekly has this feature called "Why I write," where they get authors to write a very short explanation about why they write. I find it fascinating for obvious reasons, being a writer and reader and all, and Steven Saylor's mini-essay in the May 3, 2010, issue that highlighted historical fiction was fantastic, and now I want to read his books to see the progression he points out in the article.

Anyway, here's my favorite bit.

"All writing is an act of self-exploration.. . . The so-called literary novel consciously attempts self-analysis, while the genre novel supposedly does not, offering merely--literally--generic entertainment. Don't believe it. Even the crudest, most derivative novel is an expression of the authors hopes and fears and ideas about good and evil. Even the most commercial writer is, at some level, exploring personal demons."

Yeah, he said it. :) Any thoughts?

Giving "genre fiction" a fair shake

"I really wish people would give the individual stories a chance without having to quantify them as a certain thing or another. They’re missing out on a lot of really awesome books I think."

An artist I admire said this about graphic novels here, but I thought about it when I finished reading When You Reach Me, the book that won the Newberry Award (best middle grade/children's book) this year.  It's an amazing book; really well-done and gripping, and it stars a protagonist who loves A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  It's a short, sweet, suspenseful, action-packed coming-of-age/school/family/friendship/mystery story that has a genre-rific twist.  It also has some fun physics. And it's short, somehow, despite having all that packed into it.

This year has shown that awards committees for kids' and teen's fiction like physics.

Anyway, if someone asked me what genre this book is, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't try to tell them.  I'd just tell them to read it, and they'd probably love it.  Who cares what "genre" it is?  It's a great book!

Looking for a few rational discussions

"Agree that some of the commenters were obnoxious. But I think in general people around the o’sphere who took offense were reacting out of context. (Which is of course what the web is all about, but we are book people, and as people concerned with context and the implications of words, I wish we didn’t do that."

When I read this quote here, it made me stop and think.  I love out of context quotes (usually for sheer entertainment value), but I don't participate in discussions and forums online because I don't function very well in conversation/interaction based on emotion and without context and implication and rationality.  Because I am a book person concerned with meaning and context and all that good stuff, I can't really get too interested in "the web."

Sometimes, I wonder if, by taking myself out of the discussions, I'm just being lazy.  Maybe there is good conversation out there about this stuff that I'll never find because I've given up.

What advice do you have for how to find places on the web to engage with people who react in context and don't rush to take offense and instead try to understand and are also not dull, boring, overly-serious folks with no senses of humor?  :)

Sometimes reality is dark

Here's a bit from the blog of an author I like.  She was a finalist for the National Book Award and writes great novels about teens that deal with consequences, family, and grace.  Some people find her works too dark and realistic.  That's why I enjoyed her sharing this quote.  

". . . I love this interview with Mo’Nique in the Sunday Times. There’s a lot there for writers, or anyone in a creative profession, to think about in terms of working hard and letting the work speak for itself. And, this quote (about Precious) is great:

“I keep hearing, ‘It’s so dark, it’s so dark,’ ” she said, placing her hands flat on the table. “This movie is not dark. This movie is honest, and I think we get that confused. I believe dark is when you see the action movies, and they’re killing 25 people in a room for no reason. That’s dark. Some people,” she said, looking up at the reporter, “can’t deal with that type of honesty, and so they just call it dark.”

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but this response applies to some of the criticisms of realism in YA."

I haven't seen the movie, either.  I really want to, but I don't think I'll be able to handle the darkness made visible.  I'll probably be reading the book instead.


Have you read Push by Sapphire or seen the movie Precious (based on the book)?  Any thoughts?

The Heart of Debate

This beautiful post by Ed Sizemore reminds me about what matters in debates online (or elsewhere).  It's simple and elegant, concise and well-written and totally worth your time.  Here are some of my favorite quotes.

"We all hold irrational beliefs, it’s okay. Just know what your irrational beliefs are and accept them as such. It doesn’t make them any less powerful or true. Also, you’re not required to defend everything you believe. Only philosophers and pretentious jerks are that anal."

"The point of a debate is to exchange ideas. To challenge the beliefs of someone and to have your beliefs challenged. Now, obvious we all are deeply attached to what we believe. Some beliefs are foundational to who we are. First, you need to be honest with yourself and determine which beliefs you aren’t prepared to discuss in a detached rational manner. These will be beliefs that you leave off the debate table. As with the last point, there is nothing wrong with not being willing to debate everything you believe."

"Remember, just as you don’t mean your arguments to be a personal attack against your discussion partner, so too they don’t mean their arguments to be a personal attack against you. It’s all about trying to get someone else to see your point of view and vice versa."

"I don’t have to agree with you to like you and think you’re a great person. I don’t even have to agree with you to want to hear what you have to say."

How great would online debates be if everyone followed these rules!  I can dream, can't I?

Quote about poems

"A poem seeks equilibrium, interaction between sense and sound."

from "Tritones"
by George Stein
Salmagundi Spring-Summer 2009
page 51

This fabulous essay features a debate between a musician, a mathematician, and a poet.  If you're any of those three or are interested in such an argument, be sure to check this piece out.  It has a little Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid energy going for it.


Do you agree (with the quote)?  (It's much more striking in context. :)

Why I copy quotes from what I read

 "Writing is, in short, the most perfect and passionate way of reading, which is doubtless why adolescents, who usually have more time on their hands, often take the trouble to write out a poem they really love: rewriting is not only a way of appropriating a text, of adopting and endorsing it; it's also the best, most exact, most alert, most certain way of reading it."

"My Favorite Book"
by Javiar Marias
translated by Margaret Jull Costa

The Threepenny Review
Fall 09 Issue, page 15

An epigraph I might want to use for a book of poetry

"Poetry starts a conversation, like a story - it's a great way to begin a conversation."

- Julie Neraas

Quote about acknowledging the weird

"I'd like to thank people who read and think and people who have made me think and read and those who think while reading and read while thinking, but you shouldn't read while driving because that's a safety issue."

- from Going Bovine by Libba Bray on page vii of her hilariously kooky Acknowledgments section

quote: asking hope to dinner

"Please.  We know.  These are hard times.  The world hurts.  We live in fear and forget to walk with hope.  But hope has not forgotten you.  So ask it to dinner.  It's probably hungry and would appreciate the invitation."

- The Copenhagen Interpretation in Going Bovine by Libba Bray (page 428 of the hardcover)

A little quote about discipline

It seemed appropriate. 

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly." - Thomas H. Huxley

 Now, then, I'm off to meet a self-imposed deadline.


Do you agree with the sentiment expressed here?  Do you think this is still the case with education?  Have we lost sight of it?

Quotes, roads, and home

A quote that seems really appropriate for this blog (considering the source of its title ["Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost]):

     "I always did like this road," I said out loud to Mr. Potter and Murphy. "I always liked where it took me."
     Mr Potter nodded. "I suspect that's the highest compliment you can give a road."
     "That's the only road worth driving on," Murphy agreed.

It's from Frances O'Roark Dowell's Where I'd Like to Be. (Page 126 of the hardcover)  This book stars a bright, young female protagonist who is searching for the meaning of home and family.  As a foster kid, she finds the search to be a special challenge.  This book was sweet but not sappy mostly because the protagonist has a very straightforward voice, and she's frank about her weaknesses as well as her strengths.  The characters were each distinct, and their interactions with each other rang true.  It really held me while I read it because I wanted to know what happened to all of the characters (who were closely involved in the story and the resolution).  It was dramatic but not melodramatic.  Of course, I cried at the end.  I liked it.  One of these days I should definitely read the other book this author wrote that won an Edgar Award (Dovey Coe, I believe).

And now for the quote again because it's so great.

     "I always did like this road," I said out loud to Mr. Potter and Murphy.  "I always liked where it took me."
     Mr Potter nodded.  "I suspect that's the highest compliment you can give a road."
     "That's the only road worth driving on," Murphy agreed.