tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post114326905051808838..comments2024-03-21T07:37:30.475-04:00Comments on Light reading: When I find myself dislikingJenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-1143919621590234762006-04-01T14:27:00.000-05:002006-04-01T14:27:00.000-05:00Oh, yes, certainly Anne Frank; I guess I thought i...Oh, yes, certainly Anne Frank; I guess I thought it so obvious as not even to need mentioning. There's been considerable debate about the way her father edited the journals (there was a long New Yorker piece about this a few years ago), but I still think it's a very good book.Jenny Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-1143584459518880062006-03-28T17:20:00.000-05:002006-03-28T17:20:00.000-05:00How do you feel about 'The Diary of a Young Girl'?...How do you feel about 'The Diary of a Young Girl'? . <BR/>I suppose it's nonfiction, and therefore different to the books you discuss. I'd offer it to a young adult, though, as it avoids sentimentality (though the industry that has emerged around the life of Anne Frank, sadly, does not) and made me feel very strongly that she was just a girl, and quite like me. <BR/>I remember that I got annoyed with her, felt friendly towards her, and then was rather distraught when the book just stopped, rather than ended.Marinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16387553977006099896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-1143405138652534592006-03-26T15:32:00.000-05:002006-03-26T15:32:00.000-05:00I take your point about hating things more often--...I take your point about hating things more often--I do think I sometimes sacrifice nuance, where I don't have a good vocabulary for distinguishing between "very good book, extremely enjoyable read" and "short-list best book of all time"--but it is also true that after many years of avid reading I have learned to avoid the books I hate. It makes for funny blogging, sure (I still think I am going to pick up that new DBC Pierre....), but it is not enjoyable enough reading to be worth it. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps what I should do soon is a post on all the authors I hate that you never hear about here (John Updike, Richard Ford, Anita Brookner, selected work by Ian McEwan) or that I won't read because I am sure I will dislike it (Jonathan Safran Foer) or that I think are direly overrated (Virginia Woolf). I don't feel bad not slamming books by living writers, it is just not pleasant to google your name and find an absolutely vituperative review of your book online somewhere, but I don't like the feeling that I am also inhibited by professional prudence (i.e. if I say something horrible about a book the book's editor might not want to consider publishing my new novel). Tell you what, I make a promise here & now that I will read at least two books in the next six months that (a) I hate and (b) are by established enough writers that I have no scruples trashing them....Jenny Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-1143402386913468932006-03-26T14:46:00.000-05:002006-03-26T14:46:00.000-05:00Good to hear you dislike something for a change. P...Good to hear you dislike something for a change. Please dislike more books in the future. Maybe even hate a few. I enjoy your enthusiasms, but I don't know which ones to believe. I don't even know which ones you believe. <BR/><BR/>Enthusiastically Yours,<BR/><BR/>CameronAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-1143275286364659202006-03-25T03:28:00.000-05:002006-03-25T03:28:00.000-05:00And I would add about THE BOOK THIEF, this sentime...And I would add about THE BOOK THIEF, this sentimentality is particularly damning in a novel that takes as its brief the manipulative potential of words.Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.com