tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post114889888416387670..comments2024-03-28T13:18:28.238+00:00Comments on Grumpy Old Bookman: Ain't it awful?Michael Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11338398159818400930noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1149026760986280452006-05-30T23:06:00.000+01:002006-05-30T23:06:00.000+01:00Someone on another list challenged me to list fict...Someone on another list challenged me to list fiction from over 100 years ago that is still popular today. When I mentioned <I>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</I> he replied "that's more of a children's book". If you can't beat it, patronise it.<BR/><BR/>Jon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1149022221792105612006-05-30T21:50:00.000+01:002006-05-30T21:50:00.000+01:00Leaving myself wide open, but how many Philistines...Leaving myself wide open, but how many Philistines can you slay with the jawbone of an ass?<BR/>John Fowles proved in l962 that the English literary novel was far from dead. In America, Updike leads the field with fine work. In Canada, we have played with the experimenal novel for seventy years and more and have still failed to produce a real literature; all the good work seems to have been done in the Fifties. We did have Mordecai Richler until he died and now we have crud. Barney's Version was high literature by anybody's standards.<BR/>What we're looking for and not finding, all over the world, are masterpieces, and all masterpieces, literaty masterpieces, are bestsellers.<BR/>Just no talent around.ivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05662075375182633162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1149017775715257162006-05-30T20:36:00.000+01:002006-05-30T20:36:00.000+01:00Fingersmith was a great book and even tho,it had a...Fingersmith was a great book and even tho,it had a "literary" look about it,the pace of the story and the emotional impact the characters had moved along at a fairly good clip.<BR/><BR/>This whole attitude of assigning books to a particular caste level is very off-putting,like the recent NYT list of "Best American Fiction in the past 25 years"-six novels by Phillip Roth? Come on,the man's good(not my cup of tea)but six? Sounds like a default answer-"I don't know,let's just pick ,uh,Roth!"lady thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16287907577241697874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148998073258450082006-05-30T15:07:00.000+01:002006-05-30T15:07:00.000+01:00Tsk, Roger, such heresy. Imagine comparing the ou...Tsk, Roger, such heresy. Imagine comparing the output of a national newspaper columnist to a blog, written for free by someone because they're interested in the subject.<BR/><BR/>The gist of the piece appears to be that 'literary fiction' includes much unreadable nonsense "trailing the slime of self-promotion". This is news?Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148994696161018042006-05-30T14:11:00.000+01:002006-05-30T14:11:00.000+01:00Hear hear!!Hear hear!!Maxine Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06628509319992204770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1148987728967123582006-05-30T12:15:00.000+01:002006-05-30T12:15:00.000+01:00Yes, I spotted that piece too, and had something t...Yes, I spotted that piece too, and had something to say about it on my <A HREF="http://rogersplog.blogspot.com/2006/05/theres-no-pleasing-some-people.html" REL="nofollow">plog</A>, if anyone's interested (probably not!). There's no pleasing some people, I thought.<BR/><BR/>I don't really think he 'gets' blogging does he? I mean most blog posts are more akin to opinion pieces, rather than novels. In fact, his Observer piece wouldn't be out of place on a blog, would it? And I don't really think there was that much 'pain' involved in the production of his article. It had the air of something tossed off rather quickly and thoughtlessly to me.<BR/><BR/>Roger.Roger Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08071467030127707462noreply@blogger.com