I've been gravitating towards some, shall we say, "easy reads" lately and you nailed what it is that I want: "Very direct, very unironic and unapologetic" [...] "it’s there to serve the feelings." There's a time and place for clever but it's not everything and it's nice to take a break from it.
First and foremost, I ride or die for Woolf, but The Hours is a masterpiece in all forms. Shocked you’ve never seen the film! I love that Cunningham references Meryl Streep in the book, then she is IN THE MOVIE. Like, who knew you could just speak things into the universe and they’d happen (and you win a Pulitzer along the way)?
I love these entries. It's so comforting to see something vulnerable, honest, and witty in a world of posturing and facade. This world is exhausting - I need these glimpses into genuine heartspaces where the creative work stews and storms.
I watched YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS over the weekend, and in one scene Jon Hamm's teenage son performs Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself" with his band at a party. Being the Gen-Xer that I am, I recognized the song two notes in (and love it). But was perplexed, because what teenager today would play this song? Or even know it? And did it tell me anything about the character, the story, the show? (No). Except that the showrunner must also be part of Gen X. It did feel very what are you doing here, man, the time for this sort of thing is past.
That being said, I feel that a lot of TV I watch is created by Gen-Xers, with pop culture references thrown in that younger generations like my kids won't necessarily get, but manage to mix it up with enough of the new to appeal to a broader set. RIVERDALE was like that (a bit old now). Also WEDNESDAY.
I feel all of Feb 12 in my bones. I *also* gave romantasy a go with Yarros - as I did back in 2009 when I decided to read Twilight. I can't write that way, but I see why that writing pulls the crowds. It made me admire Meyer and, years later, Yarros. Maybe it comes back to the origin story of all writers - finding your voice. What's the thing that only you can write. I can't do feelings like Yarros, but maybe I can do a poem that wouldn't occur to anyone else.
"nobody ever sets out to write a bad book."--but a bunch of people could and have done, such as the collective behind _Naked Came The Stranger_(1969). I know I know hoaxes don't coutn?
There is a book that came out not long ago that was adored by children and a friend — a mother of four — offered me her children's copies in front of her children. She asked, "Have you read this?"
I answered, "I started it."
"What did you think?"
I went into a tirade about the book, shooting from my hip, belching fire from my gut, and only halfway through did I watch a roomful of little girls's faces fall. Something pinged in me, but I didn't place it.
Two months later, a Dominican priest in NYC randomly asked me if I'd read it. I tried, less passionately, to air my grievances. It sounded hollow.
The priest said to me, "You know, Lance, we don't just need great books. We need merely good ones too."
Try as I might, I still have not eradicated all of the cynicism from my heart. But refusing to rank books by stars and insisting on exploring their meaning, rather than to judge whether they matter, seems to me to be a decent start.
After all, that's all an author wanted in the first place: to communicate what's on their heart. Why not give them a hearing and try to understand, even if they communicated poorly?
It’s a real treat to hear your thoughts on romantasy. FWIW, there is actually no book I want to buy more than a Lev-Grossman-witty romantasy.
Yes!
I've been gravitating towards some, shall we say, "easy reads" lately and you nailed what it is that I want: "Very direct, very unironic and unapologetic" [...] "it’s there to serve the feelings." There's a time and place for clever but it's not everything and it's nice to take a break from it.
First and foremost, I ride or die for Woolf, but The Hours is a masterpiece in all forms. Shocked you’ve never seen the film! I love that Cunningham references Meryl Streep in the book, then she is IN THE MOVIE. Like, who knew you could just speak things into the universe and they’d happen (and you win a Pulitzer along the way)?
When people ask me what's my favorite book -- first, I try to get out of it -- but if I can't get out of it, I say Mrs. Dalloway
I love these entries. It's so comforting to see something vulnerable, honest, and witty in a world of posturing and facade. This world is exhausting - I need these glimpses into genuine heartspaces where the creative work stews and storms.
Peak cleverness. haha.
I watched YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS over the weekend, and in one scene Jon Hamm's teenage son performs Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself" with his band at a party. Being the Gen-Xer that I am, I recognized the song two notes in (and love it). But was perplexed, because what teenager today would play this song? Or even know it? And did it tell me anything about the character, the story, the show? (No). Except that the showrunner must also be part of Gen X. It did feel very what are you doing here, man, the time for this sort of thing is past.
That being said, I feel that a lot of TV I watch is created by Gen-Xers, with pop culture references thrown in that younger generations like my kids won't necessarily get, but manage to mix it up with enough of the new to appeal to a broader set. RIVERDALE was like that (a bit old now). Also WEDNESDAY.
I feel all of Feb 12 in my bones. I *also* gave romantasy a go with Yarros - as I did back in 2009 when I decided to read Twilight. I can't write that way, but I see why that writing pulls the crowds. It made me admire Meyer and, years later, Yarros. Maybe it comes back to the origin story of all writers - finding your voice. What's the thing that only you can write. I can't do feelings like Yarros, but maybe I can do a poem that wouldn't occur to anyone else.
"nobody ever sets out to write a bad book."--but a bunch of people could and have done, such as the collective behind _Naked Came The Stranger_(1969). I know I know hoaxes don't coutn?
There is a book that came out not long ago that was adored by children and a friend — a mother of four — offered me her children's copies in front of her children. She asked, "Have you read this?"
I answered, "I started it."
"What did you think?"
I went into a tirade about the book, shooting from my hip, belching fire from my gut, and only halfway through did I watch a roomful of little girls's faces fall. Something pinged in me, but I didn't place it.
Two months later, a Dominican priest in NYC randomly asked me if I'd read it. I tried, less passionately, to air my grievances. It sounded hollow.
The priest said to me, "You know, Lance, we don't just need great books. We need merely good ones too."
Try as I might, I still have not eradicated all of the cynicism from my heart. But refusing to rank books by stars and insisting on exploring their meaning, rather than to judge whether they matter, seems to me to be a decent start.
After all, that's all an author wanted in the first place: to communicate what's on their heart. Why not give them a hearing and try to understand, even if they communicated poorly?
thank you for putting words to it. I feel the same way re: romantasy and peak cleverness