Book alphabet: P
1. Sometimes authors use pen names. What's your opinion on that? What pen name would you recommend for us to read?
I'm supposed to have an opinion on pen names? Authors can write under any name they want, for all I care. Although I'm not wild about authors who write under several names; it makes their books harder to find.
I think you should all be reading Claque! Especially the Swedes, but there are books in translation, so the Anglo among you can probably hunt them down at some library. Or else you could stick to reading Mark Twain and James Herriot, who are also very nice.
2. Who's your favourite pappa (daddy) in literature?
Depends on whether we're talking about characterization or parental skills. Matt in Ronia the Robber's Daughter and Jan in The Emperor of Portugallia are both fascinating characters, but Matt is a big child and Jan of course is insane, so for all of their devotion I wouldn't want them to parent me.
If I'm allowed to choose a foster father, I'd go for Matthew Cuthbert, who has all of the love without any of the drama. And of course he's got Marilla to balance out the doting with some down-to-earth attitude.
3. Popularity vs. quality. What's your opinion on this dilemma?
Pffffft. That's my opinion. And it starts with a P, even!
As far as I'm concerned, there's no dilemma, because the two are unrelated. (Orthogonal, even. *g*) There are good and bad popular books, and good and bad unpopular books. I guess as a writer, there can be a moment where you go, "I'd really like to write this, but it wouldn't be popular," and that would be a dilemma, but as a reader I'll just read what I want and not care whether or not it's acclaimed and/or popular or whatever.
As a librarian, I'm of course supposed to care, but I still don't. It's always presented as "Should you buy good books and try to get the children to read them, or buy the books the children already want to read?" and seriously? We've got thirty thousand books. Public libraries have even more. If the kids have opinions on which books I should buy, and I have the money, and I haven't bought too many of that particular kind of book (there should always be a good balance with picture books, easy-to-read books, chapter books, fact vs. fiction, audiobooks, books in foreign languages, and so on), then I'm sure as hell not going to go, "No, because other adults claim that this book is bad, and that matters more to me than what you think, even though you're the one who's supposed to read it." I try not to have too many tie-in books (though we have some), but apart from that, I'm happy the kids have opinions. And then, of course, there are books I buy because I like, or because some reviewer made them sound interesting, but that's not a very large percentage of the whole. Most of it is just guesswork: "okay, this has a nice subject, maybe it's good, and maybe the kids will like it." Listening to debates about children's lit, you'd think people honestly believe librarians read every book out there.
Plus, some of the books the kids recommend as "really good" are really good. Crow girl was recommended by a student, as was Holes.
4. Paperback or hardback?
Hardback at work, paperback at home. With the kids pulling at the paper, a paperback doesn't survive long. (And manga books fall apart within months.) At home, I like books that are relatively cheap and can be brought along on trips without any danger of backpain.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/499228.html and has
comments there.
I'm supposed to have an opinion on pen names? Authors can write under any name they want, for all I care. Although I'm not wild about authors who write under several names; it makes their books harder to find.
I think you should all be reading Claque! Especially the Swedes, but there are books in translation, so the Anglo among you can probably hunt them down at some library. Or else you could stick to reading Mark Twain and James Herriot, who are also very nice.
2. Who's your favourite pappa (daddy) in literature?
Depends on whether we're talking about characterization or parental skills. Matt in Ronia the Robber's Daughter and Jan in The Emperor of Portugallia are both fascinating characters, but Matt is a big child and Jan of course is insane, so for all of their devotion I wouldn't want them to parent me.
If I'm allowed to choose a foster father, I'd go for Matthew Cuthbert, who has all of the love without any of the drama. And of course he's got Marilla to balance out the doting with some down-to-earth attitude.
3. Popularity vs. quality. What's your opinion on this dilemma?
Pffffft. That's my opinion. And it starts with a P, even!
As far as I'm concerned, there's no dilemma, because the two are unrelated. (Orthogonal, even. *g*) There are good and bad popular books, and good and bad unpopular books. I guess as a writer, there can be a moment where you go, "I'd really like to write this, but it wouldn't be popular," and that would be a dilemma, but as a reader I'll just read what I want and not care whether or not it's acclaimed and/or popular or whatever.
As a librarian, I'm of course supposed to care, but I still don't. It's always presented as "Should you buy good books and try to get the children to read them, or buy the books the children already want to read?" and seriously? We've got thirty thousand books. Public libraries have even more. If the kids have opinions on which books I should buy, and I have the money, and I haven't bought too many of that particular kind of book (there should always be a good balance with picture books, easy-to-read books, chapter books, fact vs. fiction, audiobooks, books in foreign languages, and so on), then I'm sure as hell not going to go, "No, because other adults claim that this book is bad, and that matters more to me than what you think, even though you're the one who's supposed to read it." I try not to have too many tie-in books (though we have some), but apart from that, I'm happy the kids have opinions. And then, of course, there are books I buy because I like, or because some reviewer made them sound interesting, but that's not a very large percentage of the whole. Most of it is just guesswork: "okay, this has a nice subject, maybe it's good, and maybe the kids will like it." Listening to debates about children's lit, you'd think people honestly believe librarians read every book out there.
Plus, some of the books the kids recommend as "really good" are really good. Crow girl was recommended by a student, as was Holes.
4. Paperback or hardback?
Hardback at work, paperback at home. With the kids pulling at the paper, a paperback doesn't survive long. (And manga books fall apart within months.) At home, I like books that are relatively cheap and can be brought along on trips without any danger of backpain.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/499228.html and has
comments there.