Something Borrowed

[angerona]

At some point I was going to write a post about how I can't seem to make myself read fiction anymore. Still, on our vacation I did read five books, all of them fiction. None of them what one would consider "great literature," but it wasn't the reason I picked them, either. I wanted some light reading, and light reading was what I got, although

Comments

[elinka]

Thanks! It's always good to know which books could be skipped. What were the other 4?

[angerona]

I'm not sure this one "could be skipped" any more than any other chick lit book (or any other "light reading" books). I mean, judging from the reviews and the popularity, this is one of the better ones out there. It just shows that either something's wrong with my perception of what a book should be or with literature out there.

The other 4 were murder mysteries. I'll write about them, too.

No, wait, one was hmm.. now I can't even remember, but I know there was another one that wasn't a mystery :).

[elinka]

Last year at the writer's seminar in Philadelphia one of the invited editors said that authors should not rely on their editors, since editing is no longer what it used to be. The manuscript should be perfect, otherwise it will end up in the slush pile. I wondered what the slush pile looked like when more than half of the chick lit books that I've read definitely belong in it.

The one that got me upset was "Adultery for Beginners"

[angerona]

why did it get you upset?

[vyk13]

If you ask me (and I am prolly too opinionated and snobbish in terms of literature) the answer to your question(s) - it is a chick lit novel! :)

[bagira]

Which fiction books have you enjoyed?

[bagira]

Lucy, there is good, interesting litearature out there. No need to read crap. :-)

[anna_i]

Could you recommend something? I am not really up to date in modern literature, and I don't have that much time to read, so I get scared away by the abundance of writers I've never heard of and by inability to tell a good book from a bad one. Are there any authors out there that you would say are a must?

[bagira]

It's all individual, I suppose, but I really like Susannah Clarke, Neil Gaiman, Patrick O'Brian, Jasper Fforde (not so much Thursday Next, more Nursery Crime). I don't know how "a must" these books are, but I truly do enjoy all these authors.

My reading posts are here: bagira.livejournal.com/tag/books. :-)

[angerona]

Clarke I tried, and it's still on my "should finish" list, but it just didn't hold my attention that long. O'Brian doesn't seem my cup of tea from your reviews. Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels were fun, but I wouldn't call them particularly good literature, either. They were just campy (which is fun to read sometimes, too). Neil Gaiman I've been meaning to read, but I suspect it's slightly different type of books than I was looking for.

I really was looking for "easy vacation reading" with nothing too depressing.

[uni_ta]

How can you find a time to read fiction? I barely can find the window to read work-related documents and books… I bought a couple of books investing and personal growth devoted, but I have to read it “through”, “po kosoi”, as I would say in Russian…

[angerona]

I did say "on vacation" :)