I could answer question 5! Way back, I read all of Joyce Carol Oates' highly-praised novel Them despite finding it depressing and its characters uninteresting and offputting.
I have since learned not to finish books I don't warm up to within the first 50-100 pages. I have also never read any book by Joyce Carol Oates again. Once burned, twice shy.
Funny, it didn't strike me that way. I thought it was tragic, like life. Simon didn't even want her until he couldn't have her, her father secretly and guiltily longed for another woman, her mother felt his absence but couldn't capture his heart, and Kristen herself - she was a victim of her own passions. It seemed sad to me, and not too different from life as it is now.
But then, I'm hardhearted, so sad things don't made me feel too bad.
It's odd... I like regular second world fantasy, and I am even OK with pseudo-historical fantasy, depending on the location, and I love Medieval lit (especially Norse Medieval lit), but non-fantastic historical fiction just doesn't seem to work for me. I've never really figured out why. There's definitely a presence of both supernatural and surreal in the old sagas, which maybe explains why I like them but not the modern-day realistic works set in the same time period...
but i did read joyce carol oates, because i found a carton of american (?) books on the street (a frequent occurrence in vienna) and quite liked her. why tell yourself that it's good for you? do you mean she is highly regarded?
day 27 sounds interesting - will you post the answers every day? or all of them in 30 days?
You find boxes of books on the street in Vienna? How lovely! I wonder who puts them there. I found a book by Andre Kodrescu on a Paris metro platform but I was very disappointed when it turned out to be a bad book.
I think I'll just work along on this meme without regard to the days, but I'll do the questions in order. I can't post every day but I go through periods where I want to write a lot.
sometimes when people move they just put the things they don't want to take with them - a lamp, a chair or boxes full of things on the street, and people either take it or the garbage collection comes and takes it away.
sadly i also lost boxes full with things when i was moving - i was never sure if it was really an oversight of the packers (incidentally they were always boxes with things in them that were worth something :)
but i guess it's the give and take thing in life, and a reminder that things are just things, so i hope my boxes with antique editions of the meyer's conversations lexikon or my whiskey bottle collection were found by someone who appreciated it :D
Comments 12
I have since learned not to finish books I don't warm up to within the first 50-100 pages. I have also never read any book by Joyce Carol Oates again. Once burned, twice shy.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
But then, I'm hardhearted, so sad things don't made me feel too bad.
Reply
I haven't read either of the books you mentioned, but they sound quite interesting (if not really my sort of thing).
Reply
Reply
Reply
day 27 sounds interesting - will you post the answers every day? or all of them in 30 days?
*is curious*
Reply
I think I'll just work along on this meme without regard to the days, but I'll do the questions in order. I can't post every day but I go through periods where I want to write a lot.
Reply
Reply
sadly i also lost boxes full with things when i was moving - i was never sure if it was really an oversight of the packers (incidentally they were always boxes with things in them that were worth something :)
but i guess it's the give and take thing in life, and a reminder that things are just things, so i hope my boxes with antique editions of the meyer's conversations lexikon or my whiskey bottle collection were found by someone who appreciated it :D
Reply
Leave a comment