Empty crackers today. Not much to write. You'd think someone like me, with that occasionally-fatal combination of being long-winded and a renewable hot air resource, would be able to come up with something interesting to write about in the past 24 hours, but what can I say that hasn't already been said? The Beatles thing, the anniversary thing, the novel thing, the fallon thing... I'm sure you're all as sick of those things as I am... and I doubt seriously that you want to hear about my day at the rug shop today... man, it almost makes me wish I'd had a car accident or something today on the way home! That would be something to talk about!
I can't troll my usual "random weirdness" websites, to dig up odd cool things to look at - since all my bookmarks related to such things are on my "sick" computer! I can't drone on and on about the games I'm playing, because that, too, is both boring and ground already covered. I'm reading Lion of Senet again, setting out to prove to myself that I'm either correct or crazy... it's not like I didn't want to like it. The reason I bought it was because it was recommended and held up as a great example of the genre. I want to like books - duh! When I find ones I like, I trumpet their praises here. When I don't, I should be able to trumpet that as well...
I think I'll read it with a highlighter in hand, so I can pull a multitude of examples of what I'm talking about when I say things like "mediocre" and "tired" and "rote"... heck, maybe I am insane, but really, there are so many things that I feel an editor should have marked with a little red pen or something when the re-writes were going on...
Bah, why do I even bother? It's not my cup of tea, why should I give a crap? Probably because I feel the need to justify myself for the statements that I made regarding the book... but it's not like I hunted down the author's site and posted insulting things about her on her own turf. I didn't go to forums where her fans hang out, to insult her and ridicule them. I made a comment in my own little blog, in passing, and then forgot about it. Now I suddenly feel like I have to prove what I was saying to be true. Dangit, I just want to enjoy a good book. I don't have patience for mediocrity, which was my position from the outset! This is elective reading, not assigned reading, it should be enjoyable! It feels like work now, like I'm doing volunteer editing work.
Forget it. Life's too short, and I'm getting grumpy.
And I said I wouldn't talk about it, and here I go again.
But, alas, my tank is empty. So I guess I'll default to posting some nice landscapey pictures, and call it a day.
Until tomorrow, then....
PS Passed the 350 post mark yesterday, forgot to mention it...
12 comments:
Hehe I like the first one with the trees papa!!
:O
My sweet Katie! You rock!
Now go clean your room... :D
woe katie is reading your blog now? Nice!
It's a Wonderful Life! (Didn't have to look that one up)
And to the rest... my sentiments, exactly. ;)
You can quit reading the book, friend. Create a new review on what you have read, citing things you liked and didn't like (as with any other review), and then give away the book. It'll be over and out of your hair in a matter of days, I'd say. Or blog a post on all the books you didn't finish this year and didn't do anything for you.
Just my thoughts. If we can turn off bad movies and bad tv shows, we can turn off bad books. And what's bad for one may be gold for another.
Blah.
eh, i agree with Logan. And I don't think i want to read it any more, lol. Thanks but no thanks.
Nice pictures though!
Hi Katie!!
Don't let it get under your skin just because what you said got under her skin. A real author would just take it like a man and say "well I can't expect everyone to think it's a great book" because anyone who is anyone knows that not everyone is going to like anything. Even when you have the greatest thing in the world there will always be someone who will not like it. So uhhh get over it and don't let it bother you is what I would tell someone who is offended by a person giving their opinion about a book. This is your blog, your property, free speech! haha if you can't give your true opinion here, where can you? Dave, keep telling the truth, don't you ever lie to me. hahaha anyway, don't let it bother you and just keep going your merry way. You are bigger than that; she acted wrongly not you.
Thanks for all your input, friends. It does mean a lot to me.
Mr Wagner, no one expects everyone to like their books. And after I read Jennifer's anecdote the other day, I did a quick search and found out what the fuss was about. Personally, what I read of your other tastes, even as a long time fan of her work, I'd never have suggested her work to you.
But the point she made in relaing that anecdote was that the internet is not a safe little corner of the world, noticed by nobody other than your friends; however the publishing industry is a small community, and with the internet, getting smaller all the time.
Next time you don't like a book say "I didn't like it, stopped reading." because the next casual reader of your blog may well be the editor of said book. And I still wish for you what I did in my response to Jennifer's anecdote: May you one day create characters that touch your reader's lives for as long as some of hers have.
Yep. Lesson learned. Got it. I wish the author well. Again, her success is encouraging to me. I guess blame lies with her editor more than with her... if more had been expected of her with that particular book, perhaps we wouldn't be having this conversation.
But if what she submitted was acceptable to them, so be it. Why would she knock herself out eliminating all those adverbs; focusing on developing a few characters instead of inundating the story with so many shallow ones; demonstrating her characters strongest traits rather than merely repeatedly telling me what they are; and eliminating redundant sentences... if all that is ok with the editor/publisher, then why should she give more?
All this to say, yes, I'll be nice now in my dismissing. God forbid I step on any more toes... It's hard for me to believe that people think I still don't "get it"...
Hmmm. So what's your take on Tolkien's original editors?
When I posted the above I hadn't sen all the kerfuffle on Jennifer's blog after I'd made my response. I'd actually come back here to read because I'd thought your blog interesting. My mistake.
Seems every time I open my mouth, I put my foot in it. I think I'll shut up now.
Post a Comment