Last Book You Read....

[WendyWho?]

What is a "serious author"? Is Colin Bateman for example a serious author? His books aren't very serious, but they are adult.

Or do you have to write glum foreboding books about personal traumas to be a serious author?

I think the problem here is the term "serious author." It's really an argument about the distinction between literature as art and literature as entertainment, which suggests that the difference between a "serious author" and a "non-serious author" is a question of intent.

To use an example you've already cited, Ulysses - I think it's fair to assume - wasn't written as a toilet book. Similarly the Shoot Magazine Bumper Book of Bollocks wasn't compiled as a challenge to conventional notions of narrative and focalisation. They're extreme examples, granted but they paint the picture I'm trying to paint.

The difficulty arrives when the examples aren't so extreme. Dan Brown, for instance, whose massive popularity and undoubted skill in certain areas of authorship are matched by the massive disdain he's held in by certain people for his shoddy wordsmithery. He might view himself as a serious author, and many readers obviously do, but others think he's pish. There lies the massively wanky grey area into which you only need venture if you've got the moustache for it.

Lord knows I'm getting my fingers mighty tangled up just now.

[H_B]

The difficulty arrives when the examples aren't so extreme. Dan Brown, for instance, whose massive popularity and undoubted skill in certain areas of authorship are matched by the massive disdain he's held in by certain people for his shoddy wordsmithery. He might view himself as a serious author, and many readers obviously do, but others think he's pish.

As we are into generalisation country, I'm not sure readers of Dan Brown consider him "serious" or otherwise. They read his books, I assume because they imagine they will be entertaining and want to see what the fuss is about. They will then decide afterwards whether they like it or not.

And that's the only sensible criteria for any reader. "Did I enjoy that?"

It's the same with difficult jazz versus The Beatles. I'm sure that difficult jazz takes years to learn and is in some esoteric way indicative of talent, but would you want to listen to it of an evening? I wouldn't. Others I am sure would. To each their own.

Also, in my view and in many others I would suspect, within reason the most important aspect of any book isn't a syllable count, but whether the story is enjoyable and well thought out. I've read a few Dan Brown books and never cared one way or t'other about his "wordsmithery".

[WendyWho?]

As we are into generalisation country, I'm not sure readers of Dan Brown consider him "serious" or otherwise. They read his books, I assume because they imagine they will be entertaining and want to see what the fuss is about. They will then decide afterwards whether they like it or not.

And that's the only sensible criteria for any reader. "Did I enjoy that?

It's the same with difficult jazz versus The Beatles. I'm sure that difficult jazz takes years to learn and is in some esoteric way indicative of talent, but would you want to listen to it of an evening? I wouldn't. Others I am sure would. To each their own.

Also, in my view and in many others I would suspect, within reason the most important aspect of any book isn't a syllable count, but whether the story is enjoyable and well thought out. I've read a few Dan Brown books and never cared one way or t'other about his "wordsmithery".

Absolutely! But your notion (I'm aware I keep using that word) of enjoyment is different from mine and his, and hers, and his... etc.

I can see we're basically agreeing to disagree here so fair play. I'm not a prosthelytising snob and you're not a prosthelytising pleb

[sonofjenova]

Catch-22. My favourite novel, one I've read many times and one I'll probably read back over many times again.

10/10

[Mo_Edinburgh]

Air Babylon

[capybara]

Engleby by Sebastien Faulks... A good novel and my first by this author. It is narrated by Engleby himself and charts his time as working class kid at a grammar school and then on to University. He is relentlessly bullied at school and turns into a bully himself.At uni he is practically friendless and swallows pills and smokes large amounts of hash. He also falls for a girl that he can never have. A girl he murders.

The story continues to narrate his life as a journalist,covering the likes of the Brixton Riots,it looks at Britain evolving.Class warfare,Thatcher. All the time he refers to the "terrible event".Which eventually catches up with him. As i said it was the first book of Faulks i have read and i enjoyed it. It was a bit like a modern Jekyll and Hyde,i liked the references to the music that he was listening to,what was in the news,the social commentary of the time.

[soti14]

Rangers ICF Davie Carrick & Martin King

How this book got published ill never know, riddled with spelling mistakes, wrong information (Brian Laudrup played up at Pittodrie when we won the title late 80's) & the final chapter is just song lyrics

Read a few hooligan books recently & was looking forward to this one only to be disappointed.

[el Gringo]

Every now and again I have a wee bout of nostalgia and trawl ebay for books I liked when I was younger. Usually this is the stuff I read when I was a teenager, Stephen King and the like, which is enjoyable enough despite the lack of literary merit. But recently I bought a kid's book that I remember getting out the library a few times, Gorilla Adventure by Willard Price. Loved it. I thoroughly recommend revisiting books you grew up with, it's great fun!

[Cowden Blue]

Stephen King and the like, which is enjoyable enough despite the lack of literary merit.

Stephen King lacking literary merit? Are you serious? What types of books do you usually read? Each to their own, but I certainly think that even if you are not a fan of King, you cannot honestly believe that he is not one of the few modern-day masters.

[Napolean Dynamite]

Just finished the road. A book that kept my attention but never really grabbed me.

[el Gringo]

Stephen King lacking literary merit? Are you serious? What types of books do you usually read? Each to their own, but I certainly think that even if you are not a fan of King, you cannot honestly believe that he is not one of the few modern-day masters.

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a cracking storyteller, and the likes of "It" and "The Shining" are up there with my favourite novels. When I say literary merit I just mean the difference between his stuff and the works of, say, a Dickens or a Wilde. It's like the difference between popcorn blockbuster movies and arthouse cinema. It doesn't make it any less enjoyable!

[sonofjenova]

Survivor, by Chuck Palahniuk

I enjoyed Fight Club, so I was delighted to get this in my Valentine's day stocking. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although it wasn't a radical departure from the aforementioned book.

Tender Branson is a cult member who is hired out as a domestic servant. The cult declared their "Deliverance" some time ago - a mass suicide is the result, and survivors are dwindling by the day. As the last member, Tender becomes a celebrity - but his new life is also one of servitude.

There is far more to the book than this - the Wikipedia page is more descriptive. The only disappointment is that it's a bit too similar to Fight Club; the novel bursts at the seams with information about cleaning, much like Fight Club strained under the weight of tutorials on making weapons. While it does help you get into the mindset of a domestic servant, the facts and hints laced within the text do have the distinct feel of an author learning a lot, and being a little too desperate to disseminate this information to the reader.

Anyway, the premise is intriguing, there are some nice shocks and twists, and the whole thing is a very clever and acomplished book. Definitely one I'll be reading again in the future.

8/10

[jmothecat]

Book version of Major Barbara by Bernard Shaw which is a play, for a novel News From Nowhere by William Morris.

Right into my Socialist literature at the moment.

[StewartyMac]

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a cracking storyteller, and the likes of "It" and "The Shining" are up there with my favourite novels. When I say literary merit I just mean the difference between his stuff and the works of, say, a Dickens or a Wilde. It's like the difference between popcorn blockbuster movies and arthouse cinema. It doesn't make it any less enjoyable!

King has been compared to Dickens many times, so that's a kinda bad analogy.

Oh, and butch Oscar only ever wrote one novel.

[Lisa Cuddy]

King has been compared to Dickens many times, so that's a kinda bad analogy.

Oh, and butch Oscar only ever wrote one novel.

"Why I Like To Do It With Girls"

[Cowden Blue]

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a cracking storyteller, and the likes of "It" and "The Shining" are up there with my favourite novels. When I say literary merit I just mean the difference between his stuff and the works of, say, a Dickens or a Wilde. It's like the difference between popcorn blockbuster movies and arthouse cinema. It doesn't make it any less enjoyable!

It's completely impossible to compare authors of such a different time. That would be like comparing a bow and arrow back in the wild west compared to the stopping power of an Apache helicopter in Afghanistan today.

If that is your criteria as to literary worthiness, then there isn't an author writing today that could match Dickens or Wilde, Austin etc, and there won't be in the future. each generation creates a few distinguished authors that stand head and shoulders above the rest, and that and only that, is what litarery merit should be based on.

Personally, I much prefer the likes of Mist and The Long Walk to It or the Shining. If you haven't read them then I urge to do so, particularly The long Walk.

[Fuctifano]

After all the hype about the film, I read The Lovely Bones. Not really my type of book, and the ending was incredibly twee.

[T_S_A_R]

i finished the border trilogy. the crossing was the highlight but cities of the plain was enjoyable as well. beautiful prose from mccarthy in all three books and he managed to create a wonderful portrait of an old west and mexico that is long gone now. there's an overiding theme in the novels of "witnessing" things - the idea that you can't truly learn or take anything from the things that happen to you personally only by seeing things happen to others - that i'm still unsure of the deeper meaning of. overall an excellent trilogy with great atmosphere, great dialouge and truly deep and likable characters.

[Gaz]

Rangers ICF Davie Carrick & Martin King

How this book got published ill never know, riddled with spelling mistakes, wrong information (Brian Laudrup played up at Pittodrie when we won the title late 80's) & the final chapter is just song lyrics

Read a few hooligan books recently & was looking forward to this one only to be disappointed.

:lol:

[squidger]

A bit of a blur - Alex James

Good biography, never realised how mental Blur were as a band in the early days. Some really funny incidents and a very truthfull account.