I wanted fries with that.
Jan. 3rd, 2011 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynI saw that jack liked The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I actually disliked it so much that I suggested against reading it to someone who was asking for book recommendations. Conceptually it is not a bad idea to write a fantasy novel for adults, but in my opinion, stripping away all the fantastical elements and leaving only the drudgery and disappointment is a poor way to accomplish that. It is shelved with non-genre fiction at my local library because it is not a fantasy book. If you want to read a non-genre book where the characters are played by actors on loan from Stalinist Russian literature, help yourself. I don't like to read misery. If I did like misery and woe, chances are pretty good I'd love classics and then I still wouldn't be reading Lev Grossman's book because it's not well-written compared to the powerhouses of literature.
In other news, my mouth is healing mostly okay except for the part that had bothered me enough that I complained to the dentist and got this whole mess started. That is in the corner, right where my lower jaw muscles attach; when the gums had gotten detached, every time I moved my mouth, it would ache all the way to the bone. But having them pick at it today didn't feel especially good and I got really stressed. I should have taken something for that, but I figured I'd improve by being out of the office and at lunch. But once I got home and decompressed, I was crushed and slept for a while. I'd turned down the heat before leaving but not up when I returned and managed to get chilled during my nap. So I am cold and sore. I am supposed rinse with warm salt water.
My lunch was interesting. I went out for Japanese food and left hungry because my beef teriyaki was half solid fat. That was so gross that I actually left less of a tip because anyone serving it would have noticed. I went out for fries immediately after. Without having gone for the treat, I would have been completely miserable. That was a good application of $2. But people stare at you if you go into a McDonalds and just order a large fry.
I had to change jeans this morning. The tight jeans from last January fell down when I put my phone in the pocket. The new jeans (3 full sizes smaller than the normal jeans from a year ago) are very tight in the pockets. Going from W-is-for-wide sizes to sold-in-stores sizes netted me a massive decrease in pocket dimensions. But they fit and I don't mushroom over the top and I don't get skin creases from where the fabric digs in. (When I first got these, they left clear indications as to where the zipper and button and seams were, because they fit everywhere except the lower belly.)
jack liked The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I actually disliked it so much that I suggested against reading it to someone who was asking for book recommendations. Conceptually it is not a bad idea to write a fantasy novel for adults, but in my opinion, stripping away all the fantastical elements and leaving only the drudgery and disappointment is a poor way to accomplish that. It is shelved with non-genre fiction at my local library because it is not a fantasy book. If you want to read a non-genre book where the characters are played by actors on loan from Stalinist Russian literature, help yourself. I don't like to read misery. If I did like misery and woe, chances are pretty good I'd love classics and then I still wouldn't be reading Lev Grossman's book because it's not well-written compared to the powerhouses of literature.In other news, my mouth is healing mostly okay except for the part that had bothered me enough that I complained to the dentist and got this whole mess started. That is in the corner, right where my lower jaw muscles attach; when the gums had gotten detached, every time I moved my mouth, it would ache all the way to the bone. But having them pick at it today didn't feel especially good and I got really stressed. I should have taken something for that, but I figured I'd improve by being out of the office and at lunch. But once I got home and decompressed, I was crushed and slept for a while. I'd turned down the heat before leaving but not up when I returned and managed to get chilled during my nap. So I am cold and sore. I am supposed rinse with warm salt water.
My lunch was interesting. I went out for Japanese food and left hungry because my beef teriyaki was half solid fat. That was so gross that I actually left less of a tip because anyone serving it would have noticed. I went out for fries immediately after. Without having gone for the treat, I would have been completely miserable. That was a good application of $2. But people stare at you if you go into a McDonalds and just order a large fry.
I had to change jeans this morning. The tight jeans from last January fell down when I put my phone in the pocket. The new jeans (3 full sizes smaller than the normal jeans from a year ago) are very tight in the pockets. Going from W-is-for-wide sizes to sold-in-stores sizes netted me a massive decrease in pocket dimensions. But they fit and I don't mushroom over the top and I don't get skin creases from where the fabric digs in. (When I first got these, they left clear indications as to where the zipper and button and seams were, because they fit everywhere except the lower belly.)
no subject
Date: 2011-01-04 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-04 07:41 pm (UTC)What I find ironic is worlds I wouldn't mind just living in for the duration of the book are the worlds where there is some gigantic conflict. Pern has Thread. Valdemar is constantly under attack from outside forces. But the books where it's just like talking to regular people that I wouldn't have to drive an hour to find, those are the books with no plot.
The problem with showing us the detailed minutiae of someone's life is it's not a story if we don't like the characters then. Because we don't actually have prop-and-settings--driven works, it's usually character-driven or plot-driven. Sans plot, there must be interesting characters that bring us to care what happens.
Generally I have a negative impression of people who are completely morose inhabiting my books. "Damn, the author should have killed these and started over. It's no fun watching these characters suffer, they like it too much." I don't usually read sad, tragic, depressing writings. For a book to be great, it's supposed to reach out and twang the reader's emotions and form a connection. I'm not a generally happy person, twanging my negative emotions is too easy. A professional should aim higher than that.
So your suggestion of a larger external conflict might have saved the book.