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Oct. 25th, 2006 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieBritish novels always, always, always contain a character having a cup of tea, which inevitably makes me want tea, which consequently leads to me going to the bathroom every half hour because caffeine is a diuretic. Sigh. But it does taste good.
Speaking of British novels...Ellen, how does it feel to be a book addiction fairy? 'Cause I remembered you mentioning Nick Hornby, and I happened to be in the "H" section of the library the other day, and somehow About a Boy found its way into my hand. I seem to remember something similar happening with the first Bridget Jones book. Are you trying to take over my brain with snarky British chicklit?
At least, I think this was chicklit. Chicklit for boys? Chicklit for girls but from a male POV? Not chicklit at all, despite concerning many of the same themes and types of character? What was it? I'm trying to categorize it, but I think it might be uncategorizable. It was good, anyway; I very nearly pulled a book allnighter last night after starting it around 10 PM, but in the end decided to quit half-way through and get some sleep.
I particularly liked the bit where Will is going on and on to himself about how very good he felt after buying the cool shoes for Marcus so the kid wouldn't get beat up at school, how it was a natural high, how it was totally changing his life, not to mention Marcus's, and then Marcus comes by the next day and the school bullies have stolen the shoes. Hornby, I think, is a man who probably feels a deep kinship with Marvin the Depressive Android. Or perhaps Murphy. Or, I dunno, any nerdy kid ever.
The fact that it wasn't a traditional love story and wasn't so girly and self-consciously life-affirming were big points in its favor, particularly as I just suffered through Practical Magic, for got knows what reason. Hoffman describes things beautifully, and for all I know writes great things outside of this book, but wow, the sugar. I was hoping for more witchcraft, less glurge. I think that might have been what kept me reading to the last freaking page, despite getting disgusted with the whole thing around page fifty.
Hmmm. What shall I read next, I wonder? Or maybe I could actually finish this neverending chapter I'm writing. That would be nice.
Speaking of British novels...Ellen, how does it feel to be a book addiction fairy? 'Cause I remembered you mentioning Nick Hornby, and I happened to be in the "H" section of the library the other day, and somehow About a Boy found its way into my hand. I seem to remember something similar happening with the first Bridget Jones book. Are you trying to take over my brain with snarky British chicklit?
At least, I think this was chicklit. Chicklit for boys? Chicklit for girls but from a male POV? Not chicklit at all, despite concerning many of the same themes and types of character? What was it? I'm trying to categorize it, but I think it might be uncategorizable. It was good, anyway; I very nearly pulled a book allnighter last night after starting it around 10 PM, but in the end decided to quit half-way through and get some sleep.
I particularly liked the bit where Will is going on and on to himself about how very good he felt after buying the cool shoes for Marcus so the kid wouldn't get beat up at school, how it was a natural high, how it was totally changing his life, not to mention Marcus's, and then Marcus comes by the next day and the school bullies have stolen the shoes. Hornby, I think, is a man who probably feels a deep kinship with Marvin the Depressive Android. Or perhaps Murphy. Or, I dunno, any nerdy kid ever.
The fact that it wasn't a traditional love story and wasn't so girly and self-consciously life-affirming were big points in its favor, particularly as I just suffered through Practical Magic, for got knows what reason. Hoffman describes things beautifully, and for all I know writes great things outside of this book, but wow, the sugar. I was hoping for more witchcraft, less glurge. I think that might have been what kept me reading to the last freaking page, despite getting disgusted with the whole thing around page fifty.
Hmmm. What shall I read next, I wonder? Or maybe I could actually finish this neverending chapter I'm writing. That would be nice.
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Date: 2006-11-03 10:22 am (UTC)Eh, I think it was advertised as a chick flick, but it wasn't chick-flicky enough to grab that audience. And the rest of the world didn't see it, assuming it was a chick flick. Or something. Maybe the fact that it was 'foreign' did it in. Who knows. Anyway, by regular movie standards, it's good, and by Hornby novel standards, it's okay. (This coming from someone whose paperback copy of About A Boy hasn't shipped yet. In a few weeks, I can tell you how it measures up to the book.) If you're too lazy to Netflix it, I could mail you a cd of my Kenster version...
basically, I see it as the halfway point between romance novels and general fiction.
and... that doesn't imply bad writing to you? : ) The writing *is* generally better than romance novels, though that's not exactly saying much.
Almost always there's a lot of wailing on the main character's part about how she's empowered now, but it's gotten her nowhere because SHE CAN'T FIND A MAN, and in the end that's what makes me generally hate it as a genre.
Yeah, I love Austin and all, but... that was two hundred years ago. SURELY female-focused novels should have moved beyond marry-or-die by this point?
The more I examine my actual criteria for chick lit, the more I realize Hornby doesn't really fall into it.
Yeah, from what I've read of Hornby, his recurring theme seems to be "Crap, my life is pointless. What can I do about this?" And in About A Boy, the answer happened to involve Twu Wuv, or as close as Hornby gets to it. In How to Be Good and A Long Way Down, romance never even comes into the equation. Well, in passing, but it's not important to the end result at all. You might actually like them more.
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Date: 2006-11-04 07:58 pm (UTC)Hmmm. I am very lazy. I could do with some Kensterized goodness, if you wouldn't mind...
and... that doesn't imply bad writing to you? : )
Not particularly. For me, writing quality is a different metric than the one I'm using to categorize things as "romance," "chick lit," and "general fiction." Bad writing happens to have a strong correlation with romance novels, but correlation isn't causation and all that.
But that's just my personal take on it.
Yeah, I love Austin and all, but... that was two hundred years ago. SURELY female-focused novels should have moved beyond marry-or-die by this point?
*sigh* Apparently not. That's why I read sci-fi.
I just finished A Long Way Down. It was...okay. Not bad. But if I'd read it first, it wouldn't have inspired me to pick up anything else by him. I'm halfway through How To Be Good, and it's a bit better, but I'm taking a break from it right now and I'm not sure when I'll get up the initiative to finish it.
AaB was funnier than both of these, which is I think why I liked it more. Maybe?
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Date: 2006-11-11 07:39 am (UTC)Yeah, yeah, but the end result is the same: steering clear of those shelves in bookstores. Ugh.
I just finished A Long Way Down. It was...okay. Not bad. But if I'd read it first, it wouldn't have inspired me to pick up anything else by him. I'm halfway through How To Be Good, and it's a bit better, but I'm taking a break from it right now and I'm not sure when I'll get up the initiative to finish it.
Odd. Maybe it's just that I'm really attached to his books on a personal level, and not just on a literary, aesthetic level. I've never read anyone so articulate about depression, and his writing has helped me understand my own depression better. Oh well, I guess his books might be a niche market. Much like his sense of humor. Alas.
AaB was funnier than both of these, which is I think why I liked it more. Maybe?
AaB was freaking hilarious. I mean, Will could be seen as a ridiculous caricature, except for the fact that he was lying through his teeth a lot. I think part of what's great about Hornby is his ability to write brutal honesty (and brutal not-so-honesty) in a really funny way. I thought about taking it to read on the bus to work, but decided not to, because I couldn't laugh as hard as I wanted to on a bus. Yeah, AaB isn't nearly as dark as HtbG or ALWD.
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Date: 2006-11-12 02:34 am (UTC)But chick lit is shelved with general fiction! You can't steer clear of it! (...Unfortunately.)
Maybe it's just that I'm really attached to his books on a personal level, and not just on a literary, aesthetic level.
Perhaps so.
AaB was freaking hilarious. I mean, Will could be seen as a ridiculous caricature, except for the fact that he was lying through his teeth a lot. I think part of what's great about Hornby is his ability to write brutal honesty (and brutal not-so-honesty) in a really funny way.
I could see that.