tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post8250950949536557732..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: On Being Memorable by Debbie BennettKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-36199087521430703242018-02-09T11:04:42.616+00:002018-02-09T11:04:42.616+00:00I actually think this may be as it should be. Some...I actually think this may be as it should be. Some experiences stick with you forever, and some are passing pleasures. 'Pleasures are like poppies spread, you seize the flower, its bloom is dead' said good old Robert Burns who had a line for everything! If everything was too memorable, life would become intolerable. Sometimes you want to watch Broadchurch (which stuck with me) and sometimes you want to sit there and let The Apprentice just wash over you. That said, I do think the bigger publishers have become afraid of letting anything that doesn't quite conform to their notions of what will be successful slip through the net. It's the smaller independent publishers who are bringing back the mid-list and I think that's where I've come across a number of memorable novels recently. His Bloody Project, for example, stayed with me. I still think about it (uncomfortably!) from time to time. Some books manage to fulfil both functions, comfort and memorability. I'm rereading Benson's Lucia books for the umpteenth time and enjoy them more at every reading! Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-7751420578734772522018-02-07T19:02:06.547+00:002018-02-07T19:02:06.547+00:00Over the (too many) years of my reading life, I ha...Over the (too many) years of my reading life, I have bought, given away, lost, loaned and never got back, and more recently downloaded hundreds of books. I've probably read about a quarter of them all the way through, a quarter some of the way through and about half never got around to reading. I'm not a hoarder so I don't have hundreds of books in my home but I do have 'Granny's Bookcase', a lead-paned, hundred-and-ten year-old bookcase, and in it I keep the books I HAVE read many times and will never give away. Hard to choose one over the other, so many different authors, genres and eras. One book I will never never forget reading is Vera Britain's 'Testament of Youth. I was in my early twenties when I first found it and it changed so much about me.Fran Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13497526684591168192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-74942324860222821882018-02-06T18:27:54.118+00:002018-02-06T18:27:54.118+00:00My already long list, just got longer.My already long list, just got longer.Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13494219959077922220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-74409180773822012642018-02-06T15:30:35.173+00:002018-02-06T15:30:35.173+00:00It took a grouchy post to bring Bill back. Good, e...It took a grouchy post to bring Bill back. Good, even great, work is still being done. And writer through the ages have complained about contemporary crap. Come on, now, liven up--and both read and write!glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-70414570564887771902018-02-06T10:18:42.923+00:002018-02-06T10:18:42.923+00:00You just made me buy some Kindle books, Debbie. Mm...You just made me buy some Kindle books, Debbie. MmmJan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-64577803147344248222018-02-06T09:11:06.196+00:002018-02-06T09:11:06.196+00:00A book that has stayed with me is 'Galapagos&#...A book that has stayed with me is 'Galapagos' by Kurt Vonnegut. The clarity of his vision is painful but sort of exhilarating too. The 'message' of the book (or at least, the one it left me with) is not comfortable: that the human race is the worst mistake evolution ever made; that it would be far better if we'd never evolved and the best hope is that we de-evolve into something less harmful.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-59327397325958530682018-02-06T08:09:22.348+00:002018-02-06T08:09:22.348+00:00In a way, it's reassuring to read this, Debbie...In a way, it's reassuring to read this, Debbie, because I've been having exactly the same feelings. Reading used to be a dependable, repeatable, pleasurable experience but so many of the books I'm choosing nowadays just provoke the 'meh' response. It can't just be that writers (of genre fiction and 'literature') have all let their standards drop, so I start wondering whether some weird critical faculty has been switched on (or off) in my head. Add to that the fact that I too find myself only writing shorter pieces and it really does seem that there's been some sort of revolution.<br />Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-30869071518433079642018-02-06T05:20:14.513+00:002018-02-06T05:20:14.513+00:00I know the feeling. Brave New World definitely mak...I know the feeling. Brave New World definitely makes my short list, as do others you named - and others of my own veering towards magic realism - Marques, Borges, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie - plus assorted dark visions like Nathaniel West's Day of the Locust. Oh, the list grows. When I set myself the task of writing a masterpiece the equal of such wizards, I fail miserably, however, or don't write at all. I have to believe they didn't (or don't) set themselves up like that either. Alas, I must be mortal and write what comes and be happy with it, if I can. You've nailed the writer's dilemma, Debbie. Thanks for a thought-provoking post. Umberto Tosihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939504157464234443noreply@blogger.com