It's so HOT!
I love my neighbhood book club. Tonight the ladies met to discuss a new NYT bestseller, and I have to admit, I gave the book a higher rating than anyone in the room . . . and afterward, I felt like one of those sychophants who praised the naked king in "The Emperor's New Clothes." After listening to everyone go around the circle and talk about how they found no redeeming value, no sympathetic characters, and a plot that turned on an unbelievable coincidence, I wanted to say, "Yeah, but it's so-and-so, and he once won a Pulitzer Prize."
But you know what? They were right. And I love these women, because they constantly remind me that I'm not writing for prizes or the literati; I'm writing for real, intelligent women who love to read and know what makes a story work. Yes, some of the writing was beautiful, but the author's existential bent shone through, and we were left with a feeling of hopelessness.
Not exactly why we'd wanted to read the book. (And no, I'm not going to mention the title in public.)
In any case, we're looking forward to next month. We'll be reading another favorite author, Anita Shreve. We almost chose to read "Marley and Me," but someone realized the dog dies at the end, and that settled that . . .
~~Angie
4 comments:
I did the face recognition thingy today and while it was loading I kept thinking, "please be someone pretty...." LOL and so I got a bunch of faces similar to mine including some people I have never heard of. Jennifer Garner, Melissa Gilbert, I'll accept those two, but Roseanne Barr? HUH????
Oh, but Marley and Me is a WONDERFUL book...even he does die. We all have to die someday, right? It will definitely make you cry--and cry some more--but it was so worth it. I don't usually like to read non-fiction (some memoirs can get very dry), but the writer is a great storyteller and to offset all that crying, he'll make you laugh often. It was probably one of the best books I've read in a long time! (Except for Uncharted, which I just finished reading a couple of days ago. :) Sorry--had to get that bit of brown nosing in there!)
Oh, Megan, I'm sure I'll read MARLEY AND ME--in fact, I'll probably read it this month. But I'm not sure it'll pass muster with my book club. Everybody gets a vote . . .
And thanks for the kind words about UNCHARTED. :-)
Suzanne, at least all yours were female. I almost choked when mine came up Jack Nicholoson!!! I did it three more times and even checked to see if I'd accidentally said I was male. When I told my boyfriend he cracked up laughing. No support from him, but he has told me he thinks I'm pretty. Maybe he thinks Jack is pretty too. We found As Good As It Gets on the TV the other night and I kept looking at Jack and then I'd look at my guy and say "Do I look like him?" He assured me a didn't, but we had a good laugh.
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