I Don't Believe In A Room With That Many Stienbeck Fans

[redbrunja]

So, for my editing and publishing class we had to write a letter about our personal reading and writing tastes.... and while a lot of people mentioned the trashy books they loved as children (seriously, I think loving horrible books is part of growing up), each one was sure to list the books they liked now, all of which were the kind of books you would never be embarrassed about to be caught reading in public (with one bonus diss at fanfic, just for kicks).

Which, given my genre tastes, made me really sad. Seriously, am I the only person who didn't grow into reading classy books?

This week's fannish5 :

Name your five favorite fictional kids.

5.) Bailey, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

4.) Wednesday Addams, The Addams Family.

3.) The Listener, Legend of the Seeker.

2.) Scout Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird.

1.) The Archive. (Ivy! How are you so awesome, little Miss Badass?)

Comments

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Psh. I think they're all liars.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I think at least half of them are.

No all - but a decent amount.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I read clench cover romance novels in between classes at college. The concept of being ashamed to read something in public is alien to me.

I think, though, that a lot of people eventually fall into a pattern of what "should" be liked/preferred, or are even raised in that pattern.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That is awesome.

I must admit to a lot of shame about some of the books I read. Speaking of, I really enjoyed the first volume in The Liar's Club series - it had been far too long since I'd read a nice, frothy historical romance.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I've still only read the one Liar's Club book! Though, I just finished Mary Balogh's Bedwyn books, so I'll likely read those next, unless I go for Andrea Pickens's lady spies series.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Lady spies? That sounds intriguing.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I reorganized my backlog today and the bookcase with the romance novels is doubleshelved, and those are on the back row, so i can't look and give you details (though I'm sure Andrea Pickens has a website) but they're basically, as I understand it, a trilogy of Regency Historicals about female orphans raised to be spies. I've only read one other book by Pickens, which was written under the pseudonym Andrea DaRif, but I liked it.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it sounds worth a try. I'm put it on my wishlist.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

I think, especially in a class where people seem to want to be editors or somehow involved in publication (which the class title seems to lead one to believe) there is a certain... persona these people might feel they and/or certain books will project. As if liking "classy" books equates being classy oneself. I'm sure these people probably do like many of the books mentioned but I also think it might be a case of wishing to appear a certain way that no one mentions less-than-"classy." Ironically, I would think liking diverse types of books would make you/the jobs you look at in the publishing world more diverse to. But then, who knows....?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

*nods*

I do thing there is an element of wanting to present yourself a certain way. The second day we did this (today) there was a much broader range of tastes being mentioned and I think people were being more honest.

[lightprincess89.livejournal.com]

I remember being intrigued by the book Deenie by Judy Blume. I was in 4th grade and found it on the tiny bookshelf in our classroom. I remember finding it kind of cool and sophisticated, and passing it around to the other girls in my class. Looking back, that book was totally awful, and the characters were horrible to each other. I found that I was never really a fan of Judy Blume. Her mother characters tended to be dysfuctional people.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I didn't read much Judy Blume. But that's sad that she has such a negative view of mothers.

And I have a couple authors who it took me a few books to realize that I hated them.

[tobu-ishi.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* Classy books? Often excellent.

Dissing on fanfiction to prove how cool you are? Not classy.

(Yes, a lot of it is hilariously bad, but what do you expect in a genre that's completely freely self-published with no editorial restrictions? The good stuff is worth sorting through the dross.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I get so uncomfortable when fanfic is brought up in my college classes. It's happened in two of them so far and I always just cringe.

I'm not sure why - it's not like people can tell my looking at me that I write fanfic - but I just feel like something that is personal is being dragged out for people to chat about and I don't like it.

Also, I'm conversative in that part of me really feels often times fanfic is not an appropriate subject for college classes.

[kai-lis.livejournal.com]

Classy books? What're those? ;)

My preferred reading material is YA lit and porn fanfiction, so ....

Meh. Folks need to get over their insecurities about the things they like. Either that, or try some new things.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

You know, books that are Deep and Good For You and at least Thirty Years Old.