[lit-ideas] Re: Is Huntington right?

  • From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:02:43 -0400


For Paul, I'll bet you haven't noticed all the efforts that were made to
get a book discussion going, both here and on phil lit.  Mike and I were
the only ones discussing Sheltering Sky until David Meyer pulled the plug
on it.  I've written on Hemingway, made sideways references to Joyce and
others.

I contributed along with a number of other people with a couple of book group discussion on Phil Lit, one was nietzsche's BGAE and another was Woolf's "to the lighthouse" . Those were fun. But this isn't really a book group, and unless we manage to get a whole bunch of people reading the same thing at the same time, a review now and then will have to suffice. My initial response to Julie wasn't totally facetious, I really mean that it's very interesting to see who reads what. I've read more than a few dozen books that I originally heard of in one of this crowd's manifest groups.


No takers, not even for movies (how hard is it to watch a movie?).

I probably watch 30 movies a month and could discuss any of them. The problem is, I don't like spoiling them for people who want to see them. I also don't like writing movie reviews because they are generally hard for me to do succinctly. I am often took critical of the way the movie plays, rather than the story. The thing with a book is that other than the colour of the page and ink, you ONLY have your imagination. Probably why I like books so much. Still, it's easier to watch a movie which is why I watch so many. I just don't see a lot of opportunity to discuss movies here because I almost always see movies before most other people see them and so it's hard for me to have a fresh perspective on each movie, unless I liked it or hated it. Most movies are mediocre and forgettable and that's the ONLY lasting impression I have.


People obviously don't like to talk about literature.  It is a lot of work,
I agree.  I get the feeling that people want someone to entertain them with
reviews and the like.  Nobody wants to be bothered contributing.

I'll start writing one digested [book] review a week and try to make one large one every so often. Again, as I've said repeatedly in the past, the trouble with taking the time to write a review on a list such as this is that often-times there is: A) REALLY no interest in it; b) there is interest in it, people thank you but no one responds because no one else has read it; or c) its posted at an ill-timed juncture when everyone in here is already going balls-out on a Bush speech or a clinton bj or a war or someone's religion.


So... every time I see a David Ritchie "Sunday" or "Wednesday" poem, I'll try and remember to generate a little sumpin sumpin in the way of a book review. Just to keep us on the straight, er.... reasonable and logical and narrow.

p


##########
Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Kingsville, ON, Canada


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