I heard good things about this book. Not so?Quote:
Originally Posted by cipherdecoy
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I heard good things about this book. Not so?Quote:
Originally Posted by cipherdecoy
I read 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by M. Albom and think that it is quite good. Sometimes too emotional perhaps but otherwise readable. Nice plot.
For me, it's cheap fantasy. I guess I could say that I ironically like the genre, in the same way that that I ironically like Plan 9 From Outer Space and other old, cheap horror movies. For example, I like the Dragonlance novels. I know that they're not exactly classics, but they're fun to read.
I am secretly in love with Jack Reacher.
Why would anyone feel guilty about something they enjoy? That is the most ignorant concept I can think of.
Because it makes it more fun! Didn't you ever get a kick out of doing something you knew you weren't supposed to do?Quote:
Originally Posted by SirJazzHands
yea mr 'jazz hands'
That's still pretty much the most stupid think I've ever heard. If you like something why should you feel bad for it? What, just because other people say it's bad? Stop being childish.
I think what the original poster had in mind was the idea that we all have some kind of internal scale of values against which we measure our behaviour. In moral terms, you might call it 'conscience' but in literary terms you could think of it as your acquired critical values. We all have some idea of what we would term as a 'good book', more or less stringent according to our level of experience in reading critically. Sometimes we read books that rate pretty low against our internal scale, what as thinking readers we recognise as an indifferent, if not bad, book, shallow, poorly written, lacking in dimension. Yet we enjoy it. Why? Well, I think we all deserve some playtime. I can't live in the rarified atmosphere of Great Literature all the time: I could at one time - while I was studying I counted as lost any time spent reading anything that did not further my scholarly endeavours and I think there are many contributors to this Forum who feel this way. So when they read something for no other purpose than pleasure, something slight, frivolous, amusing, they feel they have wasted time that would be better spent on a book that would have furthered them in their aims. It isn't so much the book that makes them feel guilty as the perceived waste of time. However I feel it does no one any harm to have some time off from time to time, to come down from the heights and breathe the air that ordinary mortals get by on. And poor books serve their purpose - they show how good the Greats really are and help you appreciate them more when you go back to them. I realise lots of people who post here are in the middle of study and can't afford to waste any time. I suppose I am lucky in that I have reached the stage in life whan I can please myself entirely - if I want to re-read Wuthering Heights I can, if I want to read a thriller, I can do that too, I only have myself to please. It doesn't mean I have abandoned my critical faculties- I have been known to hurl books across the room with an 'Oh, for goodness sake!' - but I no longer feel I am wasting precious time.Quote:
Originally Posted by SirJazzHands
If that's the stupidest thing you've ever heard, you've led a pretty sheltered life. You need to get out more...Quote:
Originally Posted by SirJazzHands
I don't think that it's feeling bad because others say it's bad, so much as if I read what I consider good quality literature, I can see the stark contrast with literature that just isn't up to par. Yet, sometimes I read for pure, slightly lazy enjoyment, where I don't have to think hard or I can escape the world around me.
Hence why, my favorite "guilty pleasure" is historical fiction or fantasy fiction; having said that, the plot line still has to be decent and the story somewhat well-written. I can't stand to read complete junk.
I'm not so sure I feel guilty about them but often between classics I like to read something light and humorous like Alexander McCall Smith or Jan Karon, or Anne Tyler's eccentric characters.
I am ashamed to say this but I read all Harry Potter books and L.O.T.R. :( . It started when I was a wee little lad and everytime I start something like a series I MUST finish it! Is anyone else like that?
No need to be ashamed I have read those books to and loved them. I am a little complusive about finising series once I start them also, lets just keep that as our little secret though.:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Smoogles
I read the first two books of Paolini's Inheritance Cycle, and I am urgently awaiting the release of the third.:blush:
its not so much of an author but the style: i cant help but read romance novels. and not like danielle steele, but really cheesy, unheard of romances. i read one that was a vampire romance... laden wioth horribly funny sex scenes and vampiric sexual adventures. it was horribly written, but i couldnt puit it down and stop laughing.