I asked for your thoughts on Anna Karenina earlier today but have since discovered that there’s something wrong with the comments feature throughout the website. Comments aren’t posting. We’re working on it.
But since I have you on mute, I thought I might share a few thoughts.
Team Renesmee.
Boy books are usually girl books in disguise.
Plain.
Writers who pay bloggers for reviews aren’t worth reading.
@JenniferWeiner is annoying.
And so is everybody else on Twitter.
Train.
All self-publishers secretly want a book deal.
Honor Books are runners-up.
Maggie Smith should rein it in a little.
That is all.
About Roger Sutton
I think the comments section have just been fixed. So am taking this opportunity to agree with “boy books are just girl books in disguise” just as girl books are boy books in disguise. Books know no gender and the gender of the characters is not so much the guiding line to either — but the characters must be someone readers (of each gender) will care about and the plot or information must be interesting and compelling. So girl books, boy books. Just give us GREAT books and they will come.
I think comments are busted again.
Nope. In which case, Sharron, I have to say that what you are saying is true but only so to people who already love reading.
I do get tired of people acting like I’ve sinned against God, or at least said something very rude, when I suggest Honor books are runners-up.
Wendy, I’ve served on three Honor Book-granting ALA committees and I don’t understand how they are not runners-up. K.T. Horning wrote in an article for us a while back that you used to be able to find out first runner-up, second runner-up, etc., but that is no longer true or even possible, given the way Honor Books are chosen..
Re: Maggie Smith. In 1976 I was 15 and eager to see my first Shakespeare play in Stratford, Ontario. Maggie Smith played Cleopatra with a bright orange bob-cut afro and purple dashiki caftan and spent the entire production chewing up the minimalist scenery and spitting it out at the rest of the cast. Since my father taught college courses on Shakespeare’s plays I knew them the way other kids knew Dr. Seuss’ work, but Smith spat so loudly and so fast I couldn’t understand a word she said. I wish she’d reined it in way back then.
I think watching Maggie Smith act is like watching a mime who occasionally speaks. Either you love the act or hate it. I happen to love it unreservedly, even while knowing she is absolutely over the top.
Jane
Oh, I’m not either or with Maggie Smith. I just wish she’d dialed it down back then and left a better first impression. Often I quite like her work, particularly in the “Harry Potter” films. Which allows me to rudely segue into recommending her upcoming film, “Quartet,” in which a friend of mine (who was also in the HP films) plays. Considering it’s about a retirement home for opera singers *everyone* is over the top.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrwx7f_quartet-trailer-youtube_shortfilms
Boy books did not nurture boys reading statistics but did aid grown men milking a genre to get better known.