Isn't chick-lit just basically bubblegum-pop in book form ? Not to everyone's taste, but not as offensive as Westlife. I take the view generally that anyone who reads anything is better off than not reading at all (I must exclude the Daily Mail from that)
Don't get me wrong, I loathe the bloody things, but not as much as Captain Corelli and the like. At least chick-lit authors and readers know the books aren't not much cop.
This year I've read a lot of books that started well and faded. The last McEwan and Peter Carey spring to mind.
Peter Ackroyd's "London" for the sheer inspiration it gives any writer, every other line is something you could knit a story out of (particularly if you are Fecky).
And The Devil's Larder by Jim Crace. I like this more and more and count the interview as one of the year's highlights.
Re-read 'Crime and Punishment' by Dostoevsky.
First time I picked it up since I had to write a three thousand word essay on it for me A-Level.
I loved the book from first page to last. Forgot how brilliant it is.
i can't say anything about chick or lad lit or whether liana is an elf, orc or pfifltrigg
but
my two favourite books this year were Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse' and Ian M. Bank's 'Feersum Endjinn'. The latter is one of the best science fiction books i've ever read (not that i've read that many) together with 'Neuromancer' by William Gibson.
...best sci fi of the year...for me has to be....Michael Marshall Smith..."Only Forward"...it just grabs you by the balls and takes you into this wierd and wonderful dreamscape....loved it.
a book of jonathan swift's satirical essays. 300 years old, and a lot of them are commentaries on the politics of the time, but they're angrier, funnier, and more incisive and compassionate than any contemporary journalism that i've read.
I am currently reading "Only Forward" and yes it is a terrifyingly believable vision of the future. I am absolutely passionate about Sci-fi and one day hope to write some myself...unfortunately all my attempts so far have been pants
If you like "Only Forward" you should also like Christopher Fowler...he's not exactly sci fi...more gothic contemporary...he's publlished about 10 novels plus various short story collections...if I had to name one that rocked me the most it would be "Roofworld" .....life above the streets of London
My book of the year would be " 14 ways to spell Diareah"
by Simon Jones (Fontana 6.99) It's a philosophical treatise on the death of God in modern society and how the great Supermarket chains have become the new cethederals to Mammon. It's also got a great anectdote from Germaine Greer about the time she spent 5 days in a Christian cult disguised as a trendy vicar. The last chapter is very sad though as it predicts the end of the human race due to teeth decay.
i thought the Beach was competently written but fundamentally vacuous. Alex Garland comes very close to writing whatever the equivalent of chick lit is for boys.
i think that India Knight is insane.
i think that all chick lit should be burned. i intend to preside as Master of Ceremonies at a big chick lit bonfire at the end of the year. women who read chick lit will be sent back to Mars where they belong. they will not be provided with adequate survival equipment.
i found Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment unreadable, though i will try to have another go at it.
my favourite book of the year is Experience by Martin Amis.
i also enjoyed Hanif Kureishi's The Black Album, an absorbing first 100 pages but loses its direction half way through and never really recovers it.
Because it's the read planet? Okay, sorry, I know, quite right, I won't do it again.
Please don't look at me that way, Liana.
Best reads this year:
Crustaceans by Andew Cowen.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Attwood.
Pastoralia by George Saunders.
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg.
No Great Mischief by Alistair Macleod.
Blind Assassin is sat on the bookshelf to my right, in my "to read next" pile Tom.... you recommend it?
*worries that as Atwood is a woman, and cover features seductive looking bint on front may be classed as Chick Lit therefore rendering me as Person Of Little Brain forever in the eyes of others...*
I loved "The Samurai's Garden" by Gail Tsukiyama for its simplicity and beauty. I stumbled across it by chance in my local library, then recommended it to the reading club I belong to at work. Everybody loved it.
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