Waters, please enlighten me re Toni Morrison

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by RedHeadGal

Several years back, I was searching around for a good novel to get someone for Christmas. I looked to lists like the NY TImes does, among other places. As you say, where is the starting point for finding a new good book? I know for a fact that the person started the book but never finished it. hated it. I haven't looked back to the NY Times list for a recommendation since.

I have also given others books I personally have read and loved, and often the recipient does not share my view. Subjectivity rears its ugly head.

That's a tough one, very tough.

It depends upon what your motive is, if you wish to share something of value to you, and it matters not if they find it meaningful then select ones you like. But if you wish to present something they will enjoy, it probably helps to know better the genres which appeal to the recipient.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Levin

Have we forgotten what the Nobel Committee person said about American literature this past year? I wonder if his view of Bush and the War in Iraq had anything to do with his sentiment, at a deep level?

Waters is mostly right that we should just judge the work on its own terms.

Problem is that prizes and accolades are great signaling mechanisms for us to know which work to judge on its own terms with the finite and limited time we have. Are we going to discover a great novel by browsing the bookstacks? Hard to do.

For several years now a white from an Anglo country has been automatically disqualified unless he or she has written a lot of stuff critical of America or the UK. I'm not going exute on you, it's absolutely true and they don't hide it. Hemingway, with his opaque protagonist males, would have been the last respectable writer considered today. For a while they picked American Jews who wrote about the Holocast but that isn't a ticket to the Nobel any longer. That being said, I tend to agree with them that American writers are for the most part provincial, insular and boring.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by RedHeadGal

Several years back, I was searching around for a good novel to get someone for Christmas. I looked to lists like the NY TImes does, among other places. As you say, where is the starting point for finding a new good book? I know for a fact that the person started the book but never finished it. hated it. I haven't looked back to the NY Times list for a recommendation since.

I have also given others books I personally have read and loved, and often the recipient does not share my view. Subjectivity rears its ugly head.

I'm wondering what your opinion would be of this Nobel winner's works. I have a couple of them and read them. I think they're terrible. But she's a very angry, and her books, which are all very similar, boil with her rage. I think the NObel committee liked that. I know at least one member of the committee resigned in protest over her selection.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/l...004/index.html

[RedHeadGal]

Originally Posted by Archaea

That's a tough one, very tough.

It depends upon what your motive is, if you wish to share something of value to you, and it matters not if they find it meaningful then select ones you like. But if you wish to present something they will enjoy, it probably helps to know better the genres which appeal to the recipient.

I guess you're right that I was talking about two different things. In the former case, I was searching for something not that I would love but that the person would love, based on what I knew about their tastes (and trusting the critical acclaim). In the latter, I was talking about sharing something I myself love. In either case, there are no guarantees, as it's subjective, which is what I was saying. But it did leave me feeling I couldn't trust the critical lists.

[RedHeadGal]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

I'm wondering what your opinion would be of this Nobel winner's works. I have a couple of them and read them. I think they're terrible. But she's a very angry, and her books, which are all very similar, boil with her rage. I think the NObel committee liked that. I know at least one member of the committee resigned in protest over her selection.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/l...004/index.html

I'll have to check into it. I can appreciate anger in writing. The source of the anger affects that appreciation, but. . .

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by RedHeadGal

I guess you're right that I was talking about two different things. In the former case, I was searching for something not that I would love but that the person would love, based on what I knew about their tastes (and trusting the critical acclaim). In the latter, I was talking about sharing something I myself love. In either case, there are no guarantees, as it's subjective, which is what I was saying. But it did leave me feeling I couldn't trust the critical lists.

No kidding. You read all the books in the Twilight series.

[RedHeadGal]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

No kidding. You read all the books in the Twilight series.

a girl's got to keep up with the trends sometimes, if only to scoff at them with personal knowledge of why they are worthy of derision.

[marsupial]

Originally Posted by RedHeadGal

a girl's got to keep up with the trends sometimes, if only to scoff at them with personal knowledge of why they are worthy of derision.

I started the Harry Potter series to boost my pop culture IQ... then I got hooked. I haven't cracked Twilight yet.

[RedHeadGal]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

I'm wondering what your opinion would be of this Nobel winner's works. I have a couple of them and read them. I think they're terrible. But she's a very angry, and her books, which are all very similar, boil with her rage. I think the NObel committee liked that. I know at least one member of the committee resigned in protest over her selection.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/l...004/index.html

SU: to follow up here, I did check The Piano Teacher out at the library. I haven't finished it, and I'm not sure I'll be able to. I definitely see what you mean about the tone of the writing. It also reminds me of why I seldom read world literature. I just don't like to read translated works. I know I'm missing out on something, and when the art itself is so connected to the way the author turns a phrase, you can't get that from a translation.

All this to say I am not one to critique the Nobel list, I guess. If anyone wants to talk 19th century British literature, however, I'm your gal.