I don’t know if anyone else is doing Nanowrimo this year, but I just knocked out what’s looking like a pretty good first chapter–897 words so far. I’m hoping to clear about 2,000 words per day, so this is a good start.
Lots of purple prose. Dat word count.
Finished up Janet Evanovich’s “Lean Mean Thirteen”, part of the Stephanie Plum series. Wasn’t sure what to expect but I really enjoyed it. For anyone who hasn’t read any of the series, Stephanie is a bail bondsman/bounty hunter, pretty normal gal otherwise. She’s good at her job, but not great at it, just lucky here and there. Pretty funny most of the time.
Just started One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko. Collection of newspaper articles by Chicago reporter Mike Royko. Only read 2 of the articles so far, but I’m already liking it. Royko mostly wrote about Chicago and his style had a lot of dry sarcasm, great sense of wit. Of the two I read, one article makes apologies concerning a previous article about St. Patricks Day, stating the Irish community were great drinkers and heavy braggarts. Because of the criticism he received, Royko retracts all comments about the Irish and their drinking habits. To make further amends (ha ha), he continues by stating the drinking abilities of the Irish are nowhere near as great as every other ethnic community in the Chicago area.
I’m into Viginia Woolfe’s The Waves right now. This is a hard read.
A co-worker is obsessed with Murakami right now. His work sounds interesting.
Currently re-reading ‘Ender’s Game’ by Orson Scott Card before watching the movie adaptation. I have high expectations from this movie; please do NOT FUCK IT UP Hollywood.
I’ve been villainized for trying to read Card over his views on homosexuals. So fuck his movie, too, I guess.
American Psycho is awesome. Patrick will go on these long monologues that force me to skim the book but it turns out, that is a representation of how other characters are so superficial and self-absorbed that they also don’t listen to Patrick, so when he says “I murdered someone”, not only do other characters ignore him but I miss it too because I’m skimming the book. It’s brilliant writing.
Anyone who denies any art’s worth over the views of the creator is ignorant. If there really is an issue in ‘supporting’ him by giving him more money, get the book from a library or something. I should probably have prefaced this by saying I do not agree with Card’s views.
That’s not ignorant. Polansky fucked a child. Because of that I disregard his art. He’s a man who should be punished for his crime, not some sort of god above the law.
His art has nothing to do with his actions as a person. If his art represented those actions, then sure judge the art for what it is. I never said Card was a ‘God’ just that his views should have no impact on someone’s perception of his work. His work should be judged separately from the individual. People jump all over Wagner’s work or Picasso’s and never bat an eye.
if you can insulate art from the artist good for you, but I don’t see how it makes you ignorant when you refuse to, especially considering art is quite often a reflection of the artist. if anything is ignorant, its asserting there is some proper standard for the appreciation of art.
I’ll amend my statement then, I don’t see how it is right to ‘villianize’ an individual for reading a work because of the views of the creator.
Because the artist can be a shit stain.
I agree with what you are saying. I don’t think everyone who has read Card is Homophobe. (I read the book long before I knew he was a homophobe.)
However, writers tend to put their views in what they write, so it may be something to keep in mind while reading.
Been reading this lately:
Nothing wrong with reading/appreciating Ender’s Game- just don’t do anything that gives Card any money.
That way everybody wins. Except Card.
Side note- I knew a guy (now deceased) who used to do cover art for Card’s novels (amongst many others). Always said Card was an extreme asshole, and this was 15 years before that became common knowledge.
Everybody knows Card is an asshole and is disliked with in the industry. Ender’s Game is not a mouthpiece for his views, so it doesn’t particularly matter to me. This is a case of people picking and choosing weird stuff to get mad about; there’s plenty of immorality within the entertainment industry and almost none of it is on the creative side.
The funny thing is, Ender’s Game has some pretty borderline gay stuff in it.
I didn’t notice any sexual tension in Ender’s Game, which made sense to me since they were children.
I’m not really interested in the movie for several reasons. I don’t think the heavy hitting emotional content and the cold and mechanical thought process will transfer well to film.
I enjoyed reading Ender’s game. The sequels however were not all that great. I think I made it through the 3rd book and lost interest in series. The relationship between Ender and Valentine always seemed a little off, and it just got weirder as the books progressed.
Not buying into the Ender’s Game hype for some reason. Even with all the homophobia and some of the stars coming to town for the movie, just not that interested.
Been reading more of the Royko book. Some of his articles do have some snarky humor to them, but a lot more are of a serious nature that talk about the era he lived in; topics include gun control, racism, the riot at the Chicago DNC and all of Chicago’s corruption with plenty of jabs at Mayor Daley.