For god's sake, then stop looking down on us and recommend something you think we'd like. Snidely commenting at other people's ignorance is hardly the way to make them want to pick up adult literature. Talking excitedly about how good a book is and the things you liked ABOUT it, works.
In fact, that kind of dismissive attitude is exactly why I find it hard to do so (because who wants to please the sort of people who look down on you?), and yet, because of that dismissiveness, I still feel a large amount of shame for hanging around the Young Adult sections in bookstores, or having YA books on my shelves at home. I just don't know how to get into the genre.
Do you have any recommendations for anything that isn't Neil Gaiman, Joyce, Steinbeck or Hemingway, and doesn't have massive amounts of sex, romance, existentialism, nihilism, or death, with great writing and a happy ending?
I do like queer themes (what little I've dabbled in Mary Renault I've liked) and I like underground societies, alternate history, technology and the social ramifications of that technology (which is part of why I love Asimov). As for the time period, I'm really quite open, as long as a plague isn't going on. It doesn't even have to be about humans (Watership Down) as long as it doesn't end like Plague Dogs or Shardik. I really like happy endings. :(
Middle Ages and death are a bit synonymous, yes. Hard to have the first without the second. -_^
I certainly hope someone pointed you towards The Midwife's Apprentice, Catherine Called Birdy, Jackaroo, and On Fortune's Wheel when you were a wee nerd in training then!
And I thought I'd mentioned my likes more than my dislikes on here, but this thread's so huge I'm not sure anymore...?
I've never heard of those books, I'll look them up.
The Middle Ages were violent times, no doubt. And I like warfare history, so that works for me. Right now I am reading a trilogy set on the Hundred Years War (just finished a book about Agincourt) and I think I'll read Cornwell's Saxon Stories after that. I do love me English history, lol.
You haven't?! My dear, you have been so deprived! *flails around* On the other hand, perhaps my work here is done...? Cue superhero cape swish and theme music!
Sounds like you already have plenty of interesting reads, though. Shall I assume you've long since read Katherine and Phillipa Gregory's books then?
Oh my God, all the love for The Queen's Fool! And a pox on the Hollywood version of The Other Boleyn Girl, if people must watch a movie interpretation it's gotta be the BBC one.
Yes on Queen of Scots and not yet on Lady in the Tower; had a bit of a crazy 2011 and my reading quota nosedived. :(
Exactly! Shame on Hollywood, I was literally shouting at the screen. And i had to watch it because I guy was seeing thought it was sooooo good and he was cute (I am weak, what can I say?).
Ugh, 2011 was crazy for me. My last year in uni and all I could do was uni stuff ;_;
Aside from the two female leads (ugh) I *wanted* it to be good really, really bad- so much frustration over what actually happened! And I've liked Eric Bana plenty of other movies, but he's not even remotely like Henry. :P
The crazy must have been contagious- my dad died unexpectedly over Christmas 2010, the whole three ring family circus with the funeral, crazy insane hours at work, my boss carried on an affair at work and then tried to *kill herself* when that went the only direction it could (south)... If I hadn't reconnected with the wonderful man who is now my fiancé last February, I have no idea how I would have handled it.
I hear you. Eric Bana is usually really good, but Henry he isn't.
I'm sorry to hear about your dad. My father died -unexpectedly too- in 2011 (and my mother died in 2007) so I suddenly found myself alone with my sister. It was madness.
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In fact, that kind of dismissive attitude is exactly why I find it hard to do so (because who wants to please the sort of people who look down on you?), and yet, because of that dismissiveness, I still feel a large amount of shame for hanging around the Young Adult sections in bookstores, or having YA books on my shelves at home. I just don't know how to get into the genre.
Do you have any recommendations for anything that isn't Neil Gaiman, Joyce, Steinbeck or Hemingway, and doesn't have massive amounts of sex, romance, existentialism, nihilism, or death, with great writing and a happy ending?
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You want all of that in the same book? What themes do you like? Time period?
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Sorry.
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I like books set in the Middle Ages, but they do include death. And I like not!modern fiction, but they are the kind of authors you don't like
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I certainly hope someone pointed you towards The Midwife's Apprentice, Catherine Called Birdy, Jackaroo, and On Fortune's Wheel when you were a wee nerd in training then!
And I thought I'd mentioned my likes more than my dislikes on here, but this thread's so huge I'm not sure anymore...?
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The Middle Ages were violent times, no doubt. And I like warfare history, so that works for me. Right now I am reading a trilogy set on the Hundred Years War (just finished a book about Agincourt) and I think I'll read Cornwell's Saxon Stories after that. I do love me English history, lol.
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Sounds like you already have plenty of interesting reads, though. Shall I assume you've long since read Katherine and Phillipa Gregory's books then?
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I have! I really liked them :) Have you read Margaret George's Mary, Queen of Scots? I have yet to read The lady in the tower by Alison Weir.
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Yes on Queen of Scots and not yet on Lady in the Tower; had a bit of a crazy 2011 and my reading quota nosedived. :(
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Ugh, 2011 was crazy for me. My last year in uni and all I could do was uni stuff ;_;
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The crazy must have been contagious- my dad died unexpectedly over Christmas 2010, the whole three ring family circus with the funeral, crazy insane hours at work, my boss carried on an affair at work and then tried to *kill herself* when that went the only direction it could (south)... If I hadn't reconnected with the wonderful man who is now my fiancé last February, I have no idea how I would have handled it.
But! To a better 2012!
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I'm sorry to hear about your dad. My father died -unexpectedly too- in 2011 (and my mother died in 2007) so I suddenly found myself alone with my sister. It was madness.
To a better 2012, definitely.
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