after all so many uttering tongues

May 24, 2007 16:16

Right now I'm reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics (the novel by Marisha Pessl), and though I am only on page 39, one thing has become clear already: this book is so hip I can hardly stand it. There are pages and pages of positive reviews at the front of my copy, and many of them are from writers and publications I respect. They're all, " ( Read more... )

rise up with fists!!, books

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Comments 26

ctoan May 25 2007, 01:59:52 UTC
I listen. I just don't learn. :)

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maudgonne May 25 2007, 20:12:59 UTC
You are such a liar. You're one of the best learners I know!

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mollya May 25 2007, 03:04:17 UTC
I am listening to you right now!

You remind me of Aldous Huxley's novel The Island - or at least the little I remember of it from having read it when I was in high school. On this island with its utopian society there are hundreds of birds that all call out "Attention! Attention!" all of the time. They are reminding the people of what you are writing about right here - Listen up! The way to wisdom is through mindfulness, not chatter.

Thank you for your teaching.

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maudgonne May 25 2007, 20:19:59 UTC
I haven't read the novel, but I do remember reading about that part (or perhaps I read an excerpt). That's a lovely image, and exactly what I was talking about.

Thank you for listening!

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liseuse May 25 2007, 09:07:50 UTC
There are pages and pages of positive reviews at the front of my copy, and many of them are from writers and publications I respect

I truly hate this tendency in modern publishing. It makes me less likely to enter the world of the book in a good mood. I will allow an introduction to separate me from the story, but enough already, with these testimonials.

Special Topics... is on my list of books to read purely because someone said it had hints of The Secret History. I am spending my time before the next Tartt book, desperately finding books which have an element of her. It is generally unsuccesful because she is so wonderful, and so many are not.

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maudgonne May 25 2007, 20:15:32 UTC
Agreed about the testimonials. I usually eye them before a purchase, if I'm buying, because if the only ones are from a lousy writer and People magazine, I'm probably not going to like the book.

I'm hoping to like it eventually. And I do love Donna Tartt, aside from her tendency to overuse/repeat certain words. A good editor should catch those things! But she's lovely, and so smart it kills me.

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fredsmith518 May 25 2007, 17:15:34 UTC
I'm a teacher
It's a priviledge, even when they are driving me insane, because the world is new in their eyes, 7/8 year olds and they say the most amazing things - when I can get them quiet enough to listen;)

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maudgonne May 25 2007, 20:16:47 UTC
Oh, yes, I do remember that from working with kids. It's hard to get them quiet enough to listen, but it's quite often worth it.

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shoshannagold May 25 2007, 18:49:45 UTC
I'm not sure how much I trust Jonathan Franzen. Did you read The Corrections? I tried, I really did, but I couldn't get more than twenty pages in. I thought that it was trying to hard to be a certain thing, instead of actually just letting the message flow through it. I also found it very bleak. There are very few books I don't finish, but actually returned that one to the store, because nobody I know would have liked it, and I wanted to use the money to buy a book I would actually enjoy.

It's your job as a human being to listen and learn. It's your job as a writer to observe and translate the human experience in the truest way you can. I forget both of these things sometimes, especially when I'm just completely caught up in all the little dramas of my own life. I'm pretty sensitive to what other people are feeling, and I've been spending a lot of time lately trying to block that out, especially when it's negative, because I haven't learned to take it in without having it affect me yet. (I know, the last bit sounds a little too new ( ... )

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maudgonne May 25 2007, 20:26:24 UTC
I started it at least three times before I managed to really dive in. I thought I'd never finish. But when I finally did, I found a lot in it that was real and human and of substance. So in the end it was worth it.

I don't think it sounds too New Age. Some people just lack the filter between their experiences and those of other people, and it's a hard way to live. (I can't say I have experiential knowledge of that kind of thing--not on that level, certainly--but I have known people who do.) I think you do have to develop some sort of filter out of self-preservation.

I do know, and that's what drove me crazy about academia sometimes--people trying so hard to impress, to be original, to impose their ideas on the innocent (or not) texts, when sometimes it just didn't work.

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