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Lurker #32 (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lurker32) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} otf_wank,@ 2004-12-18 21:17:00 |
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The Book You Crew strikes back!
EDIT: Now with added c&p goodness!
I did consider posting this ingaia_wank, but really, it's too good to hide away.
Tucked away in one of Gaia Online's many many forums is a Books subforum. It's a reasonably quiet, civilized corner of that seething stew of hormones and bitchery. But this peace cannot last forever, and along comes Hyosho, who demands, "Is anyone reading any *actual* books?" by which she means, apparently, Teh Holy Western Canon.
Various clueless kiddies supply their reading choices of Redwall, Tamora Pierce and Goosebumps, blissfully unaware that they're being patronized. Various others suggest that Hyosho get off her high horse. And they're off!
Hyosho just wants people to talk about books where it is possible to actually have a discussion.
Wyndah:
I think this thread should be named again. A book is a book. I can't see how some book suddenly isn't a book. icon_sweatdrop.gif Replacing "actual" with some other word that describes your thoughts better could help the thread to gain the purpose it's created for. icon_3nodding.gif
Hyosho:
You mean to catch people's eye, have them come in, read some posts and consider what makes their reading choices valid, then post a considered reply?
pwned! icon_xd.gif
Seriously, I'll think about it, I just wanted people to talk about books where it is possible to actually have a discussion. It seems that the vast majority of threads on this forum go: 'Have you read 'The Quest of Angthtgedf'?' 'Yes! It rocks!' 'Yes it does!' '...' '...'
And downthread, Hey, I for one would be more than willing to discuss anything from the upanishads to the tale of Genji, from Heidigger to Derrida.
Obligatory LotR bashing.
Hyosho is teh open-minded!
Ghormenghast I'm prepared to accept: it certainly beats Lord of the Rings hands down for the quality of the writing and breadth of imagination. It has complex characters that develop over the course of the story; and I certainly wouldn't look down on it just for being 'fantasy'. The vast majority of fantasy books are terrible, but that's not a law written in stone.
Anyone who reads genre fiction after the age of 15 is limiting themselves and probably functionally illiterate.
Fernus:
Wow, you must be some highschool twerp who picked up their first novel ever and got all smarmy about it. Everyone reads books you little creep. Seriously just because you suddenly decided to expand your mind by reading something other than the sunday comics doesn't mean that you are super intelligient and above everyone else. Books are books, it doesn't matter what subject it is about it can still be a good book. I advise you to rack off and get a life.
Sorry but people like you irritate me.
Hyosho:
Yes, I am arrogant, it's one of my most endearing qualites. However, I actually have a basis for my conceit. I'm a reformed fantasy/SF geek who now reads much better books.
"Everyone reads books?" No, they don't.
22% of the population of England and Wales is functionally illiterate.
about 23% of the US adult population is functionally illiterate.
27% of US army enlistees can't read at a 7th grade level.
Roughly 70% of young adults in America can't read and understand a newspaper.
In 2002, "47% of American adults read poems, plays or narrative fiction in 2002, a drop of seven percentage points from a decade earlier. Those reading any books at all in 2002 fell to 57%." (this decline was more marked amongst very young adults, ie 18-24. This decline looks set to continue.)
So, yes, most people (just about) read books; not 'everyone' is able to or willing to read any books at all. This, however, is a forum for people who can and do, so I'm trying to set the bar a little higher.
Some writing is better than other writing. If you disagree with this statement, then you throw away any right to make any judgement on any literature whatsoever: A cornflake packet has as much worth as Paradise Lost. Even if you argue that some books are supposed to do different things, (entertainment vs... what? Art?) the writing contained within can be judged as better or worse.
I chose those particular subjects as examples because they represent a vast slew of production with a low quality of writing, and because they dominate this forum. They may have a place as an entry point into real books, but anyone still reading them past the age of about fifteen is limiting themselves.
ps, I have two masters degrees in English literature. High school my arse.
Ooooh, phear the degrees! *hums Avenue Q*
Et cetera. Ten pages of cetera, actually.
EDIT: Now with added c&p goodness!
I did consider posting this in
gaia_wank, but really, it's too good to hide away.Tucked away in one of Gaia Online's many many forums is a Books subforum. It's a reasonably quiet, civilized corner of that seething stew of hormones and bitchery. But this peace cannot last forever, and along comes Hyosho, who demands, "Is anyone reading any *actual* books?" by which she means, apparently, Teh Holy Western Canon.
Various clueless kiddies supply their reading choices of Redwall, Tamora Pierce and Goosebumps, blissfully unaware that they're being patronized. Various others suggest that Hyosho get off her high horse. And they're off!
Hyosho just wants people to talk about books where it is possible to actually have a discussion.
Wyndah:
I think this thread should be named again. A book is a book. I can't see how some book suddenly isn't a book. icon_sweatdrop.gif Replacing "actual" with some other word that describes your thoughts better could help the thread to gain the purpose it's created for. icon_3nodding.gif
Hyosho:
You mean to catch people's eye, have them come in, read some posts and consider what makes their reading choices valid, then post a considered reply?
pwned! icon_xd.gif
Seriously, I'll think about it, I just wanted people to talk about books where it is possible to actually have a discussion. It seems that the vast majority of threads on this forum go: 'Have you read 'The Quest of Angthtgedf'?' 'Yes! It rocks!' 'Yes it does!' '...' '...'
And downthread, Hey, I for one would be more than willing to discuss anything from the upanishads to the tale of Genji, from Heidigger to Derrida.
Obligatory LotR bashing.
Hyosho is teh open-minded!
Ghormenghast I'm prepared to accept: it certainly beats Lord of the Rings hands down for the quality of the writing and breadth of imagination. It has complex characters that develop over the course of the story; and I certainly wouldn't look down on it just for being 'fantasy'. The vast majority of fantasy books are terrible, but that's not a law written in stone.
Anyone who reads genre fiction after the age of 15 is limiting themselves and probably functionally illiterate.
Fernus:
Wow, you must be some highschool twerp who picked up their first novel ever and got all smarmy about it. Everyone reads books you little creep. Seriously just because you suddenly decided to expand your mind by reading something other than the sunday comics doesn't mean that you are super intelligient and above everyone else. Books are books, it doesn't matter what subject it is about it can still be a good book. I advise you to rack off and get a life.
Sorry but people like you irritate me.
Hyosho:
Yes, I am arrogant, it's one of my most endearing qualites. However, I actually have a basis for my conceit. I'm a reformed fantasy/SF geek who now reads much better books.
"Everyone reads books?" No, they don't.
22% of the population of England and Wales is functionally illiterate.
about 23% of the US adult population is functionally illiterate.
27% of US army enlistees can't read at a 7th grade level.
Roughly 70% of young adults in America can't read and understand a newspaper.
In 2002, "47% of American adults read poems, plays or narrative fiction in 2002, a drop of seven percentage points from a decade earlier. Those reading any books at all in 2002 fell to 57%." (this decline was more marked amongst very young adults, ie 18-24. This decline looks set to continue.)
So, yes, most people (just about) read books; not 'everyone' is able to or willing to read any books at all. This, however, is a forum for people who can and do, so I'm trying to set the bar a little higher.
Some writing is better than other writing. If you disagree with this statement, then you throw away any right to make any judgement on any literature whatsoever: A cornflake packet has as much worth as Paradise Lost. Even if you argue that some books are supposed to do different things, (entertainment vs... what? Art?) the writing contained within can be judged as better or worse.
I chose those particular subjects as examples because they represent a vast slew of production with a low quality of writing, and because they dominate this forum. They may have a place as an entry point into real books, but anyone still reading them past the age of about fifteen is limiting themselves.
ps, I have two masters degrees in English literature. High school my arse.
Ooooh, phear the degrees! *hums Avenue Q*
Et cetera. Ten pages of cetera, actually.
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