Quote

[superbadgirl]

"Whereas the truth is that fullness of soul can sometimes overflow in utter vapidity of language, for none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked kettle on which was tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars."


Why would I ever read Stephanie Meyer when I can read Flaubert?

Comments

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Not defending Meyers here...but if you only read The Best, then the reading list is awfully sparse.

A lot of folks would tease me about reading a LOT of Stephen King. I own almost all of his books by now. The Guy teases me about it. To some, the Pern books are the height of fantasy. (ugh) Or the Dune books of SF. Wouldn't call them great writing, but the ideas contained within are important, too, eh? And the storytelling as well.

I wouldn't call Koontz or H.P. Lovecraft great writers...but Koontz is the only one who has scared me silly with one book, and Lovecraft has a huge influence in the horror genre.

Um. Sorry for the lectern lecture. *skulks off* Didn't mean to.

[superbadgirl]

Oh, I don't only read The Best. Quite often I'll check out Stephen King, if there happens to be one on the shelf I haven't read.

I'm a book snob, but I'm not that much of one. I haul out old Stephen R. Donaldson books all the time - though the only ones of his I like are the mirror ones. Such an interesting story.

Still, if given a choice between only two books - a classic and a recent hack novelist like Dan Brown? I'll always choose the classic.