03.19.2004
following up: genre
In the comments to my rambling post that, partially, dealt with genre, brainhalves pointed me to a mumpsimus post called Genre and Pleasure.
In reading that, I was reminded of a recent Making Light post: Honor where due, about Stephen King's receiving a National Book Award. The comments therein had me read-read-reading all the way through.
(And my oh my by that mumpsimus post has me wanting to babble on some more, about what makes a good book and why we read. I always come down on the side of its being a good thing to be entertained (though I've rarely, as far as I can remember, come out and just blurted it out that way.) A quote from Neil Gaiman in the post in question: "3) Am I a different person now, because I read that book?" I wonder what this means to someone who's not necessarily reading with becoming a different person in mind as a goal. Do I have to become a different person every time I read a book? If I read a book because it's offering answers to questions I'm asking, that's one thing; but if I read a book because I want to be entertained: is that less noble? Grumble... I am going again now.)
