LitLovers Blog

Tim Bissel is a writer and professor—a writing professor, no less!—who plays video games. In fact, he’s obsessed with them and—not only that—he considers them a budding art form. 

In his new book, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, Bissel says the games are “as gripping as any fiction I have come across”—and that Grand Theft Auto IV is  ”the most colossal creative achievement of the last 25 years.”  The interactive nature of the games is what excites him . . .

turning “narrative into an active experience,
something which film [and literature] is
unable to do in the same way.”

So it got me to thinking about the history of the novel and film. Both were once considered upstarts—and had to prove their worth against skeptics.

Right now, Bissel isn’t impressed with the “literary” skills of the videogame designers. But given time, won’t those skills—dialog and characterization—develop as they did in fiction and film?

Another thing—literary fiction is the only art form that allows us to slip the bond of our own skin and enter another’s.  When we identify with literary characters, we think as they do and  feel as they do…we BECOME those characters for the duration of the book! 

But we’re still passive participants. We’re only along for the ride.

Now think—what could it be like, say 50 years from now, to actually enter into a book or film’s action … to actively particpate … to affect its outcome?   How will that work?  I don’t know, but … I’m getting out my daughter’s old joypad to practice!

For Book Clubs
Have fun—consider what a book club might be like 50 years from now.  Will we all come with our little laptop video games?  Will we discuss what actions each took…and how we changed the direction of the plot?

Tags: Blogging & Musing // 2 Comments »

Jeeesh!  It’s been a long time since I posted anything on my poor blog.  Why so long?  Turns out, I’ve been reading…a lot.

Which brings up an intriguing comment by Jonathan Franzen (off all people!) in the Sunday New York Times Book Review (6/6/10). 

 

[H]aven’t we all secretly sort of come to an agreement…that novels belonged to the age of newspapers and are going the way of newspapers, only faster? 

As an old English professor friend of mine likes to say, novels are a curious moral case, in that we feel guilty about not reading more of them but also guilty about doing something as frivolous as reading them…

Okay, so it’s tongue-and-cheek.  Or not.  Still, I’m wondering…

1. Who’s the “we”—as in “we all secretly agreed”?  And why a ”secret” agreement?  (Nobody wants to talk about it?)
2. Does he really think the novel—printed and digital—is on its way out?  If so, is it being replaced with anything…like graphic novels…or the internet?
3. Are novels frivolous?
4. Has anyone told book clubs yet?
5. How are the two sentences in that quote related…are novels on the way out because they make us feel guilty (both reading…and not reading enough of them)?

Just asking. I don’t have answers…yet.

Tags: Blogging & Musing // 3 Comments »

The Good, Bad and the Ugly—the iconic Clint Eastwood film—suggests a world in which good and evil are starkly delineated.  Not so our 3 books this month: it’s not so easy to tell the good from the bad or the ugly.

Our romantic heart throb in The Pursuit of Alice Thrift displays all 3 qualities…he’s certainly ugly, but sometimes he’s good and sometimes he’s not.  Mr. Golightly’s Holiday starts out as a light-hearted English country tale with a cast of  village eccentrics. But it digs deeper as it ponders good and evil.

Finally, for the Great Work:  Nostromo, one of the most dazzling novels in the English language, in which Joseph Conrad looks at greed’s ability to corrupt the incorruptible.

Take a look at all our monthly book club book reviews.

Tags: Book Reviews // Add Comment »

Do best friends and book clubs mix?  Here’s a  good question from the mailbag:

My best friend and I started a book club together. But it turns out that she just wants to read light romances. The rest of us like variety—bios, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy—and, well…something a little more challenging.  Any suggestions?

There are a number of ways you can go about this, depending on everyone’s willingness…or not…to compromise.

1. Rotate monthly so each person gets to select a book. That way your friend gets to choose a romance once, say, every 6 or 8 months.
2. Appeal to her sense of fairness if she’s unwilling to compromise—remind her (nicely, right?) that she’s in the minority.
3. Offer to help her start another club if all else fails, a club based on romantic fiction. You can even come up with a  clever name…like, um, ”The Romantic Fiction Club.”  Yessssss!!!

The best solution is to avoid the issue from the get-go. If you’re going to start a book club, first determine the kind of books you like to read. Then find like-minded readers. (Oh, sure…now I tell you.)  It turns out that like-minded readers aren’t necessarily best friends.

Love to read your thoughts!

Tags: Book Club Blues // 2 Comments »

I don’t do math (can’t).  But do do grammar. I believe in grammar—its rules for clarity of expression—so others can make sense of what we’re trying to say.  (Notice I’m violating grammar here…because I can.  I’m so good…the grammar police gave me permission.)

Nonetheless . . . here’s one grammatical rule that continually irritates me:

     WHO \ WHOM
The M Conundrum

THIS?     —    Give the award to   WHOEVER   deserves it.
Or this?  —    Give the award to WHOMEVER  deserves it.

THIS?      —    Give the award to those   WHO   you think deserve it.
Or this?  —    Give the award to those WHOM  you think deserve it.

The who / whom embroglio is totally overrated.  Clarity can be achieved perfectly well without that niggling little ”m.”  Who?  Whom?  Does it matter?  We get the point.

Read at your own peril . . .

Answer:  Give the award to WHOEVER deserves it. 
“Whomever” is not the prepositional object of  “to.”  Rather, WHOEVER  is the subject of a dependent clause, “whoever deserves it.”  The entire clause is the prepositional object.  Phew!

Answer:  Give the award to those WHO you think deserve it. 
“Whomever” is not the object of  “you think…whom.”   “You think” is parenthetical…you can remove it altogether. So the “who” becomes a relative pronoun for “those” and subject of the relative clause “who deserve it.”  

See what I mean? So much ink spilled over a measly “m”!  The rules of grammar, in this particular case, are so arcane—it’s like trying to figure out the oyster fork from the fish course fork at an Edith Wharton dinner party. 

So here’s my personal campaign for a better world:  let’s drop the M!

Tags: Just ♥ Words // Add Comment »

If you love books on a certain theme…you’ll love Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations, a new site that lists books thematically. So far the site has 370 different lists, in 50+ categories, with nearly 5,000 books.  Here’s a tiny sample:

Flashlight Worthy Lists 

Books About . . .
Families in Fiction and Memoir
Women of Another Era
Abraham Lincoln
Dystopia
Crime Fiction–About Women By Women
Love–That Your Club Probably Hasn’t Read Yet
African-Americans–Not Just for Black History Month
WASPS
Madness We Can All Relate to
With the Sea in Sight

So head on over to the website to find some great ideas and recommendations for your book club…or just for yourself.

Tags: Blogging & Musing // Add Comment »

Urban Mysterioso—Cities lend themselves to the mysterious because of  their unruly diversity, both structural and human.

Set in Manhattan, When You Reach Me, told through the voice of 12-year-old Miranda, explores the idea of time travel.  In The City and the City, Inspector Tyador Borlu investigates a murder in two different cities; the cities occupy the same space but neither recognizes the existence of the other!

The Quincunx, a brilliant send-up of Charles Dickens, recreates the bizarre labyrinth of 19th-century London. The novel follows a young man intent on solving the mystery of his identity.

Book clubs—see all our monthly book reviews . . .

Tags: Book Reviews // Add Comment »

You read … and read … and read.  And you think you’re pretty well up on authors.

Then you come across one who’s written 8 books—8 mind you!—and you don’t have a clue. You feel so … so … (can I say it … can I even say it?) … so unread.

That’s what happened with Elinor Lipman. Somewhere I came across her name. Hmmm … that’s vaguely familiar, but only vaguely… I check her out … and holy cow!  Stunned I am—by her body of work and the fine reviews she’s garnered over the years. So where have I been?

Why isn’t Lipman on the lips of every book club member in the country?  She’s  funny, smart, perceptive…and her dialogue crackles.  We should be reading her!

I’m working my way backward through her books.  So far I’ve read My Latest Grievance, then The Pursuit of Alice Thrift.  Wonderful… Check out reading guides for Lipman’s other 4 novels —they’re on our LitGuide index.

I plan on reading all 8 novels … sometime.

Tags: Book Reviews // 2 Comments »

Rarely do I review new books.  It’s hard enough to get through my own pile for the website, let alone take on brand new ones.  So usually I decline review requests. 

But this book was different.  A Journey Through Literary America looked so intriguing…I couldn’t resist the offer.  And what a smart decision! This has to be one of the MOST gorgeous books ever born.  

A Journey is a big coffee-table-sized book, chock-a-block-full of sumptuous photos—the homes of America’s most beloved authors and the locales of their stories.  

With wonderful prose to boot—biographies and personal incidents that make up the authors’ lives, as well as the history and inspiration behind their works. 

This is a gorgeous book—the perfect gift for your favorite book lover. Which is you, of course!

It’s a virtual “Who’s Who” in American literature—Toni Morrison, Willa Cather, John Steinbeck, John Updike, Langston Huges, Wallace Stegner … and many more.  All the biggies.

Tags: Book Reviews // 2 Comments »

M is for Magic.  Our book reviews conjure up books on magic—a subject that maintains a powerful grip on our imaginations, even in an age of science.

First, The Magician’s Elephant—a beautifully told fable about the possibilities of love and connection. In a dark and broken world, magic opens doors and heal hearts.

In The Magicians, Lev Grossman takes us through a magic portal into the Brakesbill College of Magical Pedagogy. Here his young hero learns the darker side of sorcery—and finds himself on a magical journey of self-discovery.

Finally, The Magus—John Fowles spellbinding novel of a young Briton living on a mysterious Greek Island.  Nicholas becomes  involved in a series of elaborate and increasingly dangerous games of illusion. Where does fantasy stop and reality begin?

Book Clubs—see all our montly book reviews . . .

Tags: Book Reviews // 2 Comments »