A lot of things.

[readingredhead]

This is not much of an entry, just a lot of little fragmented things.

I was thinking about this randomly today in the shower: (not quite twenty) questions I want to be asked within the next twenty years.

This paper was written by an undergrad?
Do you want to go out sometime?
Would you like to work for us?
Can we publish this?
Would you mind if I kissed you?
When did you decide to become a writer?
Can I have your autograph?
Would you like to go on tour?
Is this forever?
Can I get my picture taken with you?
Do you realize how beautiful you are?
How did you get to where you are today?
Has he proposed yet?
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Will you marry me?
Is that your daughter?

***

I'm taking a swing dancing class that I really enjoy. It's so great just to get out and do something that's NOT school-related, or scholarly in any way. And since it's swing, all the people are really nice. I've only had one class so far but it looks like it's a great group of people.

***

Lauren, remember that long post about love a while ago? I was watching X-Files tonight and this quote happened, and it made me think back to that.

"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships-- the ones that last-- are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with." --Scully

I really like it, and how it meshes with the idea of love as something subtle that develops over time and that you don't notice happening until it's happened.

***

I went to a Michael Chabon reading today. He's a writer who lives in the area and is arguably shaping up to be THE best writer of the twenty-first century (according to my dad, among others). I had never read anything of his before, but I think I've fallen half in love with his thoughts on genre fiction vs. literary fiction. Basically, there are three things that need to happen for the two genres to reconcile themselves.

1. Literary authors have to start taking genre fiction seriously.
2. Literary readers have to start taking genre fiction seriously.
3. Genre writers have to start taking genre fiction seriously.

It was really interesting because my dad really likes his early work, which I wasn't able to get into at all. However, one of his most recent novels (The Yiddish Policeman's Union) won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award--both intended specifically for science fiction. Now, my dad would never call Chabon's book sf, because he would be of the opinion that that's degrading to Chabon. However, Chabon was talking about how he doesn't like the person he was in his early works in the same way that he likes the person he is now--now that he's allowed himself to innovate and cross genres just a little, which is something he hopes to do more of in the future.

It was great to have a chance to call up my dad and tell him that one of his literary heroes thinks he's silly for disdaining genre fiction. But it was also great to see someone who will probably draw even larger crowds in years to come.

***

Maybe there was something else, but I forgot.

Comments

[alexandria-skye.livejournal.com]

i might steal your question idea :)

semi-random question (i'm reserving the lable of random for the weird questions i've been asking of late...): what are you doing the weekend before thanksgiving?

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Um...I'm being in Berkeley? I fly back the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I think.

[alexandria-skye.livejournal.com]

i'm going to be about a half hour away that friday and satuday with band. not sure about the sunday yet. we should get together, either there or here that week :)

[wax-wane.livejournal.com]

i think i agree with this one the most:
3. Genre writers have to start taking genre fiction seriously.

the thing about genre fiction, for me, is that it's not as if i think a novel with "sci-fi" or "romance" or "mystery" themes is inherently bad, it's just that often, writers who set out to write within a certain genre simply recycle the same old cliches over and over. and i also have a big problem with plot-driven novels because i think it's sloppy writing, reduces reading to something like popcorn entertainment (which of course is certainly need sometimes, but not all the time)--and, for the most part, many genre writers are guilty of writing books where the plot overrides basically everything else. this is not to say, of course, that literary fiction writers don't make equally huge blunders :) but i guess that's why i prefer terms like "writers who write books with scifi elements" rather than a "scifi" writer, just because labels like those have grown to have certain negative connotations.

i guess what i'm trying to say is that "genre fiction haters" are only really that in name (or at least i am, i guess i can't speak for everyone!!). i definitely think there are great writers who are considered genre writers, that there are poor writers who are considered literary writers, but also, in my experience, i've found that the majority of bad books are genre books... maybe that's why i have this prejudice?

now, if more so-called genre writers started taking the craft, the art of writing more seriously, then i would change my opinion about that.

but yeah, i think the whole labeling of "genre" vs. "literary" fiction is probably detrimental, it's just that people don't have any other way to denote the differences. perhaps we should just use "shitty books" and "good books?" lol. but then again, there's always something called personal taste, which really can't be 100% subjective no matter what anybody says, but is certainly important enough.

anyway! i'm really really sorry that this got so long. i just kind of wanted to defend the "don't-like-genre-fiction" viewpoint, which, for me, isn't about hating genre fiction just because it's genre fiction, but because i've found MOST of it (not all of it!) can be pretty bad. but then again, lately i've been getting pretty disillusioned with most so-called "literary fiction" as well... basically, i'm pretty much losing my confidence in the narrative and going back to poetry :)

oh and also-- in my humble opinion, any writer who would ever ever call himself a "literary fiction writer" seems pretty insufferable. i'm hoping that it is usually the marketing/publishers who give them that label!

[incaseineedyou.livejournal.com]

Candace, I miss you. A lot. I knew that already, but reading this made me remember why. I miss being able to talk to someone who just happens to think about a lot of the same things that I think about.

Random notes:
-if I was asked the same twenty questions you outlined, I (hope I) would be happy with my life.
-I love that quote, and had a huge document full of further thoughts on that post about love that I lost somehow. But I want to discuss that kind of love with you more, because it makes me believe for a little while that it's out there.
-You should (maybe) read The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson. I know I tell everyone to read her all the time, and I dunno if you liked her writing style when you read her other book. But Stone Gods is her latest and is definitely a sci-fi book in everything but label. She seems to intensify her usual writing style until a lot of it is so vague that you can barely tell, and her characters continually talk about how they don't like sci-fi in some weird compensation technique or something... but it is. And I kept wanting to talk to you about it while I read it, so I selfishly mostly just want you to read it so that I can talk to you about it.

And speaking of missing you and wanting to talk to you, I also want your address. Because I am actually going to write you a letter :)

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I miss you too! We really have to talk about that kind of love for a little. Maybe we should write a book about it. You know, for someone who's never felt it at all (not in a romantic sense at least -- but in a platonic, most definitely) I could probably go on for a while about it. :)

Isn't that quote just glorious? I might have to add it to my wall of quotes -- I've covered my closet doors with my favorites!

I will read Stone Gods once I find it and have the time! I have like twenty books that I should read for school or work or both but if I get done with those I'll definitely look up Winterson. I know what it's like to need someone to read something so you can talk to them about it. If there's one book I wish you would read so I could talk to you about it, it's Julie E. Czerneda's A Thousand Words for Stranger. Read it and I will love you even more than I already do, which I'm not sure is physically possible, though it is probably metaphysically possible. :) If you don't read it before I see you again it might be your birthday present.

We're reading Eliot right now in my English class -- Prufrock and The Waste Land -- and I'm sad we're not reading Hollow Men but his others are still good. But the point is that it made me think of you! And of the eye pictures.

And my address! It is:
2601 Warring Street
Box #279
Berkeley, CA 94720-2288

(This is a random and unrelated note, but there is a musical that you may or may not need to know about. It is called Spring Awakening and I'm seeing it in SF this Saturday, after which point I will tell you if it needs to own your life or not.)