There’s this extraordinarily silly thing that happens on TikTok every year like clockwork. One batch of users talks about the one- tw0- three- hundred books they read that year. Another batch is utterly baffled at these numbers to the point of conniption. “How is it possible?” is the cry they lift to the heavens. “Don’t… Continue reading High Volume Reading as a Moral Imperative
In talking about school books on TikTok, someone mentioned in a comment that one of the current strategies around teaching books is returning to a previously read novel years later and reevaluating it from an older perspective. That might be why some summer reading I was discussing for local high schoolers looked more like middle-grade… Continue reading That’s My Secret, Cap, I Didn’t Read the Book
On Tik Tok (and occasionally some other reading groups) I talk a lot about my own experience reading classic science fiction and fantasy (mostly sci-fi). And I think sometimes that gives a false impression of age. But the reality is that a lot of the classic or vintage or generally older sci fi books I… Continue reading A Childhood of Science Fiction Classics
How do we then go about creating our little genre classic retinue? Because, surprisingly, this is a question you have to ask, sometimes.
Previously, I've touched on some of the benefits that come from reading classic books in your preferred genre. Sci-fi classics. Fantasy classics. Romance classics. Horror classics. Because society becomes more progressive through time, however, these older books are going to present outdated and obsolete societal views. Some to the point where they do start to… Continue reading Balancing the Problematic and the Emblematic in Classic Literature
Harsh opinion, but if someone says “I like/read classics” with no additional clarification, I don’t trust them in terms of actually knowing what kinds of books they like. The more they insist that “classics” are “superior,” the more that trust diminishes. And it’s not even really because of the pretension that tends to haunt those… Continue reading I Don’t Think Some Classics Readers Actually Like Books
There are a few authors and series in the science fiction and fantasy community that are, ostensibly, considered essential reads. But not every person is going to like any given book, even if it is a staple. Yet people still sit down to read them, not generally knowing how they’ll feel in the end.This leads… Continue reading But I WANT to Like It
A large chunk of my book marketing information, lately, comes in the form of one of the big social media sites. BookTok, BookStagram, BookTube here and there. So it’s hard for me to gauge whether this problem persists in other places where books are talked about. I imagine it does, as I see its ramifications… Continue reading Why Do We Actually Need Romantasy?
I’ll make two strong statements regarding how we label our favorite books: 1. Genres are made up marketing terms. 2. Genres are an integral element in how we navigate the the reading and literary landscape. The nature of language where all things are made up, in the end, makes both these things true and addressable… Continue reading Dune is a Science Fiction Novel and You’re NOT ALLOWED to Fight About It
For the uninitiated, there’s a well-known fantasy series called the Wheel of Time. It’s a fourteen book saga begun by Robert Jordan and ended by Brandon Sanderson on Jordan’s passing. It’s considered a modern classic in fantasy circles. Those same groups will argue up one side and down the other about the overall quality of… Continue reading Half the Wheel of Time Books are Bad, Yet We Still Recommend Them
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