I am constantly amazed and amused that texting is the favorite mode of communication for a generation that can't read or write.
~(no)rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I was listening to the news today, a report on how many newspapers continue to go out of business. Of course the Internet's part of the problem, but I also note that many people just don't like to read much news, even on the Net. It's why so many news outlets continue to cut the length of their articles for quick and easy reading--short attention span in the public. And look at how many people love to get their news from shouting cable stations where most of the "information" is delivered by screaming hosts who inject their own opinions as much as they deliver real news. It's more like some kind of entertainment, like "Weekend Update" with a pedigree. I note many of my friends who look at me like some kind of alien when I tell them to watch Charlie Rose or The Jim Lehrer News Hour to get real news, calling those programs "boring". I see so many people my age and younger who want everything quick and easy, easily digested, with little commitment on their part in terms of actually > *working* to learn anything. > > I wonder if the advent of the Net, instant and text messaging, DVRs, the Daily Show, etc., is indeed creating new generations of people who eschew reading anything of length, let alone the classics? I can think of lots of people i know who no longer read books at all, unless their tech books for work or something. > > I seem to remember hearing each generation think an innovation was ruining the next generation's intelligence and ability to think critically: the radio was going to kill conversation and reading...the television was going to kill the family time of gathering around the radio, etc. But I do wonder if we are losing things, as you say. Maybe great literature isn't the only thing being lost... > > -------------- Original message -------------- > From: "Martin Baxter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Thank you for this, Brent. IMO, this speaks to a problem endemic in literature today. > > It's almost a lost art form. So many writers have been busy trying to "say something" that they *don't* say anything. And it's not just in pop-lit, either. Look at our own beloved genre. A couple of days ago, Tracey posted a thread asking us to name five books we each read and liked this year. I've read dozens, but I'm not really willing to recommend more than one, Jim Butcher's last Dresden novel. I saw the latest in his Alera Codex series yesterday when I was killing time in a Borders downtown, and I couldn't get through ten pages of it. > > > > > > ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- > Subject : [scifinoir2] Fought Over Any Good Books Lately? > Date : Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:56:52 -0500 > From : "brent wodehouse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To : [EMAIL PROTECTED], scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/fashion/07clubs.html? _r=1&partner=MOREOVERFEATURES&ei=5040 > > Fought Over Any Good Books Lately? > > By JOANNE KAUFMAN > > Published: December 5, 2008 > > > JOCELYN BOWIE was thrilled by the invitation to join a book group. She had > just returned to her hometown, Bloomington, Ind., to take an > administration job at Indiana University, and thought she had won a ticket > to a top echelon. Â"I was hoping to network with all these women in > upper-level jobs at I.U., then I found they were in the book group,Â" she > said. Â"I thought, Â`Great! TheyÂ'll see how wonderful I am, and weÂ'll have > these great conversations about books.Â' Â" > > Ms. Bowie cannot pinpoint the precise moment when disillusion replaced > delight. Maybe it was the evening she tried to persuade everyone to look > beyond Oprah WinfreyÂ's picks, Â"and they all said Â`WhatÂ's wrong with > Oprah?Â' Â" she said. > > Or perhaps it was the meeting when she lobbied for literary classics like > Â"EmmaÂ" and the rest of the group was abuzz about Â"The Secret Life of > Bees,Â" a pop-lit best seller. > > The last straw came when the group picked Â"The Da Vinci CodeÂ" and someone > suggested the discussion would be enriched by delving into the authorÂ's > source material. Â"It was bad enough that they wanted to read Â`Da Vinci > CodeÂ' in the first place,Â" Ms. Bowie said, Â"but then they wanted to talk > about it.Â" She quit shortly after, making up a polite excuse: Â"I told the > organizer, Â`YouÂ're reading fiction, and IÂ'm reading history right now.Â' Â" > > Yes, itÂ's a nice, high-minded idea to join a book group, a way to make > friends and read books that might otherwise sit untouched. But what > happens when you wind up hating all the literary selections - or the other > members? Breaking up isnÂ't so hard to do when it means freedom from inane > critical commentary, political maneuvering, hurt feelings, bad chick lit > and even worse chardonnay. > > Â"Who knew a book group could be such a soap opera?Â" said Barb Burg, senior > vice president at Bantam Dell, which publishes many titles adopted by book > groups. Â"YouÂ'd think it would just be about the book. But wherever I go, > people want to talk to me about the infighting and the politics.Â" > > One member may push for John Updike, while everyone else is set on John > Grisham. One person wants to have a glass of wine and talk about the book, > while everyone else wants to get drunk and talk about their spouses. > Â"There are all these power struggles about what book gets chosen,Â" Ms. > Burg said. Then come the complaints: Â"ItÂ's too long, itÂ's too short, itÂ's > not literary enough, itÂ's too literary ... Â" > > The literary societies of the 19th century seemed content to leave the > drama to authors and poets, whom they discussed with great seriousness of > purpose. Some book groups evolved from sewing circles, which Â"gave women a > chance to exercise their intellect and have a social gathering,Â" said > Rachel W. Jacobsohn, author of Â"The Reading Group Handbook,Â" which gives a > history of the format plus dos and donÂ'ts for modern hosts. > > Today there are perhaps four million to five million book groups in the > United States, and the number is thought to be rising, said Ann Kent, the > founder of Book Group Expo, an annual gathering of readers and authors. > > Â"I firmly believe there was an uptick in the number of book groups after > 9/11, and IÂ'm expecting another increase in these difficult economic > times,Â" she said. Â"WeÂ're looking to stay connected and to have a form of > entertainment thatÂ's affordable, and book groups are an easy avenue for > that.Â" > > Most groups are all-female, but there are plenty of all-male and coed > ones. Lately there have emerged plenty of online-only book groups too, > though - given the difficulty of flinging a drink in the face of a member > who suggests reading Trollope - those are clearly a different animal. > > And more clubs means more acrimony. Sometimes there is a rambler in the > group, whose opinion far outlasts the natural interest of others, or a > pedant, who never met a literary reference she did not yearn to sling. The > most common cause of dissatisfaction and departures? > > Â"ItÂ's because thereÂ's an ayatollah,Â" said Esther Bushell, a professional > book-group facilitator who leads a dozen suburban New York groups and > charges $250 to $300 a member annually for her services. Â"This person > expects to choose all the books and to take over all the discussions. And > when I come on board, the ayatollah is threatened and doesnÂ't say > anything.Â" Like other facilitators, she is hired for the express purpose > of bringing long-winded types in line. > > For Doreen Orion, a psychiatrist in Boulder, Colo., the spoiler in her > book group was a drama queen who turned every meeting into her own > personal therapy session. Dr. Orion was used to such people in her > practice, but in her personal life - well, no thanks. Â"There were always > things going on in her life with relationships, and sheÂ'd want to talk > about it,Â" she said. Â"ThereÂ'd be some weird thing in a book and sheÂ'd > relate it to her life no matter what. Everything came back to her. It was > really exhausting after a while.Â" > > What attracted Susan Farewell to a book group called the IlluminaTea were > guidelines that precluded such off-putting antics. No therapy talk, no > chitchat and no skipping meetings. Â"It was very high-minded,Â" said Ms. > Farewell, a travel writer in Westport, Conn. Members took turns selecting > books, Â"and you felt that your choice was a measure of how intelligent and > sophisticated and worldly you were,Â" she said. > > The high standards extended to the refreshment table. Â"When it was your > month to host a meeting, you would do your interpretation of a tea, and > the teas got very competitive,Â" Ms. Farewell said. Homemade scones and > Devonshire cream were par for the course, and Ms. Farewell recalls > spending the day before her hostess stint making watercress and smoked > salmon sandwiches. > > This started to feel oppressive. Â"If the standards had been more relaxed, > I would have stayed in the group,Â" she said. Â"But I just felt I couldnÂ't > keep getting clotted cream. I couldnÂ't work and carry on the formality and > get through the novel every month, so I just said I couldnÂ't make the > meetings anymore.Â" > > Some who leave one group find happiness in another. Dr. Orion and another > woman broke from their original group and contacted another woman who had > also left. Â"Then we secretly reconstituted as another group,Â" Dr. Orion > said. Â"WeÂ've been going strong for 10 years, but our experience has made > us cautious about inviting new members. WeÂ've become very selective.Â" > > Nancy Atkins Peck, an artist and historian in Glen Rock, N.J., has also > made a successful transition. Until the election cycle of 2004, she had > loved her book group - the members read Â"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,Â" novels > by Virginia Woolf Â"and sometimes a paperback of no importance,Â" she said. > > Then, after a presidential debate, an argument about the candidates > ensued, Â"so it was decided that we couldnÂ't read any political books or > have any political discussions anymore,Â" recalled Ms. Peck, who had just > suggested the group read a book about the Bush White House. > > Â"It was nixed, and I just felt that was unnatural,Â" given that the group > had successfully discussed other sensitive issues, she said. She and her > husband then joined a coed group, which has worked out well. Â"And we read > a heck of a lot of political books,Â" she said triumphantly. > > Sometimes the problem is a life-stage mismatch among group members. Â"I > know of a group where all but one member has young children,Â" said Susanne > Pari, author of the novel Â"The Fortune CatcherÂ" and the program director > at Book Group Expo. Â"They talk for 15 minutes about the book and then > launch into a discussion of poopy diapers and nap times and preschool.Â" > > Then the one member who had nothing to bring to the soiled Pampers > conversation announced she did not have time for the group. For etiquette > reasons, Â"itÂ's very uncommonÂ" for people to give the real reason for their > disenchantment, Ms. Pari said. > > Ms. Bushell, the book-group facilitator, tells of one woman who left a > group Â"because she didnÂ't envision herself sitting around talking about a > book - she thought some business networking would take place.Â" > > Another woman decamped because she wanted to read more chick lit. Â"I hate > to sound ponderous,Â" Ms. Bushell said, Â"but I have a certain moral > obligation. I donÂ't feel I can be paid for leading a discussion about Â`The > Devil Wears Prada.Â'Â" > > At Book Passage, a store with two branches in the San Francisco area, Kate > Larson is something of a Miss Lonely Hearts for newcomers and disgruntled > book group members. Â"I collect names, and when I get 12 or 14 I ask them > to come to a meeting at the store,Â" she said. Â"If it looks like they all > agree about what kinds of things they want to read, theyÂ've got a book > club.Â" > > Ms. Larson uses a newsletter to help people find special-interest groups - > say, in science fiction or spirituality. Groups made up of total strangers > seem to last longer, she said, Â"because the focus is truly on the book.Â" > > As for Ms. Bowie of Indiana University, she was asked to join another > group but has chosen to stay unaffiliated. Â"My experience was a real > disappointment,Â" she said. Â"Now when I look at a novel in a store and it > has book group questions in the back, it almost puts me off from buying > it.Â" >
