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Message no. 1
From: Stefan <casanova@***.PASSAGEN.SE>
Subject: Books ... was Bullet Parry
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 03:05:04 +0000
> > > Simple 50 pages into the thing it still stunk and wasn't getting any
better.
>
> > You read 50 pages and decided that the book was crap ? Do you see 5
> > minutes of a movie and then leave the cinema cause it wasn't cool
> > enough after that ?
>
> If I get 50 pages into a book and it's boring me, I usually stop and find
> something better. If the writer can't interest me within 50 pages, do
> something worthwhile, 200 more usually won't make it any better. A writer who
> expects me to wade through several hours of reading to get to the good parts
> isn't trying very hard to be a writer.

Mayby it is just so that you are not a very good reader ? or you are
just reading the wrong kinda books ... but if you have not read a
book you can't judge it since you don't know ... mayby the book does
a 180 on page 55 but you would never know since you stoped.

/Stefan

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Frag you and the datastream you came on!" - Sinjin the decker
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Message no. 2
From: Skye Comstock <bilbo@****.NWLINK.COM>
Subject: Re: Books ... was Bullet Parry
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 18:25:15 -0800
>Mayby it is just so that you are not a very good reader ? or you are
>just reading the wrong kinda books ... but if you have not read a
>book you can't judge it since you don't know ... mayby the book does
>a 180 on page 55 but you would never know since you stoped.

Would you quite beating on him? I've seen you two keep yapping at
each other for seemingly no bloody reason. He didn't like the
book after 50 pages, he put it away. He can say he doesn't like
it. It's all in his opinion, so you really don't need to get
worked up about it.

I couldn't continue Steel Rain after the first 20 pages, so I'm
even worse. If the intro doesn't appeal, it doesn't appeal. I love
Gibson, but I just can't get through Idoru. I love Koke, but I
can't get through Dead Air, which is a great book. Sometimes
it just doesn't do it for me.

I'll judge Steel Rain from my reading: It was boring.

-Skye
Message no. 3
From: Stefan <casanova@***.PASSAGEN.SE>
Subject: Re: Books ... was Bullet Parry
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 03:50:28 +0000
> Would you quite beating on him? I've seen you two keep yapping at
> each other for seemingly no bloody reason. He didn't like the
> book after 50 pages, he put it away. He can say he doesn't like
> it. It's all in his opinion, so you really don't need to get
> worked up about it.

OK I will ... I just don't understand how you can judge something as
being bad when you have not done something (in this case read a
book).

> I'll judge Steel Rain from my reading: It was boring.

It is just such a poor effort reading a few pages mearly glansing at
the book and then saying that it's crap ...

/Stefan

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Frag you and the datastream you came on!" - Sinjin the decker
------------------------------------------------------------------------
... E-Mail .............................. casanova@***.passagen.se ...
... HomePage .............................. http://hsl.home.ml.org ...
... ICQ .................................................. 1403212 ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 4
From: "Wendy Wanders, Subject 117" <KGGEWEHR@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject: Re: Books ... was Bullet Parry
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 21:45:32 -0500
You wrote:
> Mayby it is just so that you are not a very good reader ?
Well, when i have the time, reading is something I do for pleasure, and I read
a variety. A lot of subjects can interest me. But if the writer hasn't done
anything with the first 50 pages? Come on, why should I, at that point, figure
they're good enough to do anything good with the rest of the book? Giving
someone the benefit of the doubt goes only so far. I do consider myself a good
reader, as I'm very willing to suspend disbelief, and give myself up to the
writer. I also have a decent vocabulary and ability to work things out from
context, and like writers who challenge me a bit. But I've seen authors who
can keep me interested even in 'building-up' parts of a book, and so to wait
until it 'gets good' seems silly to me, lazyness on the part of a writer. A
novel that gets interesting on page 180 should have been revised a time or two
more.

My recent fare consists of:
Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
Kerouac, On the Road
Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
Hemingway, a collection of short stories

Two novels by Thomas Disch preceded all this. Maybe I'm spoiled, but... I
like writers that work hard to make their work pleasurable to read. If these
people could put forth the effort, well, so can others. Nigel Findley did, for
instance, as does William Gibson, and Joel Rosenberg.

losthalo
Message no. 5
From: Tim Cooper <z-i-m@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Books ... was Bullet Parry
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 18:44:26 EDT
On Sun, 7 Sep 1997 03:50:28 +0000 Stefan <casanova@***.PASSAGEN.SE>
writes:
>> Would you quite beating on him? I've seen you two keep yapping at
>> each other for seemingly no bloody reason. He didn't like the
>> book after 50 pages, he put it away. He can say he doesn't like
>> it. It's all in his opinion, so you really don't need to get
>> worked up about it.
>
>OK I will ... I just don't understand how you can judge something as
>being bad when you have not done something (in this case read a
>book).
>
>> I'll judge Steel Rain from my reading: It was boring.
>
>It is just such a poor effort reading a few pages mearly glansing at
>the book and then saying that it's crap ...

Uh, he didn't say it was 'crap'.... just that it was, to him, boring.

And, beyond that it serves no purpose ragging on their reading habits..
people are entitled to their own opinions and if the book didn't grab
him, then it didn't grab him. You'd think it would be more productive
(at least from your side) to convince him that the book *is* worth
reading, rather than assualt him...<shrug>

~Tim
Message no. 6
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowrn@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Books ... was Bullet Parry
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 00:42:38 +0100
In article <199709070149.DAA20963@******.passagen.se>, Stefan
<casanova@***.PASSAGEN.SE> writes
>It is just such a poor effort reading a few pages mearly glansing at
>the book and then saying that it's crap ...

Read a quarter of a book and you can tell if it has any redeeming
features. If the author can't create some interest or excitement in the
first fifty pages, then something is badly wrong.

I can read a book in an hour. Or a similarly-sized volume can hold me
enthralled for three or four. What makes the difference? Whether I'm
reading it properly (because it grips and interests me) or because I'm
skimming it (because it's crap but it's all I've got to read on a train)

I will say, I've yet to run into a book that initially struck me as bad
that redeemed itself. Some (Use of Weapons) confused the hell out of me
at first reading, but demanded a second: but I've yet to experience a
Pauline conversion part-way through a book from "this is rubbish" to
"this is a good book".

--
There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy...

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk

Further Reading

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