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Thu, Oct. 21st, 2004 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI mentioned that logging all the books I've been reading has really been changing the way I read, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
redredshoes wanted to know how it was changing. I don't know if what I do is actually reviewing books so much as blathering on about them -- they're just in seperate entries so I have an easier time keeping track of them.
***Lalalalala! I interrupt this post to say that the bookstore had Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and the person at the register was nice and let me have my discount! Lalalalala I have new books!***
(Addendum: And someone sold their Japanese history books or something and I have a coupon for 50% off for history books and so I will raid it tomorrow when the coupon is valid and buy out all the Japanese history books on Tokugawa Japan and samurai and oh, I am so excited!)
Now that I have totally geeked out on everyone, we shall return to the original post ;).
Anyhow, I was quite inspired bycoffee_and_ink's year end review and decided it might be fun to keep track of what I read for an entire year. Mostly it's because I have no idea how much I read, or really what or when I read. And I thought it might be fun to keep track of my reactions to everything I read in my LJ, because too often, I read a book and forget pretty much everything except a sketchy outline of the plot and a vague inclination as to whether I liked it or not. Another factor was that when I finish a book, I'm still immersed in the world and I need somewhere to displace that emotion, or I'm mad at the book, or I loved certain bits but the ending made me roll my eyes. And since I haven't made many friends in the area, and the friends I do have are far away from me and so are not quite reading the same things, I don't have anyone to tell without spoiling the book. Ergo, book blathering began.
When I first started writing them, I realized I don't really concentrate much at all when I read. I immerse myself in the story and the characters, in the plot, and when it's over, I have a general emotional impression as to what I thought. But I don't analyze for themes or a broader message or anything. Also, many books fall in the sort of mediocre category -- there are books I like but don't love, there are books I love parts of but have quibbles with other parts, there are books I mildly dislike, and there are books which I have no opinion about at all. So writing down an entry on those books was really difficult, just because I didn't notice all that much about them to begin with. Knowing that I was going to have to write something up later, I would read a little more carefully, take note of what my brain was commenting on, so I could save it for the entry. It's just being a little more aware. I remember my English teacher saying that one of the few regrets he had about being a teacher was that he sort of stopped reading books for pure fun. While I still do read books for fun and love them to pieces, there's now always a little piece of my brain that tries to be critically detached, to note when the dialogue is stilted or the characterization is off.
It's much easier doing it with romance novels because I feel like I'm more familiar with the tropes -- I don't have all that much of a background in sci-fi/fantasy, and veeery little in the more "literary" stream. Also, reading some romances requires much less analysis of the plot and whatnot on my part; plus, half of why I read them is to see what the authors are doing with the tropes, if anything's being subverted, if anything wonky is going on with gender politics or the like. Hi, I read romances as an intellectual exercise. Well, and for vicarious thrills of course ;). I'm more interested in gender politics and theory and the like, so when books are centered around that, I perk up a bit more. Other themes, like memory or history or story, etc. I enjoy very, very much (especially stories on Story like Sandman), but I feel like I have much less of a background in such things, so I don't quite know what to look for.
But it's been interesting trying to be stand back a little more when I read, to try to consciously note my own reactions. And sometimes I worry that I'm having the wrong reactions, or I read other people's thoughts and wonder why I didn't see that, or why I didn't feel that way. I know it's silly because, hey, it's me and the book, and hopefully I end up saying something interesting in my own rambly and inarticulate way ;). It reminds me a little of the episode reviews that flood LJ after a TV episode airs. The sense of community in LJ, watching people pick up books based on my recs, picking up books because of other people's recs, it's wonderful. I love watching a certain book make the rounds on my FL. I really wish there were a better way of tracking posts in LJ other than the memories function, because I never quite remember to bookmark everyone else's entries, and sometimes they don't have a memories section. Then I can't go back and find the post on a book that I just read that they might have read a year ago and compare.
Plus, knowing that some people read the book entries makes reading the books a little different. I start wondering who might like this book and who wouldn't and where I fall on the spectrum. To bring in fandom once more, it's like watching a show after being involved with fandom (which I am, just, a multi-book fandom) versus watching a show in your living room with no idea that other people are out there watching the same thing. Reading, though always solitary, becomes a little more of a communal event. Part of me enjoys that because, hey, I geek out about books and I like knowing that other people do too. And geeking out together doubles the fun. Part of me regrets the critical distance, regrets having other people and thoughts there in between me and the book. Even before doing this, I was a much pickier reader than I was as a kid -- it's much harder to become immersed in a fictional world so fully that you don't see anything or feel anything but enthusiasm. I miss that sometimes. Now it's even more distant, and there seem to be fewer and fewer books that can completely take over and inhabit my mental landscape.
But then, I remember reading Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles for the first time on LJ and posting about it, and the responses I got. I think I may have exploded without that, because I was so completely within that world that I spent a good week in a sleep-deprived haze of Elizabethan England and Malta and Suleiman's harem. Lymond was basically the only thing I could think about (poor boy, so neglected) and being able to talk about that on LJ and to watch other people being so enthusiastic in return was so absolutely unparalleled to other reading experiences I've had. Me and my friends back in Taiwan would often pass around books because there was such a limited supply of them, so we all had pretty much read the same things. I loved passing them around and the commentary and such, but it was nowhere near the level of LJ. I think the closest I've come to that is reading the latest installment of manga and passing it around a group of friends (the first person passes it on and eagerly watches the next person read while trying desperately to contain her enthusiasm so as to not spoil plot points, and when the next person finishes, they sort of both jump around together and squee and give it to the next person with beaming faces).
It's also interesting watching the comments on various book posts. Usually, the book posts get very minimal comments. I used to wonder if that meant everyone was bored to death of me going on and on about such and such book. But then I think about myself reading the FL, and I realize I almost never comment on other people's book posts. When I do, it's usually a brief little "I liked it too!" or "Yeah, that annoyed me too." or "Hrm, I really liked it, but I can see why you didn't." Also, half the time I haven't read the book, and I just read the post, take note of the author or the title, and mentally tack it on my list of books to acquire or books to avoid.
Another bit is that LJ feels just a little bit more like homework now. Reading doesn't, because nothing can really take away that adrenaline rush of trying to finish a book at breakneck speed while still attempting to get a decent amount of sleep. Sometimes reading non-fiction can feel like work, but mostly because I am so very easily distracted by fiction that non-fiction takes forever to finish. But writing the entries is difficult sometimes, and I never quite know what to say. And some days I'm tired and I just want to plop down and do something entirely brainless, like a meme. I've been pretty good about it so far, and part of me actually enjoys the homework feeling. Yes, I miss school. I get a little lazy about writing the book entries, but once I get into them, I like how they make me really think about the book I just read, how I have to go back and remember and try to make sense of the whole thing. It's a mild version of the feeling I would get while writing a paper on a thesis I liked. Part of you quails at the discipline, but the other part is really happy to be making an argument and explaining the whys and hows of things. Hrm, I am a total geek ;).
Anyway, that was a very, very long answer to a very short question ;).
redredshoes wanted to know how it was changing. I don't know if what I do is actually reviewing books so much as blathering on about them -- they're just in seperate entries so I have an easier time keeping track of them. ***Lalalalala! I interrupt this post to say that the bookstore had Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and the person at the register was nice and let me have my discount! Lalalalala I have new books!***
(Addendum: And someone sold their Japanese history books or something and I have a coupon for 50% off for history books and so I will raid it tomorrow when the coupon is valid and buy out all the Japanese history books on Tokugawa Japan and samurai and oh, I am so excited!)
Now that I have totally geeked out on everyone, we shall return to the original post ;).
Anyhow, I was quite inspired by
coffee_and_ink's year end review and decided it might be fun to keep track of what I read for an entire year. Mostly it's because I have no idea how much I read, or really what or when I read. And I thought it might be fun to keep track of my reactions to everything I read in my LJ, because too often, I read a book and forget pretty much everything except a sketchy outline of the plot and a vague inclination as to whether I liked it or not. Another factor was that when I finish a book, I'm still immersed in the world and I need somewhere to displace that emotion, or I'm mad at the book, or I loved certain bits but the ending made me roll my eyes. And since I haven't made many friends in the area, and the friends I do have are far away from me and so are not quite reading the same things, I don't have anyone to tell without spoiling the book. Ergo, book blathering began.When I first started writing them, I realized I don't really concentrate much at all when I read. I immerse myself in the story and the characters, in the plot, and when it's over, I have a general emotional impression as to what I thought. But I don't analyze for themes or a broader message or anything. Also, many books fall in the sort of mediocre category -- there are books I like but don't love, there are books I love parts of but have quibbles with other parts, there are books I mildly dislike, and there are books which I have no opinion about at all. So writing down an entry on those books was really difficult, just because I didn't notice all that much about them to begin with. Knowing that I was going to have to write something up later, I would read a little more carefully, take note of what my brain was commenting on, so I could save it for the entry. It's just being a little more aware. I remember my English teacher saying that one of the few regrets he had about being a teacher was that he sort of stopped reading books for pure fun. While I still do read books for fun and love them to pieces, there's now always a little piece of my brain that tries to be critically detached, to note when the dialogue is stilted or the characterization is off.
It's much easier doing it with romance novels because I feel like I'm more familiar with the tropes -- I don't have all that much of a background in sci-fi/fantasy, and veeery little in the more "literary" stream. Also, reading some romances requires much less analysis of the plot and whatnot on my part; plus, half of why I read them is to see what the authors are doing with the tropes, if anything's being subverted, if anything wonky is going on with gender politics or the like. Hi, I read romances as an intellectual exercise. Well, and for vicarious thrills of course ;). I'm more interested in gender politics and theory and the like, so when books are centered around that, I perk up a bit more. Other themes, like memory or history or story, etc. I enjoy very, very much (especially stories on Story like Sandman), but I feel like I have much less of a background in such things, so I don't quite know what to look for.
But it's been interesting trying to be stand back a little more when I read, to try to consciously note my own reactions. And sometimes I worry that I'm having the wrong reactions, or I read other people's thoughts and wonder why I didn't see that, or why I didn't feel that way. I know it's silly because, hey, it's me and the book, and hopefully I end up saying something interesting in my own rambly and inarticulate way ;). It reminds me a little of the episode reviews that flood LJ after a TV episode airs. The sense of community in LJ, watching people pick up books based on my recs, picking up books because of other people's recs, it's wonderful. I love watching a certain book make the rounds on my FL. I really wish there were a better way of tracking posts in LJ other than the memories function, because I never quite remember to bookmark everyone else's entries, and sometimes they don't have a memories section. Then I can't go back and find the post on a book that I just read that they might have read a year ago and compare.
Plus, knowing that some people read the book entries makes reading the books a little different. I start wondering who might like this book and who wouldn't and where I fall on the spectrum. To bring in fandom once more, it's like watching a show after being involved with fandom (which I am, just, a multi-book fandom) versus watching a show in your living room with no idea that other people are out there watching the same thing. Reading, though always solitary, becomes a little more of a communal event. Part of me enjoys that because, hey, I geek out about books and I like knowing that other people do too. And geeking out together doubles the fun. Part of me regrets the critical distance, regrets having other people and thoughts there in between me and the book. Even before doing this, I was a much pickier reader than I was as a kid -- it's much harder to become immersed in a fictional world so fully that you don't see anything or feel anything but enthusiasm. I miss that sometimes. Now it's even more distant, and there seem to be fewer and fewer books that can completely take over and inhabit my mental landscape.
But then, I remember reading Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles for the first time on LJ and posting about it, and the responses I got. I think I may have exploded without that, because I was so completely within that world that I spent a good week in a sleep-deprived haze of Elizabethan England and Malta and Suleiman's harem. Lymond was basically the only thing I could think about (poor boy, so neglected) and being able to talk about that on LJ and to watch other people being so enthusiastic in return was so absolutely unparalleled to other reading experiences I've had. Me and my friends back in Taiwan would often pass around books because there was such a limited supply of them, so we all had pretty much read the same things. I loved passing them around and the commentary and such, but it was nowhere near the level of LJ. I think the closest I've come to that is reading the latest installment of manga and passing it around a group of friends (the first person passes it on and eagerly watches the next person read while trying desperately to contain her enthusiasm so as to not spoil plot points, and when the next person finishes, they sort of both jump around together and squee and give it to the next person with beaming faces).
It's also interesting watching the comments on various book posts. Usually, the book posts get very minimal comments. I used to wonder if that meant everyone was bored to death of me going on and on about such and such book. But then I think about myself reading the FL, and I realize I almost never comment on other people's book posts. When I do, it's usually a brief little "I liked it too!" or "Yeah, that annoyed me too." or "Hrm, I really liked it, but I can see why you didn't." Also, half the time I haven't read the book, and I just read the post, take note of the author or the title, and mentally tack it on my list of books to acquire or books to avoid.
Another bit is that LJ feels just a little bit more like homework now. Reading doesn't, because nothing can really take away that adrenaline rush of trying to finish a book at breakneck speed while still attempting to get a decent amount of sleep. Sometimes reading non-fiction can feel like work, but mostly because I am so very easily distracted by fiction that non-fiction takes forever to finish. But writing the entries is difficult sometimes, and I never quite know what to say. And some days I'm tired and I just want to plop down and do something entirely brainless, like a meme. I've been pretty good about it so far, and part of me actually enjoys the homework feeling. Yes, I miss school. I get a little lazy about writing the book entries, but once I get into them, I like how they make me really think about the book I just read, how I have to go back and remember and try to make sense of the whole thing. It's a mild version of the feeling I would get while writing a paper on a thesis I liked. Part of you quails at the discipline, but the other part is really happy to be making an argument and explaining the whys and hows of things. Hrm, I am a total geek ;).
Anyway, that was a very, very long answer to a very short question ;).
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(no subject)
Fri, Oct. 22nd, 2004 06:43 am (UTC)Heh. Yes, this rings true.
A lot of what you said rings true, actually. I note it more with TV than with books. When I watch a show fannishly, there are moments where I'm thinking, "Oh, vonnie must be squeeing now!" or "Oh dear, that's going to set off a shitstorm of reaction." It's disconcerting, to watch through other people's filters, but the payoff of getting to read other people's thoughts is generally worth it.
Generally.
(no subject)
Fri, Oct. 22nd, 2004 05:15 pm (UTC)But I do think the community generally makes up for it ;).
With books I think it's a lot easier to get the positive instead of the negative because not that many people go about reading books they dislike, as opposed to a show, in which everyone watches the episodes with certain expectations in mind. And there's the bit that we're not all reading everything at the exact same time every week.
Hrm. I bet the HP fandom is more like TV fandom though, with a new book being a new episode.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 25th, 2004 06:56 am (UTC)>Hrm. I bet the HP fandom is more like TV fandom though, with a new book being a new episode.<
Yeah, I think that fandom's a special case (also b/c the movie canon gets into it). From what I've seen, they function a lot like a television fandom--but one of the problems is, they don't have frequent new canon material to work with. In my experience, fandoms for currently running shows tend to go a bit whacked during summer or during the January hiatus, because there's no new canon to keep everyone busy and so the same old arguments get hashed out again and again (and again and again). And I think HP gets a bit like that, only their periods between canon are even longer.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 25th, 2004 02:17 pm (UTC)