Loving lit

As anyone who's read my blog knows, I read books, not Literature*. So exploring the Litlovers site was a bit difficult, given the task:

Think of a book that would be a good one to discuss in a book club. Check out the Litlovers site for resources about the title and tell us what you found.

So, after struggling to think of something I'd read that might be on the site - and I could remember - I actually found something! Of course, The Guernsey Literatary and potato peel pie society. And I wonder. Did I think about any of these questions while I read the book? Nope! Just enjoyed it. And that's the problem with book clubs and serious Literature - how the enjoyment of the book becomes secondary to reading things into it.

In my life with Storylines, I've been editing the year book. One of the articles is Wayne Mills' speech "Reading aloud is allowed" - and he questions the way we kill relationships with literature by questioning what we've read - making it a school exercise - that we advantage literacy at the expense of literature. [see Daniel Pennac The rights of the reader, and Waiting for a Jamie Oliver].

Yes, some books make me think - but that's not why I read them. Being told what to read, with an expectation that you will think x, and respond y, is enough to make me NOT read them. Have I read Austen? Bronte? Hemmingway? Nope! Yes, I've read Beowulf, and Chaucer, and Shakespeare, and Frankenstein - and enough to write essays on them. But, I've read them for enjoyment - and re-read to answer my essay!

I don't read critically - so I will totally & utterly suck in a standard book club. And that's why I didn't take any of the litcourses...

*See Ranty McRanty #4 and Ranty McRanty #4 part 2


Moving on to Authors on the Web... visited authorsontheweb.com - very much a marketing tool - and no authors that I can raise the slightest bit of interest in, really. Again, Literature...


So I thought I'd try out Bookreporter.com - quick scan down the list, and my comfort read authors aren't there... I clicked on the link to Markus Zusak - and got an error message... so tried Bill Bryson - and it didn't show me much of anything!


Out of this family of sites - I would use Teenreads.com - and do use it. They have an active link for Markus Zusak. And, I've added a link to teenreads in my litlinks area...


Next new site - Bookjetty... between Goodreads and Librarything, my reading sites are quite well covered, thank you... but in the spirit of adventure & joining in - I have joined. I've added a few books. See their pretty covers all widget-ed down the bottom of the page...