tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post8589229306091163066..comments2022-03-04T17:48:40.060-05:00Comments on Attic Salt: A Literary Blog: "The Cults of the Famous and the Dead"Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-50417233137558598432010-02-10T12:04:17.985-05:002010-02-10T12:04:17.985-05:00Sorry, that post is riddled with [sic] attrocious ...Sorry, that post is riddled with [sic] attrocious [sic] typos. Only one worth correcting immediately, though, is that "which women aren't supposed to like" should have read "which smart, 20-something women aren't supposed to like."Cassandra Mortmainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02980440861507976453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-60140808313596188122010-02-10T12:01:22.115-05:002010-02-10T12:01:22.115-05:00I think I liked this book because I am sucker for ...I think I liked this book because I am sucker for stories about time travel and books involving dead parents that leave behind messy families that ultimately get fixed. I liked Henry's story enormously, Claire bored me, and I must own that I didn't really notice the writing while reading it-- although the bits you've exerpted here are truly attrocious. <br /><br />I'd chalk it's enduring popularity up to the fact that medium-smart 20-something women need romance novels too, only they don't let themselves read actual romances. This book is easy to read and unintimidating (unlike Amy's example of One Hundred Years of Solitude), but it looks like a real, live grown-up person's book. It's shelved in the regualr fiction section, and has an innocuous title. Because it really grew slowly, being handed from friend to friend, it never had a only losers like this book stigma attached to it (like The Bridges of Madison County and Twilight). There's just enough weirdness in it that it doesn't just feel like a love story, which women aren't supposed to like.<br /><br />That said, women (and I'd imagine men too, if they gave themselves permission to) find great satisfaction in well-resolved romantic plots. I'd say this book has all the guilty pleasures of a good romance novel, but gussied up with enough middle-brow literary pretension that middle-smart girls don't actually have to be guilty when they tell their friends they loved it, and pass it along. <br /><br />At least, that's my theory, lengthily articulated.Cassandra Mortmainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02980440861507976453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-57332650176688254872010-02-02T18:10:51.801-05:002010-02-02T18:10:51.801-05:00Oooh, well, I wouldn't include Larsson on that...Oooh, well, I wouldn't include Larsson on that list. But here's to cheering down low common denominators anyway.Toddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17008256668525499246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-61564285558516699012010-02-02T18:03:22.965-05:002010-02-02T18:03:22.965-05:00I haven't read it, but it's one of those b...I haven't read it, but it's one of those books I keep seeing around and it sounds great. Have you picked it up yet?Amy Cavanaughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-49317545929311322412010-02-02T17:50:35.045-05:002010-02-02T17:50:35.045-05:00I loathe ttw. Its right up there with bridges of m...I loathe ttw. Its right up there with bridges of madison county in terms of sap. Then again, I didn't like girl with the dragon tattoo or lovely bones and twilight or dan brown anything. they're all tinny. <br /><br />have you read let the great world spin? what did you think?melissahttp://www.counterintelligenceblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-87965545321328686372010-01-30T00:31:30.873-05:002010-01-30T00:31:30.873-05:00Wouldn't take much to improve the writing.
As...Wouldn't take much to improve the writing.<br /><br />As for the timelessness of the love story, yawwwwn. This doesn't appeal to die-hard romantics, or I'd love it. This appeals to- ...wait, no, I'm gonna stop there. I'm really trying to work on my ad hominem attacks.Toddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17008256668525499246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-1019130788053291022010-01-29T19:47:22.799-05:002010-01-29T19:47:22.799-05:00Your arguments against "The Time Traveler'...Your arguments against "The Time Traveler's Wife" are pretty spot on. In an attempt to figure out why people (and seemingly very intelligent people) love this book and recommend it all the time, I would say it's the kind of timeless quality of the love story. That Clare and Henry manage to stay together despite the time traveling, when it would probably be easier for them to break up, appeals to the die-hard romantics. That would be my guess, though I can think of some amazing love stories that are also brilliant. "Love in the Time of Cholera" for one.<br /><br />I think Niffenegger's second book, "Her Fearful Symmetry," shows great improvement in her writing, but it's ultimately the similarities to 19th century sensation fiction that pulled me in. http://atticsaltblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/her-fearful-symmetry.htmlAmy Cavanaughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.com