Difficulty in discussing literature on book-related forums?

[harishankar]

I think there are too many of us with too many varying levels and degrees of literary tastes that getting a proper book discussion going is very tough. Don't you think so too? I mean, there are many book-related topics here, but most of them are confined to very popular authors or books. We generally tend to ignore the lesser known authors and there hardly seems any common ground for discussing such books here.

Is there a way to get more readers to read our own favourite authors and the other way round? Help in getting a more common ground among members?

 

[Kookamoor]

Well, you have to start discussions sometimes if you want to talk about your favourites. In 18 months you've made only 25 posts! It's probably not the best way to start up a conversation if you're waiting for others to make the first move.

One of the best ways to get a good discussion going is to get a book/author you enjoy onto others' TBR lists. You could do this by:

1. Read what you enjoy and then post a new thread about it
2. Incorporate your taste into other threads about general books (for example, "Headache books" or "Books about war")
3. Nominate a book/author you really enjoy for the BOTM
4. Suggest a book you enjoyed to someone who's taste is similar.

We have a great range of taste and literary appreciation on this forum, and I think it's an asset rather than a limitation. I enjoy knowing what ions has read because it's usually a very literary book with complex ideas. I also enjoy hearing about fantasy from direstraits and ainulindale, who have different ideas about what makes a good read. Then there's the general commercial fiction that gets bandied about that I like to hear about, because there's a few diamonds amongst the chaff. If you only had one level of thought or literary opinion, how would you ever broaden yourself as a reader or learn about new genres and ideas?

 

[harishankar]

Well this was more of a general discussion rather than specifically targetted at TBF. However, I have to mention that I love writing reviews, but since I have my own site for that, I rarely post reviews here.

On the other hand, I find that many of my favourites tend to be old-time (for the lack of a better word to describe) British novelists who aren't widely read these days:

Henry Cecil, Edgar Wallace, James Herriot, P.G.Wodehouse, Richmal Crompton (the Just-William series) and the like. Many people don't seem to appreciate these older authors and instead seem to prefer modern writing.

 

[Peder]

Hi, it is a somewhat hit or miss proposition, given the enormous number of authors and wide variety in tastes. However, posting your preferences is at least a start. None of the authors you mentioned have been on my radar screen, so I can't help much there. Someone might click, or see a resemblance and suggest a new author to you. I browse the BOTM recomendations, current book reviews and the bookstore shelves for fiction (and non-fiction) possibilities and often enough pick up a book on impulse when the mood strikes me. The result is that I read a wider variety than is apparent here. So, I guess I'm encouraging branching out and being more open to possibilities. But since you mention 'old' there are quite a few 'classic' and enduring authors who might appeal to you whose stories don't have the 'modern' ring but neverhteless are interesting and entertaining. Is there an author you have heard something good about but whom you have never read? Try him or her. There are many worthwhile!
Just thoughts,
Peder

 

[Kookamoor]

Well this was more of a general discussion rather than specifically targetted at TBF. However, I have to mention that I love writing reviews, but since I have my own site for that, I rarely post reviews here.

Ah, I see. Given your love of reviews I'd really like to see more of your posts around here. I quite like James Herriot and read most of his All Creatures Great and Small series many years ago. I think I'd get far more out of them and his style of writing today, I must say. Perhaps I should take another look.

I haven't read any of Wodehouse, but I am intrigued in what I've seen written about him and the comedic value of his work. I fear it may not be to my sense of humour, however, based on what I have seen. There seems to be an underlying melancholy to some of the humour. Almost a Dickensian collection of woes borne by ridiculous characters who are all but deserving of the situations in which they find themselves. But perhaps I am misguided? Any suggestions on where to start with Wodehouse?

 

[Kenny Shovel]

I think there are too many of us with too many varying levels and degrees of literary tastes that getting a proper book discussion going is very tough. Don't you think so too?

Personally I think it’s more a case that there are too many books rather than too many posters. I’ve stated a number of times that I find the range of books discussed here, or any other on-line book forum for that matter, to be fairly narrow and unadventurous; basically limited to the more popular mainstream & classic fiction you’ll find in any high street book store.
Walk into any book store and there will be perhaps one percent of their stock that appeals to you, the person behind you will have a completely different taste. So for me the more members we have the greater chance of crossing interest and debate being sparked off.

…there are many book-related topics here, but most of them are confined to very popular authors or books. We generally tend to ignore the lesser known authors and there hardly seems any common ground for discussing such books here.

Well I guess the popular writers are the most likely to have enough readers ‘on board’ to keep a discussion going.

Is there a way to get more readers to read our own favourite authors and the other way round? Help in getting a more common ground among members?

I try to recommend the books I like as much as possible; I’m not sure what success I’ve had in doing that. Putting one of your favourites forward for BOTM would be another way. Of course, looking at the BOTM choices they seem to be the usual suspects anyway; perhaps we should try a month when people only vote for authors/books they hadn’t previously heard of?

Regards,

K-S

 

[steffee]

I think there are too many of us with too many varying levels and degrees of literary tastes that getting a proper book discussion going is very tough. Don't you think so too?

No. I think if you can't get a discussion going in a forum full of readers, you're unlikely to be able to anywhere else.

I mean, there are many book-related topics here, but most of them are confined to very popular authors or books. We generally tend to ignore the lesser known authors and there hardly seems any common ground for discussing such books here.

I disagree with this. Just look at the Nabokov threads. I would hardly class Vladimir Nabokov as a "very popular author".

Henry Cecil, Edgar Wallace, James Herriot, P.G.Wodehouse, Richmal Crompton (the Just-William series) and the like. Many people don't seem to appreciate these older authors and instead seem to prefer modern writing.

I don't think this is strictly true. Also, it goes both ways - if you aren't prepared to read the "modern writing", how can you expect others to read the books / authors you enjoy?

Personally, I would rather see threads about any author / book than the oh-so-done-to-death pointless threads that are milling around at the moment. No offence to anyone intended.

 

[Shade]

Hari, the only author in your list that I know is P.G. Wodehouse. He's terrific, wonderfully funny, and (since Kookamoor asked) my favourite novel of his and a good starting point is Leave it to Psmith. Or perhaps the Meet Mr Mulliner stories. Having said that, Wodehouse's near-flawless wit doesn't come with much more attached, and it's hard to know how much in-depth discussion there could be about his books in a forum like this one, other than quoting favourite lines.

At his weakest Wodehouse is formulaic - read one and you've read 'em all, sort of thing - which is why my least favourite of his books are the Blandings stories and the Jeeves & Wooster ones. There are many of each series and all seem to revolve around mistaken love, prize-winning pigs, bossy aunts, stolen manuscripts, missing cow-creamers, and doting elders. All good fun once in a while, but a bit samey after a time.

 

[Shade]

I think both Kenny and steffee make good points. Post your reviews of your own favourites, hari, and you might just spark a bit of interest. Similarly, consider others' recommendations - for me the forum is as much about finding new stuff as about recommending the stuff I like.

There is a high level of discussion here on popular authors (yes, Nabokov doesn't count, even though Lolita has sold in the millions) and genre fiction but I would say it's less all-pervasive now than it used to be.

I admit the stuff you list, hari, is probably going to struggle to attract much attention. From what I know of the names, these are mostly 'light' fiction from the mid-20th century. Humour seems to endure less well than serious 'heavyweight' fiction, with the odd exception, like Wodehouse or Waugh (and even he had some pretty grim undercurrents). But that's no reason not to blow your trumpet and talk about it anyway.

 

[SFG75]

It's kind of "hit and miss" when it comes to this kind of thing. I know that I've posted about works and had to wait a couple of months before someone else picked up the same book, let alone read it and to actually post about it. That kind of situation will always be a problem I guess, but perhaps we need two books of the month selections? Perhaps one relating to classical literature anad one to more popular authors? I don't know, just throwing stuff out here.

 

[abecedarian]

It's kind of "hit and miss" when it comes to this kind of thing. I know that I've posted about works and had to wait a couple of months before someone else picked up the same book, let alone read it and to actually post about it. That kind of situation will always be a problem I guess, but perhaps we need two books of the month selections? Perhaps one relating to classical literature anad one to more popular authors? I don't know, just throwing stuff out here.

What about when the BOTM just doesn't generate a lot of talk? We've had this happen occasionally. I think the thing to do is to post threads about the books we love or authors we want to discuss, then sit back and see what happens. The main thing is refrain from taking lack of response personally.

 

[harishankar]

I didn't target any particular forum. As I said, I generally think that since books and literature cover such a wide area it's difficult to get common ground. Having said that I agree that you are likely to get the odd good discussion on some relatively unknown but good authors.

I generally do write reviews for a lot of unknown authors even if Amazon.com doesn't have a single review.

Sanders of the River series by Edgar Wallace is a good example. Even though few people know Edgar Wallace, even fewer know that he wrote other novels than crime fiction. Yet these authors are often different and often unique in their style and so I get attracted to them. Possibly I am being prejudiced in favour of the "period" authors. I love the historical flavour of the "Victorian" kind of eras. The atmosphere of these novels appeal to me.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy modern authors. I do, to a point. I also enjoy crime and humour a lot and I even like Alistair MacLean and his wartime novels.

So now you know my tastes. Historical flavour + crime + humour. I'm not too much into fantasy fiction Harry Potter style or science. I did read the first four HP books. I am more inclined to LOTR for the kind of fantasy I like.

Somehow I am unable to create a sympathetic connection to modern day characters of fiction.

 

[ions]

This will sound silly but Jacques Villeneuve, yes the race car driver, has a little 'Lifestyle' section on his site where he reviews crap he likes. Typically it's pointless but there was a British author that he had read and wanted to find similar authors to read. That author sounded like he might be your type of thing harishankar. At least as I remember JV's description. Since he changed his site the author is no longer listed. I've done some Googling for ya but had no luck.

 

[SFG75]

What about when the BOTM just doesn't generate a lot of talk? We've had this happen occasionally. I think the thing to do is to post threads about the books we love or authors we want to discuss, then sit back and see what happens. The main thing is refrain from taking lack of response personally.

I've personally sat back and wondered-how in the world did "X" make the BOTM?? You'd think a book that would win the polling would elicit a lot of posts, but some of the numbers of a few of those selections are rather paltry. Go figure.

In regards to the second bolded portion, I understand completely. I don't take it pesonally, but I know of others who have.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

I’d agree that the BOTM threads can be hit and miss; sometimes there is little interest, and sometimes something unexpected happens and it gives birth to the various Nabakov threads. But what happens in each case is an organic thing, and thinking about it more, I'm not sure if going beyond a standard BOTM to try and engineer discussion would work or indeed is even a good idea.

Given the name of the board there is a broad remit of what to discuss here and I feel we should not wish too much for consensus. I’ve seen boards where a culture has developed which defines the kinds of books that are discussed; that feels very limiting to me, not in keeping with why I read.

Perhaps the answer is for us all to make the effort to post about the books we’ve read and try to up the content of the board. Abecedarian is right that it can be frustrating at times to make the effort and then see no response; I have to confess to having given up myself after posting a 1,500 word review of a book here with no interest shown!

Regards,

K-S

 

[SFG75]

I've found a solution!!. Someone start a Dan Brown thread.

 

[Halo]

Yeah, we could really do with a few more of them, SFG.

 

[abecedarian]

I've found a solution!!. Someone start a Dan Brown thread.

Pay no attention to the crazy man from Nebraska. School is almost out and you know how some teachers get about that time of the year

 

[bren]

Well, Harishankar, I clicked on your review link and found a favorite author of mine, R.K. Narayan. His books are so evocative of their place and time and utterly hilarious, by turns. They are great books and I wish more people knew about them. Hopefully this post will help spread the word, no matter how useless I am as a reviewer. Just remember that name, people, R.K. Narayan! The only title that springs immediately to mind is A Tiger for Malgudi, but there are many good books by him, including short story collections.