The novelistic question

[resonant]

I'm reading novels like crazy this summer*, and I've noticed that one of the novelist's chief concerns is to be forever answering the question, "Well, if it's so bad, then why doesn't she just quit?"

*This is partly, I confess, because I'm now logging all my books at Goodreads and I read more when people are watching me.

Comments

[moireach.livejournal.com]

The other day I went to log my latest book into goodreads (New Skies scifi fluff) and the only other person who'd reviewed it was you! And I didn't even know you had an account.

I seriously love that site.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm totally addicted to it. Are you already in the fandom_reads (http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/366.fandom_reads) group? If you want to join it, I'm not sure of the protocol, but I think maybe you have to request an invite, which I'll surely give you.

[xjestx.livejournal.com]

Can I friend you on goodreads or do you prefer to keep your list manageable?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Heh -- it's like the very beginning of my LJ addiction, when I was all, "More friends! A bigger flist is better, right?" So I'd love it if you friended me.

Also, we just started a group for fannish types -- fandom_reads (http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/366.fandom_reads) -- I made it private just so we could talk slash without having to explain ourselves, but I'm basically admitting everybody who asks.

[xjestx.livejournal.com]

A-Ha! So it's a join-early and cling-hard sort of affair. *g*

I sent a request to join fandom_reads too - it sounds like my sort of fun.

[daemonluna.livejournal.com]

Delurking to say fandom_reads sounds like an awesome idea. I'm on goodreads as Elisabeth (http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/122819) and have submitted a request to join! (Though you can really see the embarrassingly large impact my day job has on what I read via my goodreads account...)

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

I am also reading novels like it's going out of style, though they are mainly ones recced by my flist here. I am going to check out Goodreads though. Thanks.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I've read some really interesting things that I wouldn't otherwise have looked at (such as Karen Joy Fowler's The Jane Austen Book Club) because of recs from the fannish world.

Goodreads is fun. Every now and then I ask myself, "Why did I need another subscribe-and-post site? Couldn't I just have done this on LJ?" But it's too late. I'm addicted.

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

Have you read The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox? That was an excellent rec from my flist.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I added it to my list. The local library doesn't have it, so I'll have to resort to interlibrary loan.

[anjanka7.livejournal.com]

I blame you for the fact that I've spent the last two hours logging in the books I've read. (I'm nowhere near done.) I really enjoy this site, (thanks for bringing it to my attention!) especially because it includes graphic novels and comic compilations, and plays. I think it's awesome. And you got me all hooked and I don't have friends to play with on the site yet, which makes me sad.
I've been on a novel kick this summer, partly because during A Midsummer Night's Dream I'm stuck behind some scenery just off the stage because I have to run some cues, so I read during those parts of the show in which I literally do nothing.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

It's totally addictive, isn't it?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

I didn't understand your post. This one. *rereads for fifth time* Why doesn't the readers top reading? But that's not a novelist's concern. Why doesn't the novelist stop writing? I don't think they think they are bad. Why don't the characters kill themselves? Is that it??

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

No, the 'she' here is the character. See, for instance, I'm reading The Privilege of the Sword, and the girl is summoned to live with her mad uncle, who wants to violate all gender conventions by training her to be a swordsman. And she doesn't want to be a swordsman, or to live with her uncle, or to wear men's clothes, or to be forbidden to contact her family, and every time the reader asks, "Why doesn't she just quit, then, and go home, if she hates it so much?" the author has to be ready with an answer.

[tanashie.livejournal.com]

This is so weird. Just today I was thinking how authors are always trying to answer the question, "So why are they doing that if there's a so much easier way to go, as was just shown?"

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I've read entire books where I was going, "But! Guys! Four-lane highway to where you want to be, right over there! Just look up from the rock-climbing wall for a second!"