UKRM Book Club

Like the old days.

 

I think Owen thinks it might upset me.

But, crucially, not about a boy-wizard with a flying car.

 

steady on.

 

absolutely. I tend to draw the line at pretty much anything with
dragons and the like in, TBH.

 

As the University Library is a copyright library, it tends
to be pretty well stocked... ;-)

 

*lovely* piece of bait. You seem to have caught
a couple of juicy ones who should know better.

 

Am I the only person who sees the "HP" can keeps thinking there
should be a "Lovecraft" after it?

 

No you're not.

Hmmm, maybe it's a subtle literary reference and Voldemort is really the
Great Cthulu.

It's certainly a possibility, when you consider that Lovecraft couldn't
write for toffee either.


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
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The speccy Geordie twat.

 

Never heard of him/her, but I do see brown sauce bottles every time
it's mentioned.

 

Yeah, but he wrote badly in an almost Sir.Tony stylee. About giant
eyeless penguins. And blind idiot gods.

And I don't think there was a single linear sentence in any of his
stories. Ever.

So that's alright for adults

 

oh, OK, with you know.

I'm bored with this - it's not the sort of argument that can ever
convince one side of the other's point of view.

 

I don't think there's any wrath from the anti-HP camp here, I really
don't. Pity, perhaps, and certainly a healthy dose of scorn.

 

Sauce

 

Hewlett Packard, sadly.

 

No, let me repeat: I'm not talking about HP. I haven't read more than
a few pages of it. I'm talking in general.

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Marina Mayes - Reading, UK. To email me remove XX from my address
XV535 (sold), GPZ500S (promised), SR250 (in bits). BOTAFOT12, BOD#2, BOTAFOS#2.
KotLBOD#s, KotLBOTAFOS#s,IMC#2, Tart#10-19, SR#3
Original Sinergy - wicked T-shirts for a wicked world: www.originalsinergy.com
I never give in to fear or blackmail; I always give in to temptation.
www.pericles.demon.co.uk
"You're a national treasure" - porl, 18.1.03

 

The only work of fiction written by a child that I can think of is
"Daisy pulls it off" or some such title (can't be bothered to google
for it). As it was written by a child of, IIRC 11 years old, the
author probably had no idea of her intended audience. As it is, adults
find its naivety charming and funny. I have no idea what children make
of it. I wrote a 'travel book' when I was 11, which I still have (my
Mum typed it for me, spelling mistakes and all, and my Dad bound it);
it's screamingly funny reading it now, but I remember taking it all
very seriously then. I wonder if I could get it published? It's got my
own photos stuck in an' all, taken with a box camera, and all
captioned proper, like.

When adults write _about_ children, this may or may not be _for_
children. I think, for example, of "Zazie dans le Metro", about a
child, but written for adults. When adults attempt to write through
children's eyes, this is always for children (I think, I am willing to
be corrected).

True. I am in an odd position here, compared with the other arguers in
the thread. I work with children every day but not in a teacherly way,
more like equals (almost - I do have to get them to behave reasonably
well). I also write fiction for adults and for children (different
works), though nothing of this has been published (yet). I have also
written techie stuff, including a reference book, for a living in the
past. So my point of view is quite expert on writing and on children.

I think authors of good children's fiction retain childhood values
with a part of their mind (as I do, and have to, or I could not do my
work), that allows them to connect with children. When I read to
children, I can see their reactions. When children tell me about books
they are reading, I can see how they are absorbing the books, what
they are getting from them.

I found the bitchiness a bit of a drag, actually, but we seemed to
have managed to reach more of a consensus now, which is unusual for
such a bitchy thread. No rattle throws either, which is nice.

--
Marina Mayes - Reading, UK. To email me remove XX from my address
XV535 (sold), GPZ500S (promised), SR250 (in bits). BOTAFOT12, BOD#2, BOTAFOS#2.
KotLBOD#s, KotLBOTAFOS#s,IMC#2, Tart#10-19, SR#3
Original Sinergy - wicked T-shirts for a wicked world: www.originalsinergy.com
I never give in to fear or blackmail; I always give in to temptation.
www.pericles.demon.co.uk
"You're a national treasure" - porl, 18.1.03

 

Children's fiction often offers a different prize to an adult reading
it than to a child. Think of the William books, for example, to
children they are ripping yarns, to adults they are very funny. I do
believe adults should be able to read children's fiction without
incurring intellectual wrath.

--
Marina Mayes - Reading, UK. To email me remove XX from my address
XV535 (sold), GPZ500S (promised), SR250 (in bits). BOTAFOT12, BOD#2, BOTAFOS#2.
KotLBOD#s, KotLBOTAFOS#s,IMC#2, Tart#10-19, SR#3
Original Sinergy - wicked T-shirts for a wicked world: www.originalsinergy.com
I never give in to fear or blackmail; I always give in to temptation.
www.pericles.demon.co.uk
"You're a national treasure" - porl, 18.1.03

 

I downloaded a bunch of his stories, and hacked through one
of the shorter ones. Can't be arse with any of the others...

 

Not always. Mostly, but not always.

 

He's not bad as an "ideas" writer and as he wrote almost exclusively short
stories one can just about forgive him the lack of any complexity in his
plots or depth to his characters.

His world-view is also quite interesting, being an avowed atheist who tried
to convey that, in his world, man-kind was doomed; there was no hope of
defeating the monsters that lurked beneath the sea and there was no greater
power to come to our aid.

From his shorter stories I quite like "The rats in the wall" and "The
picture in the house".


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, TEAR#3 (and KotL), DS#5, COSOC#9, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.