Rug Burn Junky on 14/9/2006 at 21:09
I may not have been clear, especially since the "OMG SCI FI GEEKS" comes out more, and, is in fact, the more obvious thing to make fun of, but my disappointment here probably mirrors yours in that it was people voting because they'd already read it rather than curious about it.
But please, who couldn't smell that one coming a mile away from the moment it was suggested?
Gingerbread Man on 14/9/2006 at 21:31
Man, I was actually going to participate in this one, too. I didn't feel right about joining in the last one because I've read The Big Sleep a couple of times, fairly recently, and it was part of a course on detective fiction I took as an elective in university.
And while Wasp Factory looks pretty awesome and I intend to buy and read the book, I simply don't have the time at the moment. So I was hoping for something other than "stuff I read in high school and didn't really like other than the overarching concept which has been done to death in popculture over the past 15 years anyway" for November.
If I wanted to read Ender's Game again, I'd watch The Matrix and Starship Troopers while remarkably high.
:(
BEAR on 15/9/2006 at 00:24
It must be hate everything I like everywhere else in the world this week :(
Aerothorn on 15/9/2006 at 01:10
BULLSHIT!
I'm sorry, but all these snarky comments about the "sci-fi fanboys" taking over the club just seems false to me. I'm not thrilled about Ender's Game either, but it is most certainly NOT a geek book. The Diamond Age is a geek book (albeit one with literary value). Signal to Noise is a geek book. Ender's Game is one of those books that sci-fi haters struggle to argue isn't science-fiction (using the "It has literary value, therefore it is not science fiction" arguement). I went to my high school's bookroom once, and it had 60 or so copies of Ender's Game mixed in with all the high school staples, which goes to show you how very mainstream the book is.
So love it or hate it, it's not a geek book, and obviously not just for sci-fi fans.
Scots Taffer on 15/9/2006 at 01:18
As has already been stated and restated, it's not directly an Attack of the Geeks that's derailed the bookclub's intent but partially, the problem with genre fiction on the whole is that there can be often very little to discuss beyond good/bad of the book's construction and perhaps the odd bit of literature-student wankery. The whole fuckin' point as outlayed in the very first bookclub post was to read books that one wouldn't normally read, not re-read books one has read several times before to talk about how awesome it is.
To put it quite simply: how many of those who voted for Ender's Game had actually NEVER read it before?
ercles on 15/9/2006 at 01:24
Quote Posted by BEAR
It must be hate everything I like everywhere else in the world this week :(
Well I for one hate everything you like all the time!
PigLick on 15/9/2006 at 02:16
Hell, even I have read Enders game.
Aja on 15/9/2006 at 04:50
I voted for Ghostwritten :cool:
Vigil on 15/9/2006 at 10:38
Quote Posted by Scots_Taffer
As has already been stated and restated, it's not directly an Attack of the Geeks that's derailed the bookclub's intent but partially, the problem with genre fiction on the whole is that there can be often very little to discuss beyond good/bad of the book's construction and perhaps the odd bit of literature-student wankery.
I can see where you're coming from with this, however I think the sentiment is misdirected. I'd say the problem with having nothing to say about a particular book comes from it being an
average but unambitious book, not specifically it being
a piece of genre fiction. It just happens that average but unambitious books tend to fall square in the middle of genres. But there are plenty of big, chewy, ambitious,
good books that fall into those genres as well, and those are the ones worthy of critical discussion.
I suppose you could then make the claim that the usage of the term "genre fiction" wasn't intended to exclude those books, just the average unambitious ones, but if so then that's not really making any distinction beyond the one already (presumably) being made when books are being selected for voting. Average and unambitious should be out regardless of adherence to genre; and big, chewy and ambitious should likewise be fair game regardless of adherence to genre.
Scots Taffer on 15/9/2006 at 10:59
Very true, although I suppose I was also suggesting that there are people who could make a thesis out of the most average book ever in an attempt to seem clever. ;)
