I thought "A Terrible Thing", Herself's fic about Spike in Vietnam, was a brilliant story. Ugly and brutal for most of it, but very good, so I'm in the minority with you. Maybe it was difficult to write too and she comforted herself by ending it on a happy note. "Happiness" is the Wisteria story, I think. "The Last Summer" by Annie Sewell Jennings is another one.
Painful sticks in my mind too. Fluffy things blend and are forgotten so easily that I occasionally buy a book I find I've already read when I get home. I lack an organized list like wenchsenior. Condolences on the loss of that. I can imagine how awful that must be.
It's not a book that came to mind when I was reading your post about difficult emotions, however, but a play.
"Wit" was hard to watch but I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. I'm so glad I didn't see the play when it was near me, because had I taken my husband he'd have killed me. As it was, after the movie, which I watched alone, I think I curled up in a ball on the couch and responded in monosyllables for the rest of the evening.
The journey from analyzing Donne to (I think it was and won't watch again to check) listening to The Runaway Bunny being read aloud was so intense. It's true, when you're terribly sick, the last thing you want is to have to think. You crave the simple and the comforting. I think I've forgotten some of the movie as self preservation, but the bunny book sticks with me.
Sorry, I've been carrying that play with me ever since I saw it and never had anyone to talk to about it.
ANYWAY. I need the Kim Harrisons to give in to their fantasies and create something escapist (Note: I haven't read all of her books so I don't know if they've gotten really silly...well...sillier). I need the fluffy, brain candy to counterbalance the serious stuff. Those purely entertainment books are as necessary and valuable as the memorable, thoughtful ones because they enable me to read the tough ones without lingering too long in the mindset afterwards. Um...like palate cleansers for the brain. Yummy, sweet sorbet nothings that melt away on the tongue.
But I can understand your disappointment at something that starts out deep and later wades into shallow waters for a happy, and disjointed, ending.
The reason I responded to this (besides the fact that I thought it was a very interesting post) was because coincidentally, my friend just recommended The Sparrow (I'm awful at LJ, so no italics for me) to me last week and I've been tiptoeing around getting it ever since. He said, "You know how we read some books and think oh, I could have written something like that**? Well, not this one." He was blown away by it. I'm just wondering how much candy will be needed for afterwards. I have a tight book budget at the moment and my local library is small.
Hope you don't mind a long-winded post from someone you don't know!
Thanks for your brief summary of The Sparrow. I think I'll risk it after all. You've made me curious about Atonement too. Now I sort of want to see if I'll be wishing Briony dead too. I'm wondering what she did or said to make you hate her so much. Think I'll get that one from the library and try not to dent the walls with it.
-Jane
**Neither of us has written anything published; we're just fooling ourselves :)
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Painful sticks in my mind too. Fluffy things blend and are forgotten so easily that I occasionally buy a book I find I've already read when I get home. I lack an organized list like wenchsenior. Condolences on the loss of that. I can imagine how awful that must be.
It's not a book that came to mind when I was reading your post about difficult emotions, however, but a play.
"Wit" was hard to watch but I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. I'm so glad I didn't see the play when it was near me, because had I taken my husband he'd have killed me. As it was, after the movie, which I watched alone, I think I curled up in a ball on the couch and responded in monosyllables for the rest of the evening.
The journey from analyzing Donne to (I think it was and won't watch again to check) listening to The Runaway Bunny being read aloud was so intense. It's true, when you're terribly sick, the last thing you want is to have to think. You crave the simple and the comforting. I think I've forgotten some of the movie as self preservation, but the bunny book sticks with me.
Sorry, I've been carrying that play with me ever since I saw it and never had anyone to talk to about it.
ANYWAY. I need the Kim Harrisons to give in to their fantasies and create something escapist (Note: I haven't read all of her books so I don't know if they've gotten really silly...well...sillier). I need the fluffy, brain candy to counterbalance the serious stuff. Those purely entertainment books are as necessary and valuable as the memorable, thoughtful ones because they enable me to read the tough ones without lingering too long in the mindset afterwards. Um...like palate cleansers for the brain. Yummy, sweet sorbet nothings that melt away on the tongue.
But I can understand your disappointment at something that starts out deep and later wades into shallow waters for a happy, and disjointed, ending.
The reason I responded to this (besides the fact that I thought it was a very interesting post) was because coincidentally, my friend just recommended The Sparrow (I'm awful at LJ, so no italics for me) to me last week and I've been tiptoeing around getting it ever since. He said, "You know how we read some books and think oh, I could have written something like that**? Well, not this one." He was blown away by it. I'm just wondering how much candy will be needed for afterwards. I have a tight book budget at the moment and my local library is small.
Hope you don't mind a long-winded post from someone you don't know!
Thanks for your brief summary of The Sparrow. I think I'll risk it after all. You've made me curious about Atonement too. Now I sort of want to see if I'll be wishing Briony dead too. I'm wondering what she did or said to make you hate her so much. Think I'll get that one from the library and try not to dent the walls with it.
-Jane
**Neither of us has written anything published; we're just fooling ourselves :)