Comments on: On push-pin and pyrrhic victories

By: Ruben Mancillas

Ruben Mancillas — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 03:50:43 +0000

Thanks for addressing many of the questions I posed but I don’t think that my personal taste is the point so much as what costs or tradeoffs may exist when bad books are excused because “at least they get people to read.” I will offer that in my judgment Faulkner and Tolstoy are good and Brown and Frey are bad. I am also clearly not as impressed with Oprah as you are but it is precisely the nature of what those “embers of passion for reading” are really causing to ignite in our culture that I would call into question. I would like to discuss what it is we hope that reading can actually do for us. I think that one of the roles of good writing is to help inoculate oneself against all of the shoddy thinking, and its effects, that surround us-acting like a corollary to the Self (another writer I think is “good”) quote at the opening of my post. My expectation would be that if Oprah’s members were really reading, and not merely decoding, the canonical books on her list then poor craftsmen like Brown would not so readily rise to the top of the best seller list in the first place. And I believe Tolstoy and Faulkner were able to move a few books in their day without any assistance from Ms. Winfrey while Frey’s fame was almost entirely attributable to the blessing by his patron saint of book club rectitude. Finally, Wendy, you might like Franzen’s essay “Why Bother?” as it addresses some of his ideas about what reading and writing novels can mean in today’s world. Bryan, I haven’t seen the Code nor would I recommend it as it is by all reports a slavishly faithful adaptation of a formulaic book. As for National Treasure, yeah I am embarrassed to admit that I saw that one too and have the same excuse for sitting all the way through it as I do for finishing The DaVinci Code-I was on a plane. Jeremy, I would be glad to discuss my issues with Alex Trebek once I see your post on the oeuvre of Jennifer Connelly.

By: WW

WW — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:46:46 +0000

I think you do a good job questioning what makes a good read, but I want to know what *you* think makes for a good read? What is good lit in your estimation? What makes for “bad” writing? Oprah’s “chosen vessels” span quite a range, from Frey to Faulkner. I’d argue that there is something pretty great in each of the books she chooses. She also does quite a job stoking whatever embers of passion for reading might be out there; hard to think of another person who could send Tolstoy to the top of the best seller list. Full disclosure: I have read The Corrections but not the DaVinci Code, and liked it much and thought Franzen sort of missed the point of being Chosen By Oprah. Finally, I too, along with Jeremy, would love to hear about your past with “pyrrhic.”

By: Bryan Waterman

Bryan Waterman — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:34:41 +0000

so — did you see the movie? i haven’t read it or seen it. i’m not sure i should do either. i saw the nicolas cage movie about the illuminati — isn’t that good enough?

By: Jeremy Zitter

Jeremy Zitter — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:54:12 +0000

Ummm, so you don’t want to tell anyone about your ill-fated history with the word pyrrhic?