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1) People shrug in books. I mean, all the time. Not sure I have even read a book where not a single character shrugged. Yet, somehow, I've never seen anyone shrug in real life. It's as of there's a secret agreement that includes all authors and all readers that states that shrugging is an actual thing. Does anybody know of anyone outside of a book that shrugs?
2) One of the things I like so much about books is how they are not a visual medium, how they allow me to imagine things on my own. It's an intimate experience, with no buffer between me and the story as the author intended it. Yet for some reason, good cover art is really important to me. If the cover is some grainy blob of abstract colors, I'm just unlikely to want to buy the book - even if the story sounds interesting. Heck, even if I'm buying it digitally and never have to look at the cover! What's wrong with me?
3) So songs have lyrics, right? and those lyrics sometimes tell a story. I find it interesting to think of those stories in terms of genre - about 99% of them would be romantic, I guess, and of the remaining 1% many would be literary or political. You know, character studies and such. But there are also fantasy songs and ever more rarely science fiction songs. I wish there were more.
4) Continuing with the song theme, it's interesting that authors are always expected to be able to write convincingly from the points of views of characters very different from themselves - of different genders, ages, races and occupations. But singers are always just expected to express themselves. Is that fair? Should I be complaining that the Beatles can't write female characters, and that there aren't enough oriental people in their songs? and assuming that's not the case, why is it fair to demand this of authors then?
Comment on my points. Add your own. I know you all have all sorts of weird thoughts about books that you just never got a chance to talk about with other people. Here is the place :)
1) Yes, I've seen people shrug.
4) I thought Paul did okay with "Eleanor Rigby."
Is this a Poe post? People shrug all the time. I do it, too. You usually don't notice doing it, though.
On #3, I think you should listen to more metal.
1) People shrug in books. I mean, all the time. Not sure I have even read a book where not a single character shrugged. Yet, somehow, I've never seen anyone shrug in real life. It's as of there's a secret agreement that includes all authors and all readers that states that shrugging is an actual thing. Does anybody know of anyone outside of a book that shrugs?
2) One of the things I like so much about books is how they are not a visual medium, how they allow me to imagine things on my own. It's an intimate experience, with no buffer between me and the story as the author intended it. Yet for some reason, good cover art is really important to me. If the cover is some grainy blob of abstract colors, I'm just unlikely to want to buy the book - even if the story sounds interesting. Heck, even if I'm buying it digitally and never have to look at the cover! What's wrong with me?
3) So songs have lyrics, right? and those lyrics sometimes tell a story. I find it interesting to think of those stories in terms of genre - about 99% of them would be romantic, I guess, and of the remaining 1% many would be literary or political. You know, character studies and such. But there are also fantasy songs and ever more rarely science fiction songs. I wish there were more.
4) Continuing with the song theme, it's interesting that authors are always expected to be able to write convincingly from the points of views of characters very different from themselves - of different genders, ages, races and occupations. But singers are always just expected to express themselves. Is that fair? Should I be complaining that the Beatles can't write female characters, and that there aren't enough oriental people in their songs? and assuming that's not the case, why is it fair to demand this of authors then?
Comment on my points. Add your own. I know you all have all sorts of weird thoughts about books that you just never got a chance to talk about with other people. Here is the place :)
Potentially fun thread...
1) I think it's you...I shrug all the time
2) If I know the author or have heard good things, I will ignore cover art. Really my main hang up is: Will the cover art of the book I am reading net my strange looks on a plane or doing laundry. That's probably influenced my buying more than "wow that looks cheesy"
3) I just don't have the time to absorb much in the way of new music, so my choices could very well be dated. But Coheed and Cambria and The Decemberists both have produced albums that tell stories. "The Hazards of Love" by the Decemberists even tells a fantasy/fairy tale story. Florence and the Machine also have some rather story like songs. There are probably lots of others that I have listened to but just can't remember.
4) I think it's just a difference in medium. A short story generally just has way more time for characterization than a single song. Also I think songs are just...complex in different ways. one piece of music not only has the vocals and lyrics, but all of the other instruments, plus there is need for a catchy angle that I don't think novels are so much forced to go after
6) Given my current unstable living situation, most of the books are boxed up and I really can't spend too much money on physical books (because...moving them can be a pain). So a lot of my reading is via kindle. But I feel with the Kindle I have way way way harder problem deciding what to read, as I have practically infinite options in choices, leading to option paralysis. And if I do select something, there is a far higher likelihood of getting a dud, since there are a lot more books of crappier quality present than in a physical bookstore. Does anyone else also run into this issue?
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1. People shrug all the time. Possible explanations: you live in a weird part of the world where people don't shrug, you just don't notice it, or that word doesn't mean what you think it means.
Oh well, guess that's just me then. *shrug*.
5. Weird organization of bookshelves. Now I have too many books for my shelves so there's a lot of doubling up and lying on top of one another, but I organize my books rather oddly. By author, obviously and to a minor extent by subject (if possible) but which author sits next to which is a Big Deal, given an ideal library.
Asimov and Clarke need to be next to each other, and Niven can be somewhere in the area
Tanith Lee and C.L. Moore and Jo Clayton near each other,
Bradbury should be next to Aldiss should be next to Clarke,
van Vogt, Simak and Sturgeon in one group, with Silverberg and Matheson nearby
E.R. Burroughs, Dunsany, Howard, Lovecraft, C.A. Smith in a nice line,
Stross and Stover, Holdstock and John Crowley,Well, you get the idea.
Ha. My quirck is every now and then I have to reorganize my book shelves. Most of my "shelves" are actually a row of small cabinets lining the side of my room, and so the books are out of sight. But one shelf is above my desk and it has very limited space. Books rotate their position on it with high regularity. Can't say I have very strict rules about the ordering though. It just has to change with time.
This goes for my kindle, too. I like having as many books downloaded into it as a time as I can (so far that's all ~90 of them), but I keep going back and forth on how I want to organize them into collections. Sometimes I do it by genre, sometimes by author, sometimes some mix I come up with.
6) Given my current unstable living situation, most of the books are boxed up and I really can't spend too much money on physical books (because...moving them can be a pain). So a lot of my reading is via kindle. But I feel with the Kindle I have way way way harder problem deciding what to read, as I have practically infinite options in choices, leading to option paralysis. And if I do select something, there is a far higher likelihood of getting a dud, since there are a lot more books of crappier quality present than in a physical bookstore. Does anyone else also run into this issue?
Kinda, except instead of option paralysis I have a mile long list in my google drive of books that I want to check out, along a list of series I already started, each with how many books are left in the series and the name of the next book. Then I have my policy of choosing one series to concentrate on, rotating between reading a book of that series and two others (any two) before picking up with the series again. Since my current focus series is the Wheel of Time, this is slow going.