Morbid Swither
Well-known member
I love Perfume!
Best "Best-Seller and Low Literature" Books
- Thread starter Benny Profane
- Start date
Morbid Swither
Well-known member
I’m in the camp that really cringes at the work of Sally Rooney. But, I can see how my opinion of her writing can be a bit harsh/unfair. I came across this video today, and was very impressed with it so I thought I would post it here for anyone interested.
JCamilo
Reader
In Brazil there is Taylor Cladwell, her book Dear abd Glorious Physician is a best seller, always in print. A writer that i knew from USA once visited here and was surprised to ser her books everywhere.
Raymond Chandler is great. His dialogues are sometimes so out of place that we tend to forgot that those brutish thugs shouldnt be quoting Shakespeare around, but still great fun. It is like Agatha Christie. She pushed so much for the impossible murder cases, that can get repetitive, but sometimes her ingenuity work out. Murder in the orient express is one of those cases, I think. So exagerated the idea, but written in such way that I wouldnt take off or add anything.
Even Stephen King, before going to far into Hollywood, metakingverses and pretentious books that weighted more than bricks could pen a decend reading. Carrie and The Shinning are not terrible at all.
As Alan Moore, Watchmen is certainly a best-seller, but beside it only his Ramblings about counterculture are actually popular, no?
(the guy is great. Counterculture and rambling fit perfectly like Belmondo and a cigar).
Raymond Chandler is great. His dialogues are sometimes so out of place that we tend to forgot that those brutish thugs shouldnt be quoting Shakespeare around, but still great fun. It is like Agatha Christie. She pushed so much for the impossible murder cases, that can get repetitive, but sometimes her ingenuity work out. Murder in the orient express is one of those cases, I think. So exagerated the idea, but written in such way that I wouldnt take off or add anything.
Even Stephen King, before going to far into Hollywood, metakingverses and pretentious books that weighted more than bricks could pen a decend reading. Carrie and The Shinning are not terrible at all.
As Alan Moore, Watchmen is certainly a best-seller, but beside it only his Ramblings about counterculture are actually popular, no?
(the guy is great. Counterculture and rambling fit perfectly like Belmondo and a cigar).childeroland
Reader
Stephen King's early books, up to and including The Stand.
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.
Dashiell Hammet's The Thin Man.
George RR Martin's first three Song of Ice and Fire books
Thomas Harris' first two Hannibal Lecter books
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.
Dashiell Hammet's The Thin Man.
George RR Martin's first three Song of Ice and Fire books
Thomas Harris' first two Hannibal Lecter books
Liam
Administrator
^Whatever they were in their day, both Chandler and Hammet have become classics at this point. Although, even in their day I don't think I would have described them as "low" literature (though bestsellers? certainly!).
Agree on King and Martin; I tried reading ASOIAF because generally I love fantasy but I could only get through the first book, ?
Agree on King and Martin; I tried reading ASOIAF because generally I love fantasy but I could only get through the first book, ?
Stevie B
Current Member
I believe it was Peter Dinklage who said he gave up on reading The World of Ice & Fire because he found the storyline too confusing. Speaking of Game of Thrones, I realize I'm late to the party, but I actually just started watching the series for the first time over the weekend. Although fantasy is normally not my genre, I feel pretty hooked into the show after only three episodes. (I guess the scenes of uninhibited sexual escapades take me back to my college years. ?)
Stevie B
Current Member
I was worried about struggling to keep straight all of the characters, families, alliances, and locations, but I've been using the little cheat sheet function on the blu ray discs to help reinforce the information (guess there are some perks to having old-fashioned physical copies of movies). It's early on, but I fully expect Tyrion Lannister to remain one of my favorite characters. Although Tyrion has been described online as being "morally ambiguous," he isn't duplicitous (so far), and he seems to be sensitive to the feelings of others (deep down).
redhead
Blahblahblah
I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction, and I’d add writers like Abercrombie, Sanderson, Liu Cixin, the Murderbot series, Malazan, and Wheel of Time. They’re all a lot of fun.
The Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers is also great.
I read that a while ago and wasn’t impressed. Big, bloated and unsubtle. I spent over 700 pages (200 or 300 of which could have easily been edited out) with the protagonist Theo and felt like I barely knew him at the end. It awkwardly straddles the line between a beach read and something more literary and doesn’t feel like it knows what it wants to be. But ymmv, one of my friends loved it (I think it’s her favorite book).
The Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers is also great.
I read that a while ago and wasn’t impressed. Big, bloated and unsubtle. I spent over 700 pages (200 or 300 of which could have easily been edited out) with the protagonist Theo and felt like I barely knew him at the end. It awkwardly straddles the line between a beach read and something more literary and doesn’t feel like it knows what it wants to be. But ymmv, one of my friends loved it (I think it’s her favorite book).
Last edited:
Stevie B
Current Member
Have you, by chance, read The Doomed City by the Strugatsky bros? I have a friend who thinks its their best book.
Last edited:
redhead
Blahblahblah
Nope, but if it comes that highly recommended maybe I’ll check it out. Roadside Picnic was really good—started it during my lunch break, ended up taking off the rest of the day to finish it—and the synopsis for The Doomed City sounds interesting.
Benny Profane
Well-known member
And about Elena Ferrante, guys?
What are your opinions about her (or him)?
Low, popular, potboiler or the new-Proust of our era?
I confess I never read her/his works and I have some prejudice about them.
What are your opinions about her (or him)?
Low, popular, potboiler or the new-Proust of our era?
I confess I never read her/his works and I have some prejudice about them.
Leseratte
Well-known member
I had a look at one book, but wasn't attracted. Kind of Italian Isabel Alliende?
Benny Profane
Well-known member
Another author who I have some prejudice.
hayden
Well-known member
Looking through my book log, I really think I have nothing here. I don't read a lot of contemporary works, let alone popular contemporary works. Does Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous count? It's one of the better books I've read that's come out in the last five years or so. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is also a recent popular favourite, but I'm not sure if it's a best-seller or anything.
I mean, I like a lot of well-known books, but almost all of them are classics, and I don't think that's what we're going for here.
I mean, I like a lot of well-known books, but almost all of them are classics, and I don't think that's what we're going for here.
redhead
Blahblahblah
I've been rereading some stories by Clark Ashton Smith. I'm not sure if "low literature" is the right word for him--he started out as a poet before turning to pulp stories for money, but his way with words shines even in these gory, hastily dashed off pieces (which I guess emphasizes that it's not a binary). Anyway, I just wanted to bring him up as I think it's a shame he's not more well-known. While he's not completely forgotten, his stories once stood beside Lovecraft's mythos and Howard's Conan tales. His work's very pulpy, very weird, very imaginative, and even when a piece isn't successful, it's still very interesting.
JCamilo
Reader
Perhaps we should create a term (not because of Clark Ashton Smith), something like arched low-brow, which may be when the low-brow literature is emulating or have traits of High brow literature (for good or worst). Something like Umberto Eco being a Borges with Headache or Murakami dives in swallow pools of sentimentalism.
redhead
Blahblahblah
Haven’t read Eco, but I feel like I’d characterize the tendencies you point out in Murakami as middlebrow: intriguing ideas sanitized and shorn of their harder edges to make them more palatable.
With Smith, I'm reminded more of an essay I read recently about how trashy content can often take risks similar to more highbrow content, and I think his past experiences as a poet help him pull off some of those.
But I think ultimately when it comes to low/middle/highbrow stuff it’s a messy spectrum where many works sit uneasily in the transition zones, and more terms won’t be too helpful.
With Smith, I'm reminded more of an essay I read recently about how trashy content can often take risks similar to more highbrow content, and I think his past experiences as a poet help him pull off some of those.
But I think ultimately when it comes to low/middle/highbrow stuff it’s a messy spectrum where many works sit uneasily in the transition zones, and more terms won’t be too helpful.
Salixacaena
Active member
Eh, there are plenty of Murakami works where I certainly don't see him sanitizing his ideas to make them palatable. Does that mean the quality of his writing is necessarily great always? Nope. But in something like 1Q84 I certainly don't think anything was sanitized to make it more digestible. I wouldn't consider Murakami "low literature."
As far as the issue at hand in the first post, I don't consider best sellers and "lowbrow literature" as equal terms. There are plenty of dense, highbrow works that have been best-sellers.