I thought fiction last year was kind of a wash - I didn't read anything I really cared about that was recent, and didn't fail to buy anything that piqued my interest. I tend to feel publishers are a little out of touch right now, trying to sell to us (and chain book stores) rather than bringing out stuff they really love themselves. I also feel like the publishing world is very New York insular right now and I don't like the attitudes coming out of New York.
Maybe I'm way off base in thinking that and am being horribly unfair to publishers, but that's my instinct and what I've been hearing from agents. It leads to a lot of sameyness and a lot of pandering and a lot of stuff that strikes me as exploitative rather than thoughtful. And there's a lot of great nonfiction out there, which I really appreciate as someone who loves nonfiction, and particularly good histories.
What upsets me is when I'm reading something that I've clearly chosen to read and somebody who hasn't read it tries to tell me that I'm inferior because the book is fiction. Not because the book is bad, but because the book is fiction and fiction is not worthwhile ever, period, because it's imaginary. It's doubly offensive when I say specifically that it's a book by a friend and that I'm enjoying it. Never mind that I myself am a fiction writer and fiction filmmaker (who also writes nonfiction and also makes documentaries) and the implication is that all of my very careful work is, by default, worthless (and unserious and girly, unlike true stories about football players who get injured).
There are ways to say "intereting, but not my bag" without asserting moral eliteness, you know?
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-11 03:30 am (UTC)Maybe I'm way off base in thinking that and am being horribly unfair to publishers, but that's my instinct and what I've been hearing from agents. It leads to a lot of sameyness and a lot of pandering and a lot of stuff that strikes me as exploitative rather than thoughtful. And there's a lot of great nonfiction out there, which I really appreciate as someone who loves nonfiction, and particularly good histories.
What upsets me is when I'm reading something that I've clearly chosen to read and somebody who hasn't read it tries to tell me that I'm inferior because the book is fiction. Not because the book is bad, but because the book is fiction and fiction is not worthwhile ever, period, because it's imaginary. It's doubly offensive when I say specifically that it's a book by a friend and that I'm enjoying it. Never mind that I myself am a fiction writer and fiction filmmaker (who also writes nonfiction and also makes documentaries) and the implication is that all of my very careful work is, by default, worthless (and unserious and girly, unlike true stories about football players who get injured).
There are ways to say "intereting, but not my bag" without asserting moral eliteness, you know?