I try to maintain my status of being a "well-read" reader, by constantly selecting the books I chose to read (or listen to) based on their buzz or awards or place on the NYT bestseller list.
In the past few months, I've read Something in the Water, Circe, Where the Crawdads Sing, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and am currently reading The Silent Patient based purely on the feeling that I would be more "in the literary conversation" had I read them.
While I enjoyed all of them, I genuinely did not love any of them, or would consider rereading them. (Is the clearest sign of an excellent book the desire to reread it?)
It makes me wonder how a book ends up becoming huge in the literary world — is it marketing? Publicity? Enough people think they're good even if they're not life-changing? I suppose it's a combination, but it does make you think that even if you were to write an absolutely fantastic book, you'd need to have those other factors to break into the bestseller charts.
Also I'd love to ask the class: What's a book that you think is a hidden gem?
I think it is interesting what different people consider a "well-read" reader to be. Before writing this for a second opinion I asked my roommate what she'd consider a well read reader to have read (quite the tongue twister) and although usually very opinionated, she said she had no idea, so I guess not everyone even has an idea of what it means to be well read. Sometimes I forget other people don't actually read that much so honestly, maybe doing any reading is being well read?
ReplyDeleteBut as an English major, in order to be considered "well-read" I think there is an assumption that sometimes even becomes a pressure to read the classics- ancient Greek philosophy, Shakespeare, the Great Gatsby, Jane Austen etc. no matter how boring or outdated or largely written by white males the classics may be. Meanwhile what is really being discussed in conversation, in the media, in the contemporary literary world of "well read" people is what's on the NYT bestseller lists or whatevers being made into the next big summer blockbuster. So whose to say what kind of "well read" readers we should be or if it matters?
But, tbh, I'm very impressed you're so current in your reading! I've tried to do so but get distracted by other library books much too often to do so. Having read all these books, I am curious if you feel they deserve their respective spots on the NYT list or awards or buzz? And if so why- are these books capital L literature or do they become popular because other people like them and want to re-read them even if you maybe did not? Just re-read your post and realized I am basically asking the same question you asked and I agree with your answer of a combination of things or just maybe chance as some chapters in hothouse implied. Anyway great questions!
Interesting points. Most of the books I have fallen in love with are older, so I don't really consider whether or not they've been bestsellers. Also, I think, like you've considered, that the marketing side is probably the largest factor in a book becoming a bestseller. People don't generally buy books because they've already read them and loved them; they buy books because something or someone somewhere made them think that they will like them.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of a hidden gems... I'm going to have to think about that. I'll see if I can come up with something good for you.