Books Genres and Preferences

[Adora]

Okay, posting in a thread about book recommendations at another forum, I realised I have a thing for a certain genre of books that's hard to define. I've heard it best coined as "Weird Fiction": Somewhere between SF and Fantasy but with a good dose of Lovecraft horror and violence thrown in.

And it seems I can handle a lot of crap books, as long as they have this twisted sort of bent in them.

So, is there any genre that really does this to you?

[livius drusus]

Hmm... I used to be very forgiving of mystery novels, particularly British ones. I collected Agatha Christies for years and I still wait for the latest Elizabeth George, repetitiveness and melodrama notwithstanding. I devoured all the Lawrence Sanders Commandments/Deadly Sins/Timothy mysteries mutliple times.

I've definitely got much less tolerance for shoddy writing than I did in my youth, though.

[Farren]

The particular genre of South American literature than lurks on the edge of contemporary reality, with bizarre and impossible stuff thrown in. Not quite sci-fi, not quite horror, not quite fantasy, not quite clear what I'm talking about. The anthology of South American writing "Black Water" exemplifies it.

Sci-fi but only by Sci Fi writers who are good at both characters and science. Trashy sci fi with improbable made-up science is shite and immaculate science with gormless or shallow characters (like Arthur C. Clarke's stuff) doesn't appeal. Poorly visualised and unlikely concepts like Isaac Asimov's stupid "Three Laws of Robotics" are also a barrier to appreciation. A. A. Attanasio and Frank Herbert's work provide examples of what I think is the ideal nexus of plot, concept, character depth and science.

Highly original fantasy, like China Mievelle and Clive Barker. Fuck boring and overdone Celtic-themed fantasy and Tolkein ripoffs need not apply.

British fantasy or sci-humour, like Pratchett and Adams.

Cyber/Comic book styled fiction like Stephenson (snowcrash), Gibson (The Difference Engine) and Barry (Jennifer Government).

Historical fiction, especially historical fiction that makes bold assumptions instead of timidly clinging to only the known facts. Historical fiction that tells the story from the perspective of the participants, not latter day observers.

Fiction set in a modern setting that is packed with deep insight presented in an entertaining manner, like the writing of John Updike and Tom Wolfe.

Fuck novels (as opposed to erotica) and rough accounts told with raw honesty and sometimes humour, like Bukowski, Thompson etc.

The genre of novels that defy pigeonholing into genre. I especially like those.

Lukewarm towards:
Most horror
Formula spy stuff (Clancey) - I like some spy stuff like Le Carre's work
Mystery as primary and only hook rather than embedded in a broader theme. Like Conan Doyle and Christie, which always strike me as being like the game "Cluedo" set in exotic locations.
Formula military novels
Formula family sagas

Pet hates (hate hate hate):

Westerns. Of any kind.
Romances of the Mills And Boone/Harlequin stripe.
Pretentious and vague fluff (like Atwood)
Gruelling angst filled struggle novels by guilt-laden lefty white South Africans.
Sincere and fuck boring struggle novels by South Africans from all ethnic and other groupings.
Last two categories contain exempted stuff if they manage to be entertaining, which is rare. But it happens.

[wildernesse]

I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I tend to like books with strong stories and characters--and earlier, the first time I tried to write this post, I said that I like books with magic in them, but not fantasy. But, after reading Farren's post, I think the word I was looking for was bizarre. I like bizarre, fantastical images and descriptions and events--especially if they occur within an otherwise everyday life.

I despise and detest "modern" books with miserable, immature characters who have frittered away all 40 years of their lives and never been happy--and it's all their parents' fault because they were so middle class/unloving/grasping, etc. I don't do hopelessness or whining--it's incredibly dull. Books in this category are peopled with the kind of "friend" who pities you because you're not as unhappy as she is.

In the end, I read a lot of different kinds of books--mostly due to my absolute book snobbery and desire to read interesting contemporary fiction. If a book wins an award (or comes close), it's on my reading list. Of course, this is how I end up reading books by Australians--and not knowing half of what is going on because I have no clue what the nouns are.

[lisarea]

The particular genre of South American literature than lurks on the edge of contemporary reality, with bizarre and impossible stuff thrown in. Not quite sci-fi, not quite horror, not quite fantasy, not quite clear what I'm talking about. The anthology of South American writing "Black Water" exemplifies it.

You mean magical realism? Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Milorad Pavic and Georges Perec?

If yes, me too.

If no, you suck.

The only other genre I can really think of that I like in particular isn't even really a genre but an annoying writing habit, a sort of overwhelming of the forest, I guess, where someone's writing style is so peculiar you can't follow their storylines. It's a guilty pleasure.

As means of an example, I find particularly compelling Damon Runyan, who was a very strange and unusual writer, you see, in that he had a propensity for a particular type of overtelling, in which he piled one clause atop another, endlessly describing things such that would not normally require explaining or metaphor, really, often becoming bogged down in awkward and unusual phrasing, which might tend to exacerbate the complexity and lack of nuance inherent in said writing style, but see, he did that anyway, so as not to let an idea, no matter how insignificant, go by without exhaustive discussion if not examination, if you are getting the idea of the sort of phenomena to which I refer. I don't really like any other detective stuff, though, aside from James Ellroy, which doesn't count because he just roxxorz.

The only other example I can think of off the top of my head is Thomas Love Peacock, the inimitable, in that his writing style often overwhelms his content. I know this is a bad thing, really, but I like it anyway. Reading TLP is like reading a handbook of rhetorical devices. Oooh. Synechdoche! Look, a ZEUGMA! I could not tell you the storyline of any TLP I've ever read, probably.

Does that even make sense? Now, I'm betting not.

[livius drusus]

Does Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveller qualify?

[Farren]

The particular genre of South American literature than lurks on the edge of contemporary reality, with bizarre and impossible stuff thrown in. Not quite sci-fi, not quite horror, not quite fantasy, not quite clear what I'm talking about. The anthology of South American writing "Black Water" exemplifies it.

You mean magical realism? Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Milorad Pavic and Georges Perec?


Yes, like that. Except for Marquez. I've only attempted to read one book by him and it took me over a year (most books take me a couple of days). One Hundred Years of Solitude was the title and I found it too... uh... all over the goddamn place. But yes, generally, that kind of writing. Its funny, until I started reading that kind of fiction I had, I realise in retrospect, very stereotypical subconscious views about the Spanish and South Americans. I thought they were excitable and macho and passionate and full of life but oh so obvious and lacking in depth.

Since being exposed to Magical Realists I realists there's a depth and intelligence and lateral minded creativity to Spanish and Hispanic culture that I hadn't fully appreciated before. It should have been obvious from being exposed to the art of Picasso, Goya, El Greco and the architecture of Gaudi (which is incredible), but somehow I didn't really appreaciate the Spanish and their offspring cultures before encountering their contemporary writers.

[wildernesse]

Yes, like that. Except for Marquez. I've only attempted to read one book by him and it took me over a year (most books take me a couple of days). One Hundred Years of Solitude was the title and I found it too... uh... all over the goddamn place.

I haven't read One Hundred Years, but I enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera. It took me months to read it, but that was more my fault than the book's. I'd put it down and wander off, and then weeks later I'd think--Hmmm, what book was it with this character? Oh yeah, were'd that book go?

[lisarea]

Yes, like that. Except for Marquez. I've only attempted to read one book by him and it took me over a year (most books take me a couple of days). One Hundred Years of Solitude was the title and I found it too... uh... all over the goddamn place.

I have this problem with Marquez. I read one One Hundred Years of Solitude when I was a teenager, then went out and read everything else of his I could find, in rapid succession. I probably went through most of his stuff in the course of a couple of weeks. So I tend to mix them all up. I've reread most of them since, but the muddling of the stories never went away. I guess I ought to reread Solitude to figure out WTF you're talking about, and decide once and for all whether you suck. I'm thinking: Yeah, probably. I love Marquez, and am mad at you for being mean to him.

Apart from that, I was pretty much in agreement on your preferences. I have a special hate place in my heart for Margaret Atwood, even. (For some reason, I kept reading her books, and I'd hate the fuck out of them, and complain about it, until one day, a friend made me put some Atwood book back on the shelf because I was going to hate it and I was just plain Not Allowed to buy it or he would kick my ass. He was a wise man.)

Anyway, for some reason I'm horribly disturbed by this not liking Marquez development. If you don't like Marquez, what could you possibly like?
HITLER?

[Farren]

[QUOTE=Farren]
Anyway, for some reason I'm horribly disturbed by this not liking Marquez development. If you don't like Marquez, what could you possibly like?
HITLER?

Oh much much worse. Kinda like Pol Pot, only worse. And I eat babies, too.

[freemonkey]

You mean magical realism? Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Milorad Pavic and Georges Perec?

Yay!! I don't suck! I liked what I've read of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I really like that kind of dreamy fiction. That most of it seems to come from writers whose cultures have old storytelling traditions makes it especially interesting.

Okay, maybe I suck a little bit..... I'm embarassed to admit I have not heard of those other two writers.

[JoeP]

I've enjoyed everything I've read by Marquez, and One Hundred Years of Solitude is a great, great book. Farren, give it another try. Georges Perec annoys me (Life: A User's Manual) but there is good stuff in it. For me it was like Umberto Eco's later books (well, The Island of the Day Before specifically). Too much wanking (can I say that here?), not a patch on The Name of the Rose.

I think I enjoy Borges but it's a long time since I've read any of his stuff.

/me checks what the OP asked
Hi, Adora.

My all-time favourite "weird fiction" is JG Ballard. Normally classed as science fiction, because there's little of the traditional elements of horror or fantasy in his stories, but weird: definitely.

[Gawen]

So, is there any genre that really does this to you?Nope.

[Adora]

The particular genre of South American literature than lurks on the edge of contemporary reality, with bizarre and impossible stuff thrown in. Not quite sci-fi, not quite horror, not quite fantasy, not quite clear what I'm talking about. The anthology of South American writing "Black Water" exemplifies it.

Mmmm Magic Realism. Love this stuff. I'm currently reading Baudolino and Marquez at once. Heh, headfucking ahoy. Oh, and though having to study Borges tends to take some of the magic away, the 4-hour long interesting yet painful lectures I had to sit through on him will always have a special place in my heart.

We really should start the Atwood Hate Society.

Ehhh, I realised yesterday one of my exceptions to the Historical Fiction genre I have a great grudge against. There's this book called A Booke of Days. It claims to be a true translation of the author's/translators ancestors diary who fought in the Crusade of Jerusalem with Richard the Lionheart. Whether it is true or not really doesn't matter to me though, because it is just a fucking brilliant novel.

But it still doesn't make me like the genre...