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what we like...
Oct. 24th, 2011 01:04 pmA line I really like, What Alice Knew, by Paula Marantz Cohen:
Words were the first line of defense, the most subtle and most elementary abstraction.
In context, this relates to seeing a v. gruesome murder scene. I love a book with interesting characters, plot, and some intellectual conversation. Just like I love, in a different way, a book with compelling characters, plot, and a lyrical language structure or lyricism of scene (thinking particularly, and most recently, of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone with that last, as the story moves from a comparitively shallow YA place in its opening chapters to unexpected and moving depths.)
I think this may be why a lot of popular straight ahead contemporary urban fantasy--and a certain type of ditto YA--leaves me a little...empty. There's nothing wrong with just telling a good story--nothing at all--but I get filled to surfeit on books that only do that pretty quickly. Although, if the setting is other than contemp urban, I get more mileage out of an adventure story--hmm, that's probably covered by lyricism of scene, since there's more of that, generally, in historical, alternate, otherwhere/world, future, etc., settings.
Thoughts?
Words were the first line of defense, the most subtle and most elementary abstraction.
In context, this relates to seeing a v. gruesome murder scene. I love a book with interesting characters, plot, and some intellectual conversation. Just like I love, in a different way, a book with compelling characters, plot, and a lyrical language structure or lyricism of scene (thinking particularly, and most recently, of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone with that last, as the story moves from a comparitively shallow YA place in its opening chapters to unexpected and moving depths.)
I think this may be why a lot of popular straight ahead contemporary urban fantasy--and a certain type of ditto YA--leaves me a little...empty. There's nothing wrong with just telling a good story--nothing at all--but I get filled to surfeit on books that only do that pretty quickly. Although, if the setting is other than contemp urban, I get more mileage out of an adventure story--hmm, that's probably covered by lyricism of scene, since there's more of that, generally, in historical, alternate, otherwhere/world, future, etc., settings.
Thoughts?
