Eclectic Reader From Central PA.

curly56 · Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:44 am

Greetings to all!
As a grown man with an attention span of a two-year-old, I tend to cover a wide territory in my reading, but what seems to interest me the most, usually lies in the realm of Literary Fiction. Recently, it has been novels set in cultures foreign to me that have held my interest; ever since I read "The Good Earth" a few years ago, I have sought out those types of stories. Can't discount the occasional Stephen King or Dean Koontz thriller either.

I've recently retired as an HVAC technician, and now fill the days with gardening, home remodeling projects, and handling the housework and cooking chores so my wife, who is still working, can take it easy when she's home.

Found this website as I was doing a search for new books to read and thought, "What the heck, might as well join up and see what I can learn.". Hope I can contribute positively to this forum as well.

Cheers, Curly

Chris OConnor · Tue Sep 20, 2011 5:58 pm

Welcome to BookTalk.org, Curly.

I wonder if our current fiction book would be qualified as literary fiction. I'm about 20% into the book and it is quite good, but who gets the job of determining what is literary fiction and what is popular fiction?

curly56 · Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:46 pm


	Chris OConnor wrote: Welcome to BookTalk.org, Curly. I wonder if our current fiction book would be qualified as literary fiction. I'm about 20% into the book and it is quite good, but who gets the job of determining what is literary fiction and what is popular fiction?

Hi Chris, thanks for the welcome. Nice place you have here.

I don't see those descriptors as indicative of the quality of the fiction, but more as a writing style. To me, literary fiction serves the character or an idea, while popular fiction is mostly about the plot and grabbing the emotions of the reader.

Likely, we can find good and bad examples of each, and there are surely many books which cross over.

I would say the authors themselves make that determination.

Avid Reader · Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:56 am


	curly56 wrote: To me, literary fiction serves the character or an idea

I agree. Do you read authors like Paul Theroux, Phillip Roth, Robert M. Pirsig, John Irving, and William Styron? And if so, do you have any suggestions for others I didn’t mention here?

curly56 · Wed Sep 21, 2011 2:29 pm

Avid Reader wrote:


	curly56 wrote: To me, literary fiction serves the character or an idea

I agree. Do you read authors like Paul Theroux, Phillip Roth, Robert M. Pirsig, John Irving, and William Styron? And if so, do you have any suggestions for others I didn’t mention here?

I enjoyed The Mosquito Coast, my copy of Zen... is dog eared and missing the cover, and I've recently finished Irving's Last Night In Twisted River.

I would suggest Barbara Kingsolver, Abraham Verghese, Dan Simmons, Khaled Hosseini, and Stanley Gordon West.

Happy reading!

Avid Reader · Wed Sep 21, 2011 2:42 pm


	curly56 wrote: I would suggest Barbara Kingsolver, Abraham Verghese, Dan Simmons, Khaled Hosseini, and Stanley Gordon West.

Thanks! I'll add them to my list.

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