Armchair BEA Day#1 – Intro & Literature

Sharon Lathan

Sharon Lathan is the best-selling author of The Darcy Saga, a ten-volume sequel series to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.

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Freda Mans

That reading nook is something special! LOVE the colors.
Great to meet you!

Stephanie L

I think “literature” as a genre (to me) are the books that are enduring. Austen, LOTR, Bronte etc just don’t age. They are as enthralling in 2014 as they were when I first read them, classics as it were. That does not discount current books at all, they just become a part of the literary landscape and weave a new stop on the train. As someone that works in higher education, I think the “snobbish” reference to literature is perpetuated by the professors of such that look down on so many things that the rest of us love. It causes the general public to think that literature is a cultural thing.

Just my viewpoint…

My literature is quite varied. I love Austen (no surprise there), Sharon Lathan, Susanna Kearsley, Tolkien, Emily Loring, LM Montgomery, Steinbeck…I could go on and on. I’d be torn if I had to pick 3, I feel like I’m picking favorites of my children. LOL

Amber @ Casual Readers

The books are always better! If you like the show, you’ll love the books. I’m anxiously awaiting the rest of the series and trying not to hold my breath.

seli

For me literature is any form of art that speaks to me. For example a great painting or drawing can speak to ones soul and ignite a whole literature of the authors interpretation!! Words, the way any written word reaches your emotions and let’s you transport yourself to another time and place and makes you think….Literature at its best.

Deb

It is to each of us to choose our literature, what we love, what we don’t. We are diverse and I am glad the choices we have are many. Love what you say and agree totally. Also had to laugh out loud at this:

Honestly, when I am totally into a book I could be sitting on a rock in a snow storm.

YUP!

Looking forward to getting to know you through your work!

J "Joy" Dawn King

OK, Sharon, I’m back. Whew! I already had to plug in my IPad to recharge my batteries. I’ve never read so many blogs and had so much to ponder in one morning/early afternoon. Will head out again as soon as I am fully recharged. (May have to put my feet up and think with my eyes closed for a bit.) J Dawn King signing out -for now.

Deborah

I agree that literature is the written word. Love Tolkien, Dumas, Orczy, Austen and many modern writers. I very much enjoy variations as well. Literature doesn’t have to be stuffy.

Joy

The very word “literature” sounds snobby, doesn’t it? A “book” sounds much friendlier. To me, the classics are “literature” while everything else is a “book”. Thank you for the question as I’ve not ever stopped and thought of that before.

Off to the next blog. Enjoy your day please!!!

JerryT

I am surprised you wouldn’t take Pride & Prejudice as one of your favorite books if stranded on a desert isle. I know it would be one of my three choices. I do endorse your taking the Bible and Lord of the Rings.

Anji

Yes, when the words “literature” or especially “English Literature” (I’m using capitals deliberately for the latter, as that’s how it was used at school) come to my mind, it is as, as you both say above, the “classic” works that I think of. My experience at school turned me on to some things and off others. Strange, considering we had the same teacher for the whole of the five years that I studied the subject. I’m fond of the works of Shakespeare and John Keats but not George Eliot or Dickens. The Brontë sisters and Thomas Hardy fall somewhere in between and I must re-read them sometime. Sadly, our year didn’t get to study any of the works of Jane Austen but I discovered her all by myself, prompted by seeing the 1940 dramatisation of P & P at age 11 and then going on to read first that book and eventually the rest.

As you say, Sharon, I think that snobbery abounds regarding modern writing and whether it’s regarded by those same snobs as being good enough to be classed as literature. Does an author have to be nominated for one of the grand literary prizes, such as the Booker? If so, I’ve probably read only one of those- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and that was due to the concept of a series of next nested stories travelling forwards and then backwards in time, not because it had been nominated. I’ve lent it to several friends and colleagues. Some loved it like me but some couldn’t cope with the concept. They tended to be the ones who love the latest “celeb autobiographies” ghostwritten for these “celebs” whilst they’re still in their early twenties. I AM aware that it’s me who’s being the snob now!

In the end, as Sharon so emphatically says, all written works have their value. If people are encouraged to read and gain knowledge that way instead of, or as well as, absorbing what we’re fed by the various forms of media available nowadays, then it MUST be a good thing.

Anji

Just had another look at my post. Gosh, I did waffle on, didn’t I? Sorry for that but I will add one more comment. I’d have to agree with Sharon regarding the Lord of the Rings and A Song Of Fire and Ice but I’d also have to have the collected works of Jane Austen on my desert island. (Plus a TV, DVD player and a generator so I could watch all the dramatisations of these three collections!)

Anji

In 2003, here in the UK, there was a BBC TV series, called The Big Read, that asked the people of the country to nominate and then vote on their favourite novel of all time. If I’ve done things right, there should be links to the website following:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top200_2.shtml

It’s an interesting list to say the least, with modern and “classic” literature all getting a look in. It’s one of the very few TV phone vote programmes we’ve ever taken part in. I was very much torn as which to vote for and I only ever considered two of the candidates, LoTR and P&P. Hubby chose LoTR and after much angst, so did I with profound apologies to Jane Austen.

It’s also a product of it’s time as you’ll see if you look at the list. The final three Harry Potter books hadn’t yet been published and there is a lot of Terry Pratchett’s work.

Maybe this list is a better reflection of what “ordinary” people consider literature compared to what so-called experts say in their list of top 100s or Books To Read Before You Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil!

Sorry, more waffle!

Allison Bruning

Hello from a historical romance author. I haven’t haven’t had the chance to read Game of Thrones yet but I sure am addicted to the show on HBO. I have read the Hunger Games books and absolutely loved them. I don’t think the movies did the books any justice, though.

Allison Bruning

I know how that goes. We have OnDemand with Comcast. I love it because now I can miss the show on Sundays and watch it another time. I usually do that on Monday mornings.

Allison Bruning

You’ll have to play catchup.

Megan

What immediately comes to mind when I think of literature is, like you said, classic novels. Of course I don’t define that as literature really but after going through 16 (i think?) years of school now I’ve always had that impression made upon me when discussing ‘literature’. However now a more prominent thing that comes to mind since I am interested in the sciences is peer reviewed papers. Referencing “literature” on a specifically researched topic is a thing I’ve been hearing a lot recently and for awhile it was a strange conflict occurring in my mind. But can’t literature really be anything written with the purpose to effect someone or something? Even that sort of definition doesn’t feel like it’s encompassing enough while at the same time being too broad. We had this discussion in my literature class in college and it’s interesting how hard it is to define.

Lewis Persinger

I have a very personal and easy definition of ” literature”. If it is a book that I can read over and over again, lose myself in over and over again, and when I am finished reading ( No matter how many times I have read it before) I feel a deeper understanding of everything, then that book is literature. If I read a book and put it down afterward with no desire or need to pick it up again, that is just a book.

Kathryn@Book Date

I totally agree with you on the literature front, as I am not so much into the hoity-toity reading! I read the Hunger Games trilogy and enjoyed it, but couldn’t bring myself to see them in the movies. I know many enjoy the TV series Game of Thrones but I haven’t ventured there.

Enjoyed visiting.

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