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Book review sorta
Apr. 12th, 2019 09:46 amAs I mentioned in my previous entry, I finished Paperback Crush and I have some thoughts aside from the "wtf, do better for crediting the cover artists, Jesus fuck!" Which really, really annoys me considering how easy some of these are to find out. It's not even my job and I've already found a small chunk of them out. Ticks. Me. OFF.
Anyway. Apart from that, I have some thoughts.
First up, the book itself is gorgeous. Despite any and all issues I have with the actual contents of the book, I think it's set up beautifully. There are a gazillion covers of various books discussed and they're all gorgeously clear and it's almost like when you have that dream where you find a bunch of new-to -you books from long finished series and you get to buy them and then wake up before you read them. I know I'm not the only one with that dream. Anyway, glorious cover art shared. It's much larger than I thought it would be (one review likens it to a text book and they aren't wrong), which'll make finding a place on my bookcase a little more difficult when I choose to buy it, but it also means it feels more substantial when you're reading it.
The art and the set-up was, for the longest time, the biggest selling point for me. But then I finally got to the Christopher Pike interview and holy shit. This is the only review I've read with him (at least since, say, 1999) where he comes across as almost humble. I wish more of his interviews were like this, honestly. It probably doesn't hurt that the author writes pretty glowingly about both The Midnight Club and Slumber Party, though both are fantastic and worth the praise.
eta: After falling down an internet rabbit hole, I got my wish. This interview is pretty fab.
Now... the downside. Sigh. And there's a pretty big one, actually. For as much ground as the book covers, and it covers quite a few books and series, btw, including some I'd never heard of, it's really glaringly obvious that she's either not a fan of a lot of the books mentioned OR she's kinda ashamed for liking books she's deemed problematic.
And that is a problem for me. I don't mind the initial "hey, we should've done better book-wise in terms of having more than the token not white character in any given friend group, and those were if you were lucky." I also don't mind it being brought up when the need arises. But the listing of problems within these books is pretty much never-ending once the book officially starts. Since I was here for the sheer joy that these books brought, cheese and all, it felt like being repeatedly kicked for enjoying reading something that was never meant to be Great Literature. I got enough of that as a kid, thanks. My adult self is quite fine with not ever having to endure that again, ok?
It's a shame because when she finds a book or series or author she likes, the words pretty much dance right off the page. And some things do deserve the mocking (gentle or otherwise) and it works. But the rest is just... eh. I expected more and maybe that's on me, but look at that cover and tell me you're not hoping for someone to breathlessly reminisce about the books that made reading fun when you were younger.
Also I did not realize that the same woman who helped unleash the BSC on the world also unleashed Pike: Jean Feiwel. Which I should've realized as he's mentioned it before (I might've just spend 10 minutes reading a few interviews) but still. That's pretty spiffy.
But I also must agree with people who complain that the book ends abruptly. It really does. I had to double check and make sure I hadn't missed a page before accidentally falling down my rabbit hole of wtf in regards to credits.
Anyway. Apart from that, I have some thoughts.
First up, the book itself is gorgeous. Despite any and all issues I have with the actual contents of the book, I think it's set up beautifully. There are a gazillion covers of various books discussed and they're all gorgeously clear and it's almost like when you have that dream where you find a bunch of new-to -you books from long finished series and you get to buy them and then wake up before you read them. I know I'm not the only one with that dream. Anyway, glorious cover art shared. It's much larger than I thought it would be (one review likens it to a text book and they aren't wrong), which'll make finding a place on my bookcase a little more difficult when I choose to buy it, but it also means it feels more substantial when you're reading it.
The art and the set-up was, for the longest time, the biggest selling point for me. But then I finally got to the Christopher Pike interview and holy shit. This is the only review I've read with him (at least since, say, 1999) where he comes across as almost humble. I wish more of his interviews were like this, honestly. It probably doesn't hurt that the author writes pretty glowingly about both The Midnight Club and Slumber Party, though both are fantastic and worth the praise.
eta: After falling down an internet rabbit hole, I got my wish. This interview is pretty fab.
Now... the downside. Sigh. And there's a pretty big one, actually. For as much ground as the book covers, and it covers quite a few books and series, btw, including some I'd never heard of, it's really glaringly obvious that she's either not a fan of a lot of the books mentioned OR she's kinda ashamed for liking books she's deemed problematic.
And that is a problem for me. I don't mind the initial "hey, we should've done better book-wise in terms of having more than the token not white character in any given friend group, and those were if you were lucky." I also don't mind it being brought up when the need arises. But the listing of problems within these books is pretty much never-ending once the book officially starts. Since I was here for the sheer joy that these books brought, cheese and all, it felt like being repeatedly kicked for enjoying reading something that was never meant to be Great Literature. I got enough of that as a kid, thanks. My adult self is quite fine with not ever having to endure that again, ok?
It's a shame because when she finds a book or series or author she likes, the words pretty much dance right off the page. And some things do deserve the mocking (gentle or otherwise) and it works. But the rest is just... eh. I expected more and maybe that's on me, but look at that cover and tell me you're not hoping for someone to breathlessly reminisce about the books that made reading fun when you were younger.
Also I did not realize that the same woman who helped unleash the BSC on the world also unleashed Pike: Jean Feiwel. Which I should've realized as he's mentioned it before (I might've just spend 10 minutes reading a few interviews) but still. That's pretty spiffy.
But I also must agree with people who complain that the book ends abruptly. It really does. I had to double check and make sure I hadn't missed a page before accidentally falling down my rabbit hole of wtf in regards to credits.