tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329706.post8511502329969822104..comments2024-03-14T16:57:29.045-04:00Comments on Whisky Prajer: Whither The Morally Serious Potboiler?dpreimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09905531259256800022noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329706.post-22381700780713627942015-09-09T07:44:47.328-04:002015-09-09T07:44:47.328-04:00As for The Guardian, I suspect they didn't jus...As for The Guardian, I suspect they didn't just give Jones the piece -- they commissioned it.dpreimerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09905531259256800022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329706.post-5688877981093691352015-09-09T07:42:19.192-04:002015-09-09T07:42:19.192-04:00At this stage in life the only books I feel at all...At this stage in life the only books I feel at all obliged to finish are those that captivated me early on, but somehow gave me the slip in the back stretch (American Gods being the most recent example). So far as time is concerned, once the basic needs are covered the rest is negotiable. dpreimerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09905531259256800022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329706.post-91812467258873743482015-09-08T20:49:43.758-04:002015-09-08T20:49:43.758-04:00I followed the link to the Guardian article. I...I followed the link to the Guardian article. I'm inclined to agree with the response in the letters column: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/01/discworld-tirade-against-terry-is-a-bit-of-a-pratchett-job<br /><br /> Usually if someone declares they don’t need to read something to know it’s bad, we ignore them. You gave Jonathan Jones a column. Shame on you.<br /><br />(One of my big pet peeves are reviewers who haven't read or watched what they're reviewing--something I seem to be encountering online more and more these days. If someone doesn't have time to read what they're reviewing, I'm not sure why I should take time to read their review.)<br /><br />That issue aside, I agree with your assessment of Pratchett. He's intelligent to a degree. He's probably more intelligent than your average fantasy writer or humor writer, but there's a limit to how much you can praise him. If someone wants to argue that Pratchett isn't the most intelligent thing you could be reading, then there's not much I can say to defend him. Of course there are much more intelligent authors out there.<br /><br />I guess the real question is what constitutes a waste of time. And that's a huge question that perhaps is too big for this tiny comment box. But without attempting to answer it definitively, I'll just say this:<br />Something I've noticed in myself over the years is that a number of the books I've read out of pure obligation (the books I thought I had to read to be an intelligent and cultured person) I'm having trouble remembering 10 years later. Which makes me wonder what the point is of obligation reading purely for the sake of becoming well-read.Joel Swagmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14948746083822200906noreply@blogger.com