Benoit’s Comments (group member since Jun 21, 2011)

Benoit’s comments from the Dead End Follies group.

I'm about 130 pages into it. Not bad at all, so far. Collins is a little too formal for my taste, but you know. Strong female archetype, a few ideas on entertainment. It could be worse. She deliberately slows the pace for romance, which can be annoying, but I like the tone she keeps around Katniss.

It's not true but girls are the target audience for romance. Go to a romantic comedy and count the heads in the audience. It's just not something guys are into. Maybe Moody is guilty of saying it a little cavalierly, but I don't think he's fundamentally wrong in what he's saying. Just not nuanced enough

I didn't interpret Moody's comment like that. I was it as a "target audience" type of comment. I mean, you can't please everybody with your writing. Unless you're Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

The MAN Booker prize has been called a fiasco this year. Their shortlist was mostly made out of past winners are well-established writers. John Le Carre asked to be pulled from it, because he wanted a writer who needed exposure to win. Then they rewarded Philip Roth who couldn't care less about it, prompting a member of the board to quit.

What's your take on this?

Personally, I think the Booker is getting to be somewhat of a joke. To me, literary awards (except for the Nobel) are supposed to be shedding light on authors that need and deserve it. The Pulitzer has it right. For the last four years, they rewarded Junot Diaz, Paul Harding and Jennifer Egan, three writers who benefited it greatly. The only established writers they rewarded during that period was Cormac McCarthy with THE ROAD, who deserved to win that year, according to most.

It depends on what you like about literature. Roth is a wordsmith and a thinker of language. He writes BEAUTIFULLY. But it's about his cock sometimes.

Josie has taken it hostage right now. After six pages she told me: "It's really good", which is very unlike her. By page forty, she told me three time. There's something to it, I'm sure.

Ah all right. Then I'm not crazy. It's the old man that cannot keep up with change. I agree with your call on him and Updike. They are obviously talented guys, but somewhere down the road they decided to write novels about their dicks.

Taken from here: http://www.slate.com/id/2297600/pagen...

Philip Roth tells Slate how he's so over fiction:

"I've stopped reading fiction. I don't read it at all. I read other things: history, biography. I don't have the same interest in fiction that I once did."

How so?

"I don't know. I wised up ..."

And with those three words he gave me a long look from those fierce eyes and then a significant glance at my notebook, as if to say: That's what I want you to write down

...

I have problems with this. What the fuck is it supposed to mean? I don't mind when a writer gets bored with his own stuff and tries something different. That's not it. I'm pretty undecided about Philip Roth. The man has his way with words, but he always ends up writing stories that are vaguely about himself.

He writes novels at a frantic rhythm but he's too wise to read some? Somebody needs an ego-check. Is there something I didn't understand from this? I fail to see the provocation.

All right, completely opposed opinion mean one thing. I`ll have to figure it out for myself!!!

Yeah I'm a big user of Netflix too here. I'm cruising through the most depressing documentaries of all time. But it's all worth it. Good cinema there. I still need to pick up on my Harry Potter viewings if I want to get to Deathly Hallows 2.

I'm kind of pouting cinemas. I don't think I've been there in 2011. It's been a while since Hollywood tried to do a genuinely good film instead of trying to revive a comic book series. I might be tempted by The Tree Of Life though, since I loved The Thin Red Line. What are you guys going to watch this summer?

Oh shit, you have got cracking on The Pale King yet? I thought you would've nabbed this right off the shelves.

And holy shit, you read a lot of books at the same time.

We could also hold hands and sign Kumbaya. I'm down. I'll start reading it at the second week of August, making it my official 2011 vacation book.

Oh, then I will have some fun reading it and picking it apart...and Jennifer Lawrence would be a terrific cast for that.

In a boys-are-evil-and-stupid way?

That's why I think the man was power tripping. You know, I worked in bars for a little while and over there a popular saying among schmucks was: "YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM"

I think that's what Weiner though: "I'm a goddamn senator, I can send this girl a picture of my schlong. What are you gonna do about it, internet"?

So as I said on the blog, I already had a discussion about this with Beth & Cath but Twittar made it difficult to be thorough. So here is my opinion about the subject. It's clear that the dude was power tripping. Sending a photo of your little bird doesn't have anything sexy. Not to a girl, not to a guy, not even to a dog. A dick, taken out of its context is an ugly looking thing.

But I think the man was played a little bit by booze and testosterone. You know how us guys are when we're horny. We can't think straight (hence the unloaded weapon for dates theory). Nobody right in his mind send a photo of his junk to anyone. Ever.

That's a title that polarizes the debate right there. Since I posted about buying it, I got people saying they hated it and people saying they loved it. What do you liked/or hated about the Hunger Games? And remember, be careful with the spoilers because I haven't read it yet.

Some places are just so small, you know? It's hard to find breakout writers that come from out there. Some people are preoccupied by survival before they are preoccupied by art.