Books I Loathed discussion

You know, this really annoys me too. I mean, if it really is a novel (rather than what? I guess a thriller or self-help book) than I should be able to tell that by the cover and/or blurb. I've found that most of the books I've read that do this tend to be pretty disappointing, more like best sellers and dramas than literature.

EDIT: The only time I can forgive this is when the author usually writes things that aren't novels, like poetry or non-fiction. Then I guess it makes sense to let everyone know that this book is something different.

Sherri wrote: "We can't tell fiction from nonfiction without little sledgehammer clues like "Hey! Idiot! This is A NOVEL!" That's just purely insulting.
"
Haha. Perfect.

Sometimes I think it's done to say "This is a novel, not Romance or Horror or Suspense or some other genre fiction." Which, aside from the fact that it still treats us like we're idiots, is also very often not even true! It's misleading marketing I tell you. The blurb is always like "This deep probing exploration of the human condition is lyrical and amazing" and it says it's a novel, and then I pick it up and it's a glorified romance. Not that there's anything wrong with romance necessarily, but if that's what it is don't market it to me like it's the next freaking Pulitzer winner!
grr

Subtitled "A novel" is code for "pretentious artsy-fartsy crap."

I have to laugh at this discussion. I am doing the bookclub on twitter. The book is Margaret Atwood's
The Blind Assassin You can't see it in this pic because it's so tiny but right below the title on the cover it reads "a novel" and listed on Amazon it is The Blind Assassin: A Novel

Or maybe they worried that because she's written so much else (she has far more poetry collections than novels, and nearly as many short-story collections and non-fiction books) that they wanted to be clear.

I don't mind book covers specifying "A Novel" because, well it is. If I didn't know better, I might think the Atwood book was about a vision-impaired killer. I just had a conversation with a co-worker the other day (and this one is one who reads) who didn't know who Margaret Atwood was so this isn't totally far-fetched.

(minor thread jacking occurs here....)

But speaking of things I can't stand is when something is advertised as "from the mind of...." This seems to happen more with movies from books. "From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan." Really? Really? He didn't write it, it was from his mind. He's mind-melding with me.

BAHA! I unsuspectingly took a drink while reading that and just spit tea all over my monitor.

I'm afraid some people need to be told that a book is fiction . . . all those Left Behind books were on the fiction shelf, people!! That means they're not true! *eye roll*

A book that subverts the moniker, "A novel" is "The Interrogative mood. A Novel?"!! I loved that!

I find that "a novel" superscription helpful. If I see an interesting title on the rack, I pick it up and check for that. If it says "a novel," I put it straight back on the rack because I don't read mainstream novels. Because they SUCK!

Harper Perennial Modern Classics editions of Thomas Pynchon's "V." puts "a Novel" on the covers. The first time I bought one I remember wondering if "a Novel" was supposed to be a part of the title or not. I always assumed it was there, for that particular book, because the letter "V." could be confusing as a title.

Typically I find "a Novel" to be extraneous and don't give it much thought once I've stopped bristling over seeing it.

How about "The Novel" by James A. Michener? I can remember snapping that puppy up with excitement when it came out and was so disappointed with what I got. Michener had already spent decades publishing wonderful historical treatments of whole cultures, and the books spanned expanses of time and space.

Silly me, I thought it would be a deep treatment of the publishing industry. How could a book lover resist?

What I read looked like he chaired the work of a committee that brainstormed the idea and then he put his name on the product after the research and writing was completed by an intern.

His name was the only thing that sold that piece of pulp fodder. Yuck!

My friends and I were just making fun of books in the store that all said "A Novel" under the title! I'm pretty sure that I am quite capable of figuring out they were novels without them labeling them for me!

Haha, the book I have coming out on Monday says "a novel" on the front. I feel like a d##k but all the others I have on amazon are shorts, and I wanted to differentiate. Sorry!

Chris Ward

I hate it when authors use "A Novel" in their titles. Usually, it is totally unnecessary. I mean, if you write a work of fiction titled "The Nutritional Benefits of Squirrel Gravy: A Novel", that is totally acceptable. Most titles, however, usually give away that they are novels without the irritating subtitle.

i could not think of anything i have read before with "a novel" after it