A brief, fairly uninspired, look at books blogs

It’s wonderful to be back on fast Internet. Much as I love visiting the parents, their dial-up Internet drives me to distraction. I have an whole Internet to catch up on. I’ll never do it. (Oh, did I mention I’ve actually been back for 10 days now? Yes, I meant to post this a week ago. Oops.)

Now, one thing I’ve never understood is the attraction to Harry Potter. Moreover, I’ve never understood the point of queuing up for hours outside shops awaiting new releases. Am I wrong in thinking that there will be plenty of Splotters (book #683) in the shops the day after the release, and the day after that, and that anyone could pick them up in their lunch hours like normal people? Dear God, there must be!

Bookshops were braced for the now traditional witching hour scrum and at least one said it planned to set up a helpline for fans after Rowling warned that two characters die in the final instalment – and hinted that they are central figures.

Oh please!

I’m sure what irritates me more, however, is Opportunistic Publishing, which is a practice JK Rowling has perfected it seems. Seldom have I seen a ‘concept’ exploited as much as Splotter – if he was real, I’d have called social services long ago – and even a lesser cynic than me wouldn’t believe that she still does it for the Sake of Art.

So, yes, make that ‘every single character dies in the final instalment…’ Rowling and I’ll buy your damned book! Final installment my arse! I bet you ten pence! I just do not get it!

— — — — —

This ‘novel’ idea (see what I did there!) does interest me, however.

Based on the principles of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, the novel, called A Million Penguins, is open to anyone to join in, write and edit. None of the words, characters or plot twists will be attributed to any individual and – and this is the element of the project most likely to bruise delicate egos – participants are free to edit, chop and change other writers’ work.

It’s like communist nanonwriting!!111! Fantastic! All hell’s bound to break loose, of course, as always happens in these things, but I can think of no better way to get people thinking creatively and participating in something they can really feel a part of. Here’s the home page if it sounds like your thing.

— — — — —

And look! It’s another bad review of ‘Hannibal Rising’. We all know how much I love them! My favourite part:

Here was a book that had little in the way of tension, little in the way of character development and everything in the way of a rush job to squeeze the last penny out of a dying brand; that’s assuming, of course, that Harris doesn’t have a prequel to the prequel lined up in which the foetus Hannibal eats his way out of his mother’s womb.

A serial killer in the womb! Hilarious!! I bet you Harris has considered it too (did someone mention Opportunistic Publishing?)!

In fact, I’ll bet you another ten pence on that one!

13 responses to “A brief, fairly uninspired, look at books blogs

  1. hahahaha! I really hate it Blue – it upsets me greatly! 😉

    (And of course I’ve never read it – this is nothing but an ill-informed value judgement.) 🙂

    Good to be back, although my time for blogging is scarce these days. Poo!

  2. I’m completely with you on this, Harris deserves to be hung for his shameless cashing in. Part of me thinks I shouldn’t judge him too harshly, after all, he did create one of the most engaging bad-guys ever, and if people were dangling millions of dollars in front of his nose to squeeze a bit more life out of the franchise, who can blame him? But then I remember how disgracefully poor Hannibal was.

  3. All hail the joy of fast Internet connections!

    I enjoy Harry Potter, but not to the extent that I line up in sub-arctic temperatures to receive a first copy. I usually obtain the book from my local library three weeks later, which makes the insidious world of spoilers that much more deleterious and baleful..

    HP is my juvenile guilty pleasure!

  4. Did I see Silence of the Lambs with you in the old cinema on Main Street? I can’t remember but something is in my head about it.

  5. Oh I don’t know!!! Maybe! It came out in 1991 so it would fit, I think. I think that that cinema was still open then! I really don’t know. I loved that old cinema – the only cinema in Ireland you could still smoke in before they closed it the feckers! Good times!

  6. Pingback: Mike Alphonso·

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