Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday/Literary Blog Hop

Another Friday means fun blog hopping! Welcome to my blog!









This week's Book Blogger Hop question:

What’s the ONE GENRE that you wish you could get into, but just can’t?

My response: sci-fi/fantasy. When I was younger I had no trouble reading books in this genre, but as I have gotten older these books just don't appeal to me. I started finding that many sci-fi/fantasy books just have poor, clunky writing or they are written in a pseudo-intellectual style that is pretentious at best and unreadable at worst, and I don't have patience for it. There are a lot of authors that I wouldn't mind trying to read but the genre prevents me. Maybe I'll challenge myself to read some of these books next year (assuming I can get rid of the to be read pile this year)!

This week's question:

Name 3 authors that you would love to sit down and spend an hour or a meal with just talking about either their books or get advice on writing from?

My response: this is hard, but at least I am able to choose multiple authors, usually I just have multiple answers to a question asking for one response!

1. M.T. Anderson. He does a lot of research, it seems, and creates vivid characters. I'd love to hear about how he does both.

2. Haruki Murakami. I love the way he makes the ordinary merge with the strange, and I'd like to delve into the symbolism.

3. Christopher Buehlman. His writing is stunningly beautiful. I would love to talk with him about his writing process and learn about how he chooses just the right words, and how he self-edits.

This week's prompt:

Discuss Bibliotherapy. Do you believe literature can be a viable form of therapy? Is literary writing more or less therapeutic than pop lit or nonfiction?

Like any form of therapy, I think bibliotherapy can be useful to someone who is open to it. I agree that reading about someone who is in a similar situation can be helpful and can make a reader feel less alone in the world. Books can also be a way to cope with strong emotions by channeling them; a person who is grieving a loss might be able to release pent-up emotions through reading a book that made them cry, for example. Books can also provide an escape from a dull or unpleasant life, or provide a vicarious sense of accomplishment in a life that has ongoing drama or struggles, for example, reading a mystery that has a clear solution at the end could be comforting to someone who is dealing with open-ended questions or problems that have no apparent solution.

I am not sure if literary writing is more therapeutic, but I think bad writing shouldn't be read by anyone. I would always rather see people reading good writing than poor writing. However, forcing someone to read a book just because it's deemed "literary" won't help them at all if it's something they can't connect with, be inspired by, etc. I think if someone is able to feel better by reading books they enjoy, and that's providing a therapeutic value, that's better than making things worse by possibly frustrating or boring them. However, a gentle nod toward well written books of the type they might like is always a good thing.