Book Snob

Am I becoming a book snob? I have now put down three books in the past week (finished two of them, and the third I just couldn’t get into). In the case of the two I finished, one was a train wreck, and the other was just disappointing at the end. (Note to self: Having the entire plot hinge on having the “good guys” withhold information from the protagonist–and then not having a good reason for the good guys to withhold said information . . . kind of lame. That’s now on my Things to Avoid When I’m Writing List.) This leads me to wonder: am I turning into some sort of a book snob? I mean, when it comes to movies, I watch just about anything, and it’s rare that I’ll stop watching a movie in medias res.

(Case in point: I watched five movies over the weekend. Here are some microreviews: Die Hard (Four Star Christmas Classic. Love this action movie.) Misery (Three and a Half Star Creepy Classic. Even more scary when you’re an aspiring author yourself. And can we all just acknowledge what a string of great flicks Rob Reiner was churning out in the 80s? In order, from 1984-1992: Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By My, Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery and A Few Good Men. That’s quite the resume.) Real Genius (Three stars, though not as good as I remembered it being–I still really enjoyed it. A movie that manages somehow to create for me my memories of a summer camp I went to for a couple of years as a kid. CTY. I wonder if it still exists? Go figure–it does.) Frantic (Three Stars. Somehow completely believable tale about a man and wife who go to Europe and the wife gets kidnapped, though maybe I’m rating it higher because I just got back from Europe with my wife. Some more good Harrison Ford for ya.) and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (Two and a Half Stars. Another entry in the stoned buddies sub genre of movies. I saw an edited version. Maybe it gets better if you see the real deal. I doubt I will. It wasn’t Bill and Ted, which is the pinnacle of this genre, if you ask me. And you should.)

Um . . . where was I? Oh yeah–book snob. Anyway, as you can see above, I’m very open about the films I watch, and rather resistant to crappiness. (I’ve developed an immunity over the years, perhaps.) So why am I so snobbish with books? I think it’s because they take so much more of my time. I can get through a bad movie in a few hours, tops. A bad book lasts longer.

In other news, I finally got my long, 25 month waited for rejection letter, so I believe all my rejections are in now, though there might be an agent or two out there who I’ve forgotten. In any case, it’s nice to have some closure. The newest book continues to go well. I’m at 52,000 words right now and counting. The total (revised + unrevised) stands at 68,000. So 16,000 more to revise. I’ve probably revised 32,000 words of the original 48,000 so far. Not like you care about all this math stuff.

And finally, for a family update: DKC and TRC went to the Blueberry Festival on Saturday (while I was sick) and had a great time. DC has learned how to turn herself onto her stomach now, but not how to flip back to her back. This of course means that she gets turned over when she’s napping, then wakes up and starts screaming. Poor little thing. Tonight’s main event will feature a car ride and twenty pounds of wild blueberries. I’ll report how that goes tomorrow.

Hasta la vista.