Ilana's Journal Week 24: Name Me Some Simple But Beautiful Books [ Edited ]

[IlanaSimons]

Why do some books, which were written for adults, become the mainstays of our junior high and high school reading lists? One reason is that they use a vocabulary that’s accessible to teens. Another is that these books aren’t too long. But what are the other ingredients involved? That is: what about a story captures a young imagination?

Classroom issues probably influence high school readings lists. The books schools assign need to foster class conversations: So, required high school novels often have recognizable characters and clear moral hurdles for these characters to deal with. Often, these books tap social issues like race, war, and gender—because at a young age, students aren’t generally galvanized for a discussion of the merely literary qualities of a text. At thirteen, a lot of us aren’t turned on by “over-determined metaphors,” but we are ready for talk about slavery and the battle between the sexes.

Here’s a sampler of some of the books most popularly assigned to high schoolers:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Call of the Wild
To Kill a Mockingbird

Do you remember what you read in high school? What captivated you, and what turned you off. Why?

I think I’m interested in figuring out if there’s a certain graceful symmetry or simplicity that would make a book interesting to both adolescents and adults. For instance, books like The Good Earth, To Kill a Mockingbird, andThe Bluest Eye do a fantastic job of expressing something in simple prose which is also powerful for a range of ages: from adolescents to grown readers. I wonder what the elements of that sort of story-telling are, and if there’s a take-away message for all of us.

That is: Is simplicity a special quality in the literary imagination which conveys depth with a certain punch? I’m remembering a moment in high school. Around fourth grade, I thought I had become a totally erudite mind, because I had decided to check some books out of the library that no one had even assigned me. I got The Good Earth. When I showed it, with pride, to my grandmother, she said, “Oh that’s a very simple book.” I was deflated by that, because I wanted to seem advanced. But she probably meant something positive by “simple”: Pearl Buck was deep, but got there through a streamlined style. She’s wise in pared-down language.

There are probably key elements to stories that can turn us on throughout the lifespan, from childhood to old age. The Brothers Grimm do this. Harry Potter does this. So do movies like The Sound of Music and some cartoon films which are said to be equally attractive to adult and kids. I’d like to know if you think there’s a simple literary style which you can define in contrast to more complex plots.

The flip side, too: What’s the beauty of stories that aren’t so simple? I think some novels are gorgeous because they have a subtlety in them that kids can’t quite grasp. Those are great, and a different beast. Can you define one beast in contrast to the other?

---

-Ilana
Check out my book.
Visit my Website, here.

Message Edited by IlanaSimons on 11-08-2007 07:45 AM

[APenForYourTho…]

The best example I can think of for this is Night by Elie Wiesel, which I read last year in my English class. It's a relatively straightforward story and not particularly difficult to understand, and it's one of those novels you're interested to read but also simultaneously terrified by because of the issue it tackles. I think it's probably meant to seem simple because it's more brutal that way, and it's supposed to be in order to illustrate the horror of the Holocaust.

But Wiesel conveys so much depth in all the seeming simplicity of the novel, because he leaves a lot up to the imagination of the reader. I think that the novel has power for people of all ages; for younger readers (usually eighth grade and older), it affects them emotionally and makes them really think, because the story is easy enough to understand that they can realize the moral messages in it. For older readers, it does the same thing, with the realization of a frightening and captivating beauty in Wiesel's style; who could ever forget Juliek playing his violin in complete silence (gorgeous image, in my opinion), only for Wiesel to wake in the morning to see Juliek dead and "his violin, trampled, an eerily poignant little corpse"? And the line "I remember that on that evening, the soup tasted better than ever" echoed a few pages later by the ruthless "That night, the soup tasted of corpses" -- So powerful.

I'm currently reading Like Water for Chocolate, and it seems rather simplistic on the surface, but obviously it's teeming with all sorts of literary treasures. I'm personally not a huge fan of the story because of how it's written (please don't hate me), but I do recognize the fact that, beneath its seemingly straightforward exterior, there is a lot to be discussed -- symbology, the magical realism element, etc. -- that is worthwhile. But the story itself is accessible for teens and adults.

On to the complex novels...

I'm a huge fan of complexity and subtelty in literature. Subtle images and details have such a power to them. Pedro Paramo is one of the most fascinating novels I have ever read, because it refuses to be straightforward. It's beautifully written, first of all, and the first time you read it you're pretty much just in awe of how Rulfo writes and the story doesn't make a lot of sense. The second time through, you start to pick up on the details that you missed the first time that help you know who's speaking and what's going on. And the third time is when you realize all the extremely subtle details in terms of symbology. It's fascinating to think about how something that seems like just a nice description (for instance, "...water in the puddles sounded as if it were boiling" ), combined with all these other details that don't seem to serve much purpose but aesthetic beauty can be such a powerful symbol and sign of things in the novel (in this case, water used as death and the "boiling" implying a closeness to the underworld, and Comala essentially becomes purgatory). It's amazing. I'm still sort of a kid, though, so it will probably hold even more power for me when I reread it five years down the road or so. If you haven't read Pedro Paramo, I highly recommend it.

Hopefully I managed to say something, though I have a bad habit of intending to say something and then I end up saying very little of importance...

Message Edited by APenForYourThoughts on 11-08-2007 11:21 PM

[Everyman]

Reading your title "Simple but Beautiful Books" I immediately brought a number to mind, but then I read on and realized that from the list you offered and the way you talked about them, your conception of beautiful in terms of books isn't mine at all. Important, thought-provoking, yes. But I would never think of All Quiet on the Western Front as a beautiful book. Or Huckleberry Finn. And while there is beauty in To Kill a Mockingbird, particularly in the language and the opening of Bo, I would never consider it a beautiful book as a whole. It's mixture of hope and despair and the intractability of fear/hate is too disturbing for me to consider it beautiful.

[IlanaSimons]

Thanks for this great post. Yes—Night would be just the sort of little gem I was trying to refer to. I say that without having read Night(!! ) But I do know that it hits people hard throughout the lifespan, and one reason it does this is it because it focuses on large issues of human suffering in simple prose. I think The Diary of Anne Frank has had a similar impact on a lot of readers.

I haven’t read Pedro Paramo, but I think you really nailed one difference between the simple tales and the complex ones. Complex ones, you say, need rereading. I think that’s true: Some simple tales, like the stories of the Brothers Grimm, hit hardest in the first punch. But complex novels feel like utterly different beasts each time you pick them up.

Great comment.

---

APenForYourThoughts wrote:
The best example I can think of for this is Night by Elie Wiesel, which I read last year in my English class. It's a relatively straightforward story and not particularly difficult to understand, and it's one of those novels you're interested to read but also simultaneously terrified by because of the issue it tackles. I think it's probably meant to seem simple because it's more brutal that way, and it's supposed to be in order to illustrate the horror of the Holocaust.

But Wiesel conveys so much depth in all the seeming simplicity of the novel, because he leaves a lot up to the imagination of the reader. I think that the novel has power for people of all ages; for younger readers (usually eighth grade and older), it affects them emotionally and makes them really think, because the story is easy enough to understand that they can realize the moral messages in it. For older readers, it does the same thing, with the realization of a frightening and captivating beauty in Wiesel's style; who could ever forget Juliek playing his violin in complete silence (gorgeous image, in my opinion), only for Wiesel to wake in the morning to see Juliek dead and "his violin, trampled, an eerily poignant little corpse"? And the line "I remember that on that evening, the soup tasted better than ever" echoed a few pages later by the ruthless "That night, the soup tasted of corpses" -- So powerful.

I'm currently reading Like Water for Chocolate, and it seems rather simplistic on the surface, but obviously it's teeming with all sorts of literary treasures. I'm personally not a huge fan of the story because of how it's written (please don't hate me), but I do recognize the fact that, beneath its seemingly straightforward exterior, there is a lot to be discussed -- symbology, the magical realism element, etc. -- that is worthwhile. But the story itself is accessible for teens and adults.

On to the complex novels...

I'm a huge fan of complexity and subtelty in literature. Subtle images and details have such a power to them. Pedro Paramo is one of the most fascinating novels I have ever read, because it refuses to be straightforward. It's beautifully written, first of all, and the first time you read it you're pretty much just in awe of how Rulfo writes and the story doesn't make a lot of sense. The second time through, you start to pick up on the details that you missed the first time that help you know who's speaking and what's going on. And the third time is when you realize all the extremely subtle details in terms of symbology. It's fascinating to think about how something that seems like just a nice description (for instance, "...water in the puddles sounded as if it were boiling" ), combined with all these other details that don't seem to serve much purpose but aesthetic beauty can be such a powerful symbol and sign of things in the novel (in this case, water used as death and the "boiling" implying a closeness to the underworld, and Comala essentially becomes purgatory). It's amazing. I'm still sort of a kid, though, so it will probably hold even more power for me when I reread it five years down the road or so. If you haven't read Pedro Paramo, I highly recommend it.

Hopefully I managed to say something, though I have a bad habit of intending to say something and then I end up saying very little of importance...

Message Edited by APenForYourThoughts on 11-08-2007 11:21 PM

---

[IlanaSimons]

I’d like to hear you say more about beauty.
I actually made the title of my post after I wrote the post, not meaning for the word to apply to the books I listed. In the title, I meant something like "we always assign the same books to high schoolers. Do you think the choices are good ones? And: can you name me some other short beautiful books?"

---

Everyman wrote:
Reading your title "Simple but Beautiful Books" I immediately brought a number to mind, but then I read on and realized that from the list you offered and the way you talked about them, your conception of beautiful in terms of books isn't mine at all. Important, thought-provoking, yes. But I would never think of All Quiet on the Western Front as a beautiful book. Or Huckleberry Finn. And while there is beauty in To Kill a Mockingbird, particularly in the language and the opening of Bo, I would never consider it a beautiful book as a whole. It's mixture of hope and despair and the intractability of fear/hate is too disturbing for me to consider it beautiful.

---

[Fiction4Sale]

I've thought about this a bit as a novelist because I've always wanted to write something that might be accessible to high schoolers and adults. And indeed there has to be something not too cranky and complex, let's say, about the language to start. You'll lose the young person if you're doing riverrun past eve&adams kind of modernist Joycean riffs. You tend to think too that you can emulate an earlier period of speaking if too arcane or argot or slang filled, say like street kids in an Irish neighborhood of New York, say 1840s. Historical fiction requires immersion in research; tread lightly if not ready for the research. Then again, you can't be quite sure until you know that historical sets language as a writer. Of course if it really matters to you as a writer, you'll write it anyway and let the chips fly. Truth is, the old saw, write about what you know best, however seemingly mundane...may be the best source for such seamlessly expressive works of fiction that bridge youth and adulthood for its the moral spirit in the work that carries the day.

So it may be easier to write contemporary stories or novels that capture the moral zeitgeist. Imagine trying to capture now something equivalent to Catcher in the Rye. The connection to the inner essence of the story, its proper plotting or narration, its language of description, of dialog, of introspection all need to arise from a coherent source and flow out to fill the work, its setting, characters, theme and spirit. Not easy to write, but certainly a pleasure to read generally.

I personally came at literary fiction slowly and enjoyed in my early adolescence detective fiction and Jules Verne science adventures. Taking those type masterplots and adding a bit more depth and seriousness, even complexity of plot and execution, you might carry the youth/adult audience. The Red Badge of Courage comes to mind, with Crane's wonderful cinematic eye and plot rhythms...and it has a moral to ponder. Wuthering Heights was a high school enforced read; it put me to sleep, literally. How I got through the exams I don't know. Only later could I read it again with some interest about the Bronte sisters. Overall, I'd say girls in high school have a finer appreciation for love stories and more generally relationship novels. Meanwhile guys are reading "Murder in the Rue Morgue" or "The Fall of the House of Usher" or "The Pit and the Pendulum"...I loved Treasure Island and most anything later on that I found that Stevenson wrote. My first serious embracing of a literary classic was Crime and Punishment...and feverish Raskalnikov literally gave me a day long headache.

A novel of relative seeming simplicity and French impressionistic beauty for me is Snow Country by Yasanuri Kawabata, the Japanese novelist. This is a love story of a married Tokyo businessman (a dilletante student of Western opera who's never seen an opera)who visits the spring baths in the north snow country each year and has a love affair getaway with the same springs geisha. The visual rendering of the landscapes of snow and village, the cold, the odd on and off again love affair, all are readable but there's something lost in translation I think for most adults much less a young person. Despite the fact the sexual relation is treated without explicit descriptive brushstrokes...the issue of adultery with a geisha even in a culturally relative situation would no doubt envelope any literary high school teacher in controversy. But my main point is this is readable as a young person as a beautifully painted descriptive text but I doubt the subtlety of the relationship messages about the difficulty to love between the main characters comes through given the complex customs and idiosyncratic psychologies of the individuals.

Briefly, here's another classic youth/adult novel, one of my anthropological favorites that speaks to the aesthetic-spiritual fulfillment of these extraodinary lasting novels:
Laughing Boy, "Capturing the essence of the Southwest in 1915, Oliver La Farge's Pulitzer Prize-winning first novel is an enduring American classic. At a ceremonial dance, the young, earnest silversmith Laughing Boy falls in love with Slim Girl, a beautiful but elusive "American"-educated Navajo. As they experience all of the joys and uncertainties of first love, the couple must face a changing way of life and its tragic consequences."

Message Edited by Fiction4Sale on 11-09-2007 10:58 AM

[IlanaSimons]

Jim--

That's an interesting angle: to attack this question from the writer's, rather than the educator's, perspective. It would be thrilling, I bet, to be the author of a book that all ages appreciate. And lucrative. We could form an algorithm for the “sellable high school book.” No joke: There were researchers (I don’t remember who now; do you?) who formed a computer program, incorporating past examples, to punch out the parameters for “best-selling fiction.”

You've probably hit some major requirements for a good high school book: Nail a cultural zeitgeist (a hard one to accomplish) and portray landscapes well (a clearer objective).

---

Fiction4Sale wrote:
I've thought about this a bit as a novelist because I've always wanted to write something that might be accessible to high schoolers and adults. And indeed there has to be something not too cranky and complex, let's say, about the language to start. You'll lose the young person if you're doing riverrun past eve&adams kind of modernist Joycean riffs. You tend to think too that you can emulate an earlier period of speaking if too arcane or argot or slang filled, say like street kids in an Irish neighborhood of New York, say 1840s. Historical fiction requires immersion in research; tread lightly if not ready for the research. Then again, you can't be quite sure until you know that historical sets language as a writer. Of course if it really matters to you as a writer, you'll write it anyway and let the chips fly. Truth is, the old saw, write about what you know best, however seemingly mundane...may be the best source for such seamlessly expressive works of fiction that bridge youth and adulthood for its the moral spirit in the work that carries the day.

So it may be easier to write contemporary stories or novels that capture the moral zeitgeist. Imagine trying to capture now something equivalent to Catcher in the Rye. The connection to the inner essence of the story, its proper plotting or narration, its language of description, of dialog, of introspection all need to arise from a coherent source and flow out to fill the work, its setting, characters, theme and spirit. Not easy to write, but certainly a pleasure to read generally.

I personally came at literary fiction slowly and enjoyed in my early adolescence detective fiction and Jules Verne science adventures. Taking those type masterplots and adding a bit more depth and seriousness, even complexity of plot and execution, you might carry the youth/adult audience. The Red Badge of Courage comes to mind, with Crane's wonderful cinematic eye and plot rhythms...and it has a moral to ponder. Wuthering Heights was a high school enforced read; it put me to sleep, literally. How I got through the exams I don't know. Only later could I read it again with some interest about the Bronte sisters. Overall, I'd say girls in high school have a finer appreciation for love stories and more generally relationship novels. Meanwhile guys are reading "Murder in the Rue Morgue" or "The Fall of the House of Usher" or "The Pit and the Pendulum"...I loved Treasure Island and most anything later on that I found that Stevenson wrote. My first serious embracing of a literary classic was Crime and Punishment...and feverish Raskalnikov literally gave me a day long headache.

A novel of relative seeming simplicity and French impressionistic beauty for me is Snow Country by Yasanuri Kawabata, the Japanese novelist. This is a love story of a married Tokyo businessman (a dilletante student of Western opera who's never seen an opera)who visits the spring baths in the north snow country each year and has a love affair getaway with the same springs geisha. The visual rendering of the landscapes of snow and village, the cold, the odd on and off again love affair, all are readable but there's something lost in translation I think for most adults much less a young person. Despite the fact the sexual relation is treated without explicit descriptive brushstrokes...the issue of adultery with a geisha even in a culturally relative situation would no doubt envelope any literary high school teacher in controversy. But my main point is this is readable as a young person as a beautifully painted descriptive text but I doubt the subtlety of the relationship messages about the difficulty to love between the main characters comes through given the complex customs and idiosyncratic psychologies of the individuals.

Briefly, here's another classic youth/adult novel, one of my anthropological favorites that speaks to the aesthetic-spiritual fulfillment of these extraodinary lasting novels:
Laughing Boy, "Capturing the essence of the Southwest in 1915, Oliver La Farge's Pulitzer Prize-winning first novel is an enduring American classic. At a ceremonial dance, the young, earnest silversmith Laughing Boy falls in love with Slim Girl, a beautiful but elusive "American"-educated Navajo. As they experience all of the joys and uncertainties of first love, the couple must face a changing way of life and its tragic consequences."

Message Edited by Fiction4Sale on 11-09-2007 10:58 AM

---

[Fiction4Sale]

Ilana,
Yes, that would be intriguing to define those rite de passages of the young adult market to the young adult, e.g., first love in the romance genre, or first combat in the world of young men (Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front perhaps)for coming of age adventure, etc. I think the challenge of seriously lasting fiction is getting fully inside a story and finding the spiritual-aesthetic energy to fill out the arc and flow of the plot, energize the characters and achieve the kind of seamless genuiness we expect.

A droll story from publishing was the answer Bennet Cerf, Editor In Chief of Random House, gave to the interview question...(paraphrasing):
"Sir, can you give us a book title that would guarantee best seller status?"
Cerf reflected briefly...Well, it would have to be something about the Civil War, by far the most popular time period, he said, maybe a title like LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG!

You know he's probably right: Civil War iconic President, his doctor and medical issues and wagging a shaggy dog sentimental tale/(tail).

I'll leave that tip for someone more ambitious...frankly, I'd prefer a cat...but they're maybe not as lovable in the annals of popular fiction. Cerf no doubt knew best.

Message Edited by Fiction4Sale on 11-09-2007 07:00 PM

[Choisya]

Mills & Booon/Harlequin have a formula for writing popular romances but do you want to go down in history as a 'pulp fiction' writer? I don't think there is a formula for good popular fiction, I think it is accidental. I doubt that Jane Austen ever gave a thought to the undying popularity of her novels when she wrote them, ditto any best selling classic writer. Making money is another matter entirely and to that end the M&B 'recipe' is probably as good as any.

http://www.jour.city.ac.uk/books/documents/features/millsandboon.htm

For a simple and beautiful book which appeals to all ages I think you would have to go a long way to top A Christmas Carol (which is being read in the December BNBC bookclub).

http://www.moleskinerie.com/2005/12/a_christmas_car.html

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?ean=9781593080334&z=y

---

Fiction4Sale wrote:
Ilana,
Yes, that would be intriguing to define those rite de passages of the young adult market to the young adult, e.g., first love in the romance genre, or first combat in the world of young men (Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front perhaps)for coming of age adventure, etc. I think the challenge of seriously lasting fiction is getting fully inside a story and finding the spiritual-aesthetic energy to fill out the arc and flow of the plot, energize the characters and achieve the kind of seamless genuiness we expect.

A droll story from publishing was the answer Bennet Cerf, Editor In Chief of Random House, gave to the interview question...(paraphrasing):
"Sir, can you give us a book title that would guarantee best seller status?"
Cerf reflected briefly...Well, it would have to be something about the Civil War, by far the most popular time period, he said, maybe a title like LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG!

You know he's probably right: Civil War iconic President, his doctor and medical issues and wagging a shaggy dog sentimental tale/(tail).

I'll leave that tip for someone more ambitious...frankly, I'd prefer a cat...but they're maybe not as lovable in the annals of popular fiction. Cerf no doubt knew best.

Message Edited by Fiction4Sale on 11-09-2007 07:00 PM

---

[KathyS]

We have a mixture of complex questions, so I am now thinking with a mixture of non-complex, but simple answers. I am in the state of feeling simply-simple-today. I took my magic key out my magic box, and stuck it into my left ear, and turned it 'round and 'round, until the little gray cogs stopped short of going BOING!

I am turning back time:

Because I primarily write in simple sentences, with simple words, I'm going to give you the first simple thing that comes into my simple mind, besides saying that I have read all of these authors, except one, which is probably a first for me on this board!

Do I like diversity in prose to spice up my thinking? As a child, teen, etc.....What questions do I ask myself when I read these and other books? Or should I say, was it necessary for me to ask these questions? I didn't think so at the time, so I didn't ask.
I just read and enjoyed them.

The metaphor that comes to my mind right now, is:
- What makes an apple pie a good apple pie? It's a simple pie to make, one main ingredient, but what makes mine taste better than someone else's?
And who's to judge?

Writers, or readers:
Cooks, or eaters:

Writing styles, primarily from people on this board, is diverse. I see all of these, and sigh with envy!

Writing styles:

When discussing a book with an author, we do see a lot of different styles of responses from the readers. As we're aware, no one sees/reads the book in the same light. Many different responses from these authors, as well. Their writing style in their responses is not always the same as how they write their story/novel.
I find this interesting.
Who are they writing to?

Writing styles vary, depending on moods, the time of day, and what points are to be made, and to whom. I see writing styles change when people on this board address me, as opposed to addressing someone else.
The levels are never level on this board.

But a writer/author has to make their writing consistent, and transcending, if they expect to have their readers to continue to read them....

What makes that apple pie good for me? If the pie crust is lousy, you may as well throw it out. That's my main concern. The writing, the delivery....the mainstay that holds the apples to their goodness. The apples can be as tasteless as the Delicious, to tasty combinations of Rome's and Grannies. And, of course, the spices which are used, makes it the apple pie to die for.

As a novel is written, all of these ingredients have to be present. The books that appeal to young readers, such as myself, may seem to have these simple combinations of ingredients. What is that appeal? It has to be something that appeals to all of these taste buds of mine. It has to be current, with flavor. Or take me back in time to something that speaks to me without time. Books that can be easily talked about, if I choose to do so, has to be in my language of understanding.

What makes these transcend the age groups? These stories are always current, mainly because they deal with continuing, ageless issues. They make you think, but without the complication of mixed metaphors, and overly flowerily prose. They say something to me that I may not consciously know I am assimilating, but know I got something from that story that spoke directly to me, without much thinking.

I can read the same book as someone else, and have totally different points of view on that book. Nothing new. What makes it new and pertinent to me, and not to someone else? It's our backgrounds. Not just the countries, the areas of our heritage, or our schooling, but who lives within our immediate community....family. How do I relate these stories to me? My taste buds want to taste something that is palatable, with flavor. Something that isn't flavorless, and crammed down my throat by an adult.

I want to escape: Children want to live outside of themselves.

I like to relate to animal thoughts. I relate to adventures of all kinds. I want magic in these stories. I want to believe I can be that person, or in that situation, and totally relate to all of these characters, subjects, or issues, that are never overblown, never making judgments about me within that society, just simply showing it to me, with that language of simplicity; a straight forward look at the communities in which I, or they, live in.

As the apples relate to the spices, they are carried by the crust; the masses of readers out there do not think about complex issues, if handed out in complex sentences. They want it immediate, and simple to taste it now.

Now:

As my mind develops, as I get older, I'm interested in what those spices are....the more profound writers, books and novels. Giving a deeper understanding, and value to put on our tastes, our minds. But, generally speaking, profound reading is geared for the more profound minds. But, as I've said before, I'd like to think that our minds can keep growing, and stretching, and tasting. We all have to start someplace. And going back and reading some of these more simpler novels, is not taking a step backwards, it just makes us re-awaken to that period of time.

See the difference:

I have friends that will read profound novels, but some will not enter into these discussions. I'm not sure why this is. Do you? Do we read profound, but not think and speak profound? They also read some of the most simplistic written books, as well. But these people are not simple. I think all writing/reading keeps those gray cogs greased! Simply put.

Now I'm going to go make an apple pie, and hopefully I won't slip on the grease!
Happy Eating...er....reading!

[Everyman]

---

IlanaSimons wrote:
I’d like to hear you say more about beauty.

---

I have been mulling that over in my mind a bit. What makes a book beautiful?

There are multiple ways a book can be beautiful. On the physical level, of course, a book can be a delight just to look at or to hold -- art books, books bound in rich leather with heavy paper, Audubon's original bird books, books with a particularly beautiful typeset and page layout, that level. Some books are a joy to read irrespective of their content. The very best books are those that a joy to read both for the content and for the physical feel of the book. In this respect, the Folio Society has produced some quite beautiful volumes.

But you were, I assume, talking about beauty in terms of the content of the book. That's harder.

In one category, I find books that make me thing deeply and leave me feeling better as a person beautiful. Some of Shakespeare does this. A number of poems do, if those count as books. Some of Plato does.

In another category, books that affirm the beauty of life I find beautiful. The most recent book in this category I have read is P.D. James's "Time to Be in Earnest."

Books in this category that would also appeal to younger readers? Certainly James Herriot's books about his life as a vet, particularly his earlier books.

Another set of books that I consider beautiful that would appeal to young readers are the Arthur Ransome series starting with Swallows and Amazons. They present such a wonderful mix of excitement, imagination, creativity, and pure happiness in children who are so normal that any child can relate to them; every child I have shared these books with has loved them and returned to them over and over. These are perhaps the most beautiful books for young readers that I know of.

[Choisya]

I agree that The Swallows and the Amazons are a beautiful series of adventure books for children and the descriptions of nature and wildlife are particularly fine because Ransome's father was a Professor of Natural History. The area in the English Lake District which Ransom wrote about is now a small adventure centre for children where you can take out a rowing boat called 'Amazon'. My eldest son lives in Cumbria and regularly takes his young son to the area he came to know well through the books he read as a boy. The film, with Virginia McKenna, was made there and is a reasonable representation of the books.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/content/articles/2005/07/26/swallows_and_amazons_feature.shtml

http://www.arthur-ransome.org/ar/swallows-and-amazons

You might enjoy a holiday here Everyman:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2001/02/16/etcon11.xml


(I find the British edition of Ilana's book physically beautiful - it is just the size for a cardigan pocket and has old-fashioned deckled edges.)

---

Everyman wrote:

---

IlanaSimons wrote:
I’d like to hear you say more about beauty.

---

I have been mulling that over in my mind a bit. What makes a book beautiful?

There are multiple ways a book can be beautiful. On the physical level, of course, a book can be a delight just to look at or to hold -- art books, books bound in rich leather with heavy paper, Audubon's original bird books, books with a particularly beautiful typeset and page layout, that level. Some books are a joy to read irrespective of their content. The very best books are those that a joy to read both for the content and for the physical feel of the book. In this respect, the Folio Society has produced some quite beautiful volumes.

But you were, I assume, talking about beauty in terms of the content of the book. That's harder.

In one category, I find books that make me thing deeply and leave me feeling better as a person beautiful. Some of Shakespeare does this. A number of poems do, if those count as books. Some of Plato does.

In another category, books that affirm the beauty of life I find beautiful. The most recent book in this category I have read is P.D. James's "Time to Be in Earnest."

Books in this category that would also appeal to younger readers? Certainly James Herriot's books about his life as a vet, particularly his earlier books.

Another set of books that I consider beautiful that would appeal to young readers are the Arthur Ransome series starting with Swallows and Amazons. They present such a wonderful mix of excitement, imagination, creativity, and pure happiness in children who are so normal that any child can relate to them; every child I have shared these books with has loved them and returned to them over and over. These are perhaps the most beautiful books for young readers that I know of.

---

Message Edited by Choisya on 11-11-2007 04:38 AM

[IlanaSimons]

Thanks for the kind comment about the look of the book, Choisya. Yes--I got lucky. The publisher treated me well, finding a really great designer for the book.

[Fiction4Sale]

Couple of comments...actually Jane Austen was rather cagey about dealing with her publisher and negotiating for their publication to enhance sales. She wasn't quite the retiring little minister's daughter and actually I was glad to hear that.

About a fifteen years ago I tried my hand at making a living writing fiction fulltime. I had had the privilege of studying with some very fine fiction writers; I also studied anthropology and saw this a chance to do some fieldwork in a new field. What an eye opener! I did everything, from bookdoctoring, ghosting, scriptwriting, story consulting and developmental edits...critiquing hundreds of manuscripts for agents, film producers and authors seeking help. Sometimes the money was good. I had one client whose revised novel became a New Age bestseller (more than six months) and got a movie deal. I got a few intermediate writers up to speed to sell stories and novels. A couple of short fiction clients won awards or nominations for prizes like the Pushcart Prizes or little magazine awards. But whether as a consultant or actual writer, there are a lot of people who think they can and should write a novel. Professional people like lawyers and doctors and hedge fund advisors (!), you name it, who lust after the stay-at-home novelist's hermit existence. Most talk about it. It's hard work learning the trade. And one of the oldest saws in the biz is first drafts are almost always "sh-tty". Start over and rewrite...and rewrite...ad nauseam. Many many are called but few get to the promised land of quality genre or literary writing. Agents have long held the 2% rule of thumb: only about 2% of submissions in the slush pile will stand the test of genre or literary quality. Sadly, many people are dazzled with the absurd notion they'll become bestselling authors and live the high life. Oh my god...it's a sad landscape of ambitious dreamers. People really think sitting in a room all day writing and re-writing is some kind of dream life (truth is, for genuine fiction writers, fiction is mental health; the worst time for them is between works; there is no choice; it's a kind of addiction to doing life). My goodness! Don't get me started! There's a reason writers are mistrusted by publishers...they're unpredictable, aggravating and "whack jobs" (another agent's remark); as one publisher said in the 1970s when the big corporate mergers began...if we could only get rid of the writers, publishing would be a great business!
Well, the scribes are still here and still annoying the unpredictable revenue stream of trade publishing. They can't engineer best sellers or classic literary works, the latter bringing less profit than prestige.
Writing and publishing are often fraught with difficulty and frustration. Most serious writers of fiction do care about the money but there's historically a better shot at making serious money playing the state lottery. Nathaniel West earned something like $400 total from The Day of the Locust. Faulkner would have starved on his novels until the Nobel struck him with the klieg light of great writer; he made money knocking out scripts and daydreaming of drinking and writing back in Oxford, Mississippi instead of Hollywood. Reader research shows most people who claim to have read the classics of literature haven't really. They maybe started the Sound and the Fury but never made the finish line; the same with Joyce, Proust, Woolf and on and on. It's a pleasure to be a member of a group of genuine readers who do "read the goddamned books" (as one of my grad professors challenged us!). But the point of Choisya is well taken that fully formed literary fiction is only vaguely associated with genre formulae. But it's genre formula fiction that sells. And all basic principles of good dramatic writing are nicely summarized in essence in Aristotle's The Poetics. Here in our inflationary times, the first question facing an agent and a buying editor at one of the big trade houses that pays advances is...will this novel or whatever sell? It's not, is this a well-written book. (think of the numbskull celebrity books; editors create, and package and ghosts polish these profitable fluff texts). In the meetings, marketing and sales puts in their two bits on that profitability probability. Add a senior publishing exec and the accounting/legal department's latest sell-through figures, and hear the booming voice of major corporate ownership (Gulf & Western) demanding a 15% profit rate of return...and you've got today's publishing mentality. Literary novels of great aesthetic achievement get rejected every week in New York and around the world. So, if you don't write genre stuff, or filmscripts, or knock-off ghostwriting gigs (all of which I tried when I wrote fiction to pay the family bills), odds are you're going to need a day job, e.g., teaching or editing or whatever...There's clearly a kind of graded spectrum of quality in writing fiction but if you take a genre and get too clever in language and execution...you pass up the quality scale out of the genre money making realm into faux genre works. Not much interest. Also the same is true if you mix or cross genres, say, romantic suspense (one agent said, to a bookdoctor client of mine with a fine book, that's considered to "soft" a market, toughen it up, make it more noir). Another agent agent told me once about 1999?, I can't sell anything with a boat in it...not since Titantic hit big; wait awhile and try later...and don't sink it! Blow it up!
Truth is, for the literary writer, those novels and stories that come from the soul, the heart, the guts...that's why you keep going. It's the juice that makes it all worth while. It's a magical experience to get inside a uniquely rendered story or novel and bring that into the light of day; you do hope after that to share it with an audience that enjoys language and moral-aesthetic actualization. And the good news is there are more opportunities with POD publishing to do what you want; also there are quite a number of smaller presses. But believe me, it's a brutal world of rejection at the level where there's competition for pay...the trade press level.
I've babbled enough! I look forward to enjoying the reading and re-reading and general discussion of these great texts. That's such a gift to writers with serious life goals.

Message Edited by Fiction4Sale on 11-11-2007 08:54 PM

[KathyS]

Simple:

http://www.tagnwag.com:80/dick_and_jane.html

The Little House on The Prairie series were simply written. Maybe that would classify them as beautiful. I think I went from listening to teachers read these books to me, to reading comic books, to novels...besides Clemens's Tom Sawyer, etc. adventures - led to dog/wolf stories, Jack London...then to horse stories, Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, Mary O'Hara's My Friend Flicka. I was nuts about horses. Doyle and Christie mysteries....Of course the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys...genre. I don't think these were assigned reading, but I liked them. I grew up reading in the 50's, so whoever was popular then, old and new, I read it. My mother read a lot of books. I know many of these author's names, that I had read, then, weren't geared for kids. I have no recollection of what was assigned reading in school. Were any of these books beautiful? Dunno.


A tag from a article....then.

By CATHERINE MACKENZIE

November 28, 1945, Wednesday

Page 30, 542 words

The way to write a book for children is to feel deeply about the theme and put the best creative work into it, regardless of contemporary social or political "trends," authorities in this field suggested in a panel discussion at the opening ...

Message Edited by KathyS on 11-11-2007 09:04 PM

[Choisya]

Posted in error.

Message Edited by Choisya on 11-14-2007 09:52 AM

[KathyS]

Choisya! Were did you take your friend's paintings? I just now saw them, and I wanted to comment!

Kathy

---

Choisya wrote:
Posted in error.

Message Edited by Choisya on 11-14-2007 09:52 AM

---

[Choisya]

Sorry Kathy - I decided I should make the people in my post anonymous and not to post the URLs so I will now re-enter here as follows:-

I thought folks here might be interested to know about the achievement of my 75 year old childhood friend, who gained a Degree in Fine Art this year and is now indundated with paying commissions! She and I studied art together but her father would not let her go to Art School and she became a nurse (I went but was an abject failure). Her husband was a local landscape artist who fortunately encouraged her. When he died after a long illness about six years ago, she decided to go to the local Art College and this is the result:-

'Seventy five year old ----------- caused quite a stir this year at ------- Degree Show. -----. Originally from Yorkshire ----- only decided to go to University after attending an afternoon watercolour class when she was sixety nine with ------ -----. She encouraged Hazel to take up art full time and so she went to A------ college and did the HNC City and Guilds Ceramics course where she received so much encouragement for her talent from teacher there, artist ------ ------ that she built up her folio, applied for and was accepted to the University of ------- College of Art. ----- says ‘It was just something I always wanted to do, and my kids were all grown up so I thought why not?’ ------ moved up to M------ after she was ‘captured by a Scot’ when she met her husband of 46 years. ----- says she loves Scotland and says ‘Scotland has been very good to her and her family’. ------ also received generous help from the university to pay her fees so that she could fulfil this life long dream. She has always enjoyed art but she says never even considered she would be able to study it. ------ work sold out at her Degree Show. She is now inundated with offers from galleries but as talented as she is modest she has trouble accepting them all as for her painting is more a hobby. She admits she has found it overwhelming but in a good way. We are delighted to show new pieces of her work this November at the gallery. ----- was recently featured on the BBC programme Ageism which focused on attitudes towards older members of society who are still very motivated to work in life. She says she found going college a fantastic experience and that the teachers were very supportive along with the students who made her fell very welcome and were also very supportive. She has spent most of the summer since gaining her 2:1 Degree organising a studio in her house in M-------. Later this year ----- is going to be taking part in exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians and the Leith Gallery’s New Faces show next year. ------'s subject matter and style is sensitive and poignant. Her works strike a nerve with the viewer with these cascading folds of white linen reminiscent of Alison Watt’s works.'

I have uploaded some photographs of her work onto Webshots so that you can get an idea of it but the photos are very poor. They can be enlarged or viewed as a small slideshow. The first work was at her degree show and sold to a prestigious Scottish gallery for $4000. The subject of her Dissertation was 'Linen' and she took as her inspiration linen and other materials painted by the Old Masters:-

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/561440286LHxOWF

I was sorry to miss her degree show because of illness but will be going up to see her (and to do her garden!) in the Spring when I hope to buy one of her paintings - if I can still afford it!

---

KathyS wrote:
Choisya! Were did you take your friend's paintings? I just now saw them, and I wanted to comment!

Kathy

---

Choisya wrote:
Posted in error.

Message Edited by Choisya on 11-14-2007 09:52 AM

---

---

Message Edited by Choisya on 11-14-2007 10:47 AM

[KathyS]

Choisya, thank you for bringing this story, and these pictures, back. Your friend sounds like such an inspiration! What a story to think about. I really do love these pictures. I'm always attracted to these types of settings, and knowing their history makes them even more enjoyable.

I wish they were in a larger format, I would love to see them up close, but even if I can't, they still emanate feelings from me. The simple tones of color, and solitude of the picture, gives something that is so simple, such depth. It's the same feeling I get when I view an Andrew Wyeth painting.

One of the hardest textures to paint, are these, and have you want to touch their beauty. You know I'm a tactile person, and when a painting does that to me, I know then, it gives something to the viewer.

I wish your friend an abundance of energy and good healthy, to keep her going forward in her painting career. And I certainly hope, when you see her, she'll honor you with one of her paintings.

Congratulations to your friend, Choisya....she sounds like she is more than deserving!

Kathy

[Choisya]

Thanks very much for your fulsome praise and good wishes for for my friend Kathy. She is indeed deserving - she had a very unhappy, abusive girlhood and nursed her beloved husband through bowel cancer. It is only these past seven years that she has come into her own and I have once again seen the spirit of the talented girl she once was. I believe she paints in either oils or acrylic so her paintings are quite tactile. When I go up next year I will do my best to take some good photographs or to obtain some from the galleries - if you are still around I will PM them to you.

I shall have to do a good job on her neglected garden so that she can't refuse me a painting at reduced cost!

---

KathyS wrote:
Choisya, thank you for bringing this story, and these pictures, back. Your friend sounds like such an inspiration! What a story to think about. I really do love these pictures. I'm always attracted to these types of settings, and knowing their history makes them even more enjoyable.

I wish they were in a larger format, I would love to see them up close, but even if I can't, they still emanate feelings from me. The simple tones of color, and solitude of the picture, gives something that is so simple, such depth. It's the same feeling I get when I view an Andrew Wyeth painting.

One of the hardest textures to paint, are these, and have you want to touch their beauty. You know I'm a tactile person, and when a painting does that to me, I know then, it gives something to the viewer.

I wish your friend an abundance of energy and good healthy, to keep her going forward in her painting career. And I certainly hope, when you see her, she'll honor you with one of her paintings.

Congratulations to your friend, Choisya....she sounds like she is more than deserving!

Kathy

---

Message Edited by Choisya on 11-14-2007 12:16 PM