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Name a "Mainstream BlockBuster" you actually like!

Forever Amber, Gone with the Wind, The Thornbirds...Judith Kranz, Jackie Collins..yup read them all with relish at some point in my life.......
 
Shade said:
By and large, yes. If a book really does appeal to hundreds of millions of people - which must be approaching 5-10% of the entire population of the world, men, women and children, of all nationalities - then there must be an element of lowest-common-denominator to it. Beryl Bainbridge pointed out that serious literature has always been a minority interest:



That's why there's always a difference between literature and entertainment. Blockbusters rarely do anything that film or TV or other media can't do equally well, and so can't cope with the greater subtleties of literature, like use of language, narrative voice, and so on. Blockbusters also tend to be cleaner-cut and rely more on resolution of plot, which loses the ambiguities which are so important in good books. A book should be a conversation between writer and reader; you get out of what you put into it. In a blockbuster where everything is there for you by the time you reach the last page, there's nothing to put in and nothing to get out. It's a monologue, not a dialogue.

I say all this as someone who has never been naturally drawn to blockbusters. Once or twice I have wondered if I was missing something from avoiding all these bestsellers, and dipped my toe in the likes of Michael Crichton and Thomas Harris. Both, I felt, stank to high heaven.



Doubtful - but then I would say that the stuff I like is for everyone - and yer 'average Joes' just don't make the effort with it!
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This post as turned the way I look at so many things. Thanks Shade!
 
jenngorham said:
what about lonesome dove? that was a huge miniseries and a bestseller. i loved both of the those as well. not to mentions mcmurtry's terms of endearment, but actually i don't know how well the book did.
either way lonesome dove was a hit in it's day.
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It was a blockbuster, and the movie was made for TV, so on the surface, Lonesome Dove had all the markings of a schlocky, mass-marketed mess.

Nevertheless, THE BOOK IS WONDERFUL!! (So was the mini-series.) It's well-written, fast moving, great dialog, exceptionally well-drawn characters. The only thing that kept it from being "great literature" (if, in fact, anything does...) was that it had no Deep Thoughts. You laughed/you cried. You were stuck like glue to the pages until you finished. You missed everyone when it was over.

In fact, I never entirely got that book out of my mind. Every time I go to Austin, Texas (about once a year) I think about how that one character wanted to be buried there, and I wonder where it is he wanted to be buried.

I agree with you. Lonesome Dove would be my choice as well.
 
namedujour said:
It was a blockbuster, and the movie was made for TV, so on the surface, Lonesome Dove had all the markings of a schlocky, mass-marketed mess.

Nevertheless, THE BOOK IS WONDERFUL!! (So was the mini-series.) It's well-written, fast moving, great dialog, exceptionally well-drawn characters. The only thing that kept it from being "great literature" (if, in fact, anything does...) was that it had no Deep Thoughts. You laughed/you cried. You were stuck like glue to the pages until you finished. You missed everyone when it was over.

In fact, I never entirely got that book out of my mind. Every time I go to Austin, Texas (about once a year) I think about how that one character wanted to be buried there, and I wonder where it is he wanted to be buried.

I agree with you. Lonesome Dove would be my choice as well.
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I'm going to have to read it now, I loved that miniseries so much. I can still hear Tommy Lee Jones saying ''I swear....''
 
of course, the harry potter series.. even tho i got into it before all the hubub... so far i'm living the da vinci code as well..
 
Sudden appetite

I hate to say it -- although not really -- but all that discussion made me wanna run right out and read The DaVinci Code. j/k j/k but not quite, really. :rolleyes: It sure does make me want to finally, after all this time, at least hold it in my hand and browse it, and then who knows ......? /running fast and far :p/
In fact, there is still time for me to make it to my local bookstore -- yes, open on Sunday! -- and grab it. /running still faster, farther -- toward my local bookstore/

And if I like it, I won't mention it here :cool:
Peder
 
Peder said:
I hate to say it -- although not really -- but all that discussion made me wanna run right out and read The DaVinci Code. j/k j/k but not quite, really. :rolleyes: It sure does make me want to finally, after all this time, at least hold it in my hand and browse it, and then who knows ......? /running fast and far :p/
In fact, there is still time for me to make it to my local bookstore -- yes, open on Sunday! -- and grab it. /running still faster, farther -- toward my local bookstore/

And if I like it, I won't mention it here :cool:
Peder
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Yes! Me too. Ironically all the negative stuff people say on TBF makes me want to read it. Maybe I'm a natural-born contrarian.
 
novella said:
Yes! Me too. Ironically all the negative stuff people say on TBF makes me want to read it. Maybe I'm a natural-born contrarian.
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Ah, Novella!
A kindred spirit! It takes a contrarian to know the word! YAY for the company at the lonely outpost. :D
Peder

BTW I did buy the book! Sshh. Tell no one!
 
Hmm, popular titles that I actually like... the Left Behind series!!! Harry Potter to a lesser extent because I only read them for Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.
 
I like the Harry Potter series, as well as The Da Vinci Code. I also enjoy a few of Stephen King's books. I'm not really a literary type of person.
 
I hate to say it, but I enjoyed "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown. Really flat characters and a 6th grade reading level writing style. But the story itself was damn exciting. And no, I don't believe what he wrote is/was true, but kudos to him for doing the research to write the book.

Actually, is it even considered a mainstream blockbuster?
 
this is the first thead of this length that ive read completely. ive really enjoyed it, that being said, does that make me an elitist, brocoli head, green bean head, dan brown lover/hater, or does that mean that i think all 100 million people have read me books are trash and so are the people that read them, all books that i like are elite and all others are shlit, the thornbirds were great, the thornbirds were terrible, i dont know a good book from a bad book because i havnt read any classics
what the hell does dichotomy mean?

jaws was trash, TdVc was elite, motokid seems to love debating(i could be wrong), i didnt read harry potter before all the hype, i didnt read the DVC before all the hype, i like reading easy boooks even when i know there not 'written well"(America 2040), i think a book that sold millions of copys and was read by millions of people is a good thing even if it was a 'bad' book because hopefully they enjoyed it, the world of books is a better place in my world because of stephen king, marathon runners probly dont mind the 5000k runners because they cant beat them, 5k runners would probly pass out half way threw a marathon, i cant spell, i define shlit as things that i dont enjoy, i know very intellegent people who like dan brown, i know very intellegent people that like beavis and butthead, i swear on the bible i wrote the di vinci code, singling people out is pretty f'ed up, owe its on, cold mountain was ok, big trouble in little china got 1 five star reviews, 2 4str revws, 8 3sr revws 1 2str reviews and 9 1str revws, i think the DT7 was a blockbuster, im telling you what i really think, disregard this post
 
Stewart said:
If they are around to stay then they are valid. Brahms, Chopin, Hendrix, and Nirvana are still here and are valid. I doubt Brown will remain valid.
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Brown wrote an original, and detailed, story about the Holy Grail. That will be relevant longer after you and I are gone.
 
I believe the bible is still the best selling book of all time. Unless you want to call it "Crap," you can't say that all best sellers are crap.
 
Shade said:
By and large, yes. If a book really does appeal to hundreds of millions of people - which must be approaching 5-10% of the entire population of the world, men, women and children, of all nationalities - then there must be an element of lowest-common-denominator to it.
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I have to disagree. A book can be popular because it offers insight on humanity and we're all human. A book about death can be popular because it teaches us something about a journey that we're all going to take.

To me, offering insight on humanity, is art.
 
Doug Johnson said:
I believe the bible is still the best selling book of all time. Unless you want to call it "Crap," you can't say that all best sellers are crap.
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"The Bible is crap."

To me, offering insight on humanity, is art
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By that definition, Hallmark greetings cards are art whenever they say something true about people, however banal or hackneyed.
 
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