since forsaken -- or a workaholic, -- which I used to be part-time, but
now am full time -- I read strictly for fun. Now fun varies from person
to person, just as when someone reviews a book, he or she is merely
expressing his or her personal opinion. Do not let that influence you.
Make up your own mind.
As for myself, I actually had great fun reading Chaucer in Middle
English with the help of a great Chaucerian scholar. While I owned close
to 20 horses, -- i.e. muck muck muck stalls till you drop drop drop
--- I had almost as much fun reading Romance novels. I spent close to a
year reading close to one a day. (I didn't get much sleep when I was
young. One of the Pharoas said: Sleep is the brother of death, which
somehow stuck to me). I was amazed at how well these writers, the good
ones, were in command of their craft. So are the ones who write
marvelous series.
So why, would they never be considered for a Nobel Prize or the
Pulitzer? Which happen to be some of the great and few rewards for the
serious writer. It's the word "serious" that makes the difference.
Literature serves as the mirror to our lives and to our place in
history, even to our fantasies. It has to be brutally honest. It has to
have meaning. It, more than any other art form, goes into the depth of
our lives, easily combining the life of the body and that of the mind
and soul. To do this, the writer has to be master of the craft of
writing. He also has to be able to afford the time and isolation to
create such works of culture and history. He has to be able to make a
living. We have already lost some of our brightest minds to banking,
instead of the sciences because of the lure of the mighty dollar.
Striving for good literature is more important than striving for
commercial success. It is a cause for which writers and readers have to
unite.
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