Attention Kate Atkinson Fans

[coalescent]

Kate Atkinson's Case Histories was the first selection of the litblog co-op. For those who might not be aware (I'm thinking white_hart might be interested):

AUGUST 29 - KATE ATKINSON

Well don't say LBC doesn't keep its word - however late. Kate Atkinson will, indeed, be dropping by here next Monday, August 29th to discuss Case Histories. If you've got any questions you'd like forwarded to her in advance, please drop us a line and we'll make sure she gets them all.

In other words, today. And, indeed, she has already started blogging, although I imagine things won't fully kick off until America gets out of bed.

Comments

[white_hart]

As I haven't read any of the other novels you mention I can't really say how they compare; otoh, if Saturday is anything like Enduring Love I think my reaction might be rather similar to yours to Case Histories. I could see that EL was a good book, but it did absolutely nothing for me.

I seem to recall there being something in one of the papers not too long ago about the way that men rarely read novels by women, whereas women read novels by both men and women; it was certainly very noticeable at Borders that evening that the majority of people who had enjoyed Atkinson's writing enough to come and see her were women. Again, I haven't read CH, but the other novels and the short stories are very much focused on women, on women's experiences and relationships; even where the focus shifts to male characters they still tend to be explored in terms of their relationships with the significant women in their lives. I don't know whether, as a woman, I find it easier to engage with her writing than a man might, or whether my experiences put me closer to the characters so that the novels shed new light on things I have some understanding of already.

It's a worry when I'm quite happy to read Stephen Baxter destroying the universe for the nth time but can't handle a simple crime story

Destruction of the universe is such an obviously fictional event that, as a reader, one can just go along for the ride, whereas a well-written novel set in a carefully-drawn 'real' world which chimes closely with the reader's experience can be profoundly depressing largely because it's fr more difficult to put it aside with the consoling thought that 'it's just a story'. Which may well be why genre fiction is so often considered 'easier' than mainstream literary fiction, however complex it may be.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall there being something in one of the papers not too long ago about the way that men rarely read novels by women, whereas women read novels by both men and women;

This was in The Times, I remember ripping the article out so I could look it up ont web and post it here but alas it wasn't on their site. It was a bloody stupid article.

The central character of CH is a man but there are several viewpoint characters. I don't think the reader's sex makes a difference to engaging with Atkinson's works, rather is coalescent is a mimetophobe/genretard/wronghead*.

* Delete as applicable.