after some thought

[maribou]

Most overrated: _The Stranger_ by Camus. I've read it in French, I've read it in 2 English translations, and I still feel pretty 'enh' about it. I get the feeling I'm not meant to be rolling my eyes at the narrator quite so much.
Most underrated: this is the really hard one, but today I'm feeling like it's anything by Peter Watts, Steven Gould, or Laura Mixon. Of the science fiction writers I wasn't already reading ten years ago, they are far and away my favorites, and while reviews have been generally positive, not enough people have even HEARD of them. Let alone read them. Go read them. Promulgate them. Make it so they can afford to write more books. I'll appreciate it.

Comments

[9thmoon.livejournal.com]

Peter Watts is on my list.

Why did you read a book three times if you didn't like it the first time?

[maribou]

Well, the first time I was fourteen, and it was in French... and so later, when I was about 19, I thought, foolishly, that I might just have not been old enough to appreciate it or smart enough about the subtleties of my second language or something, so I tried it. Then last year in college I took an existentialism course, and it was required reading, and a different translation, so I figured what the hell. It's not a terrible book, the last time I read it I liked it better than the first 2 times ....... just... Thank whomever that Jay made me read the _Myth of Sisyphus_ or I would've never trid any other Camus.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

WOOOOOOOOO Steven Gould! If the other two are anything like him, I'm going to get some of their books TOMORROW.

[maribou]

I'd say Laura Mixon is somewhat similar to Gould, if only because they're married and these things tend to lead to certain harmonies... and yeah, Watts is somehow resonant to Mixon...... but really they're not terribly similar except for quality. Oh, yeah, and INTELLIGENCE. And LUCIDITY. Hee.

[wendevious.livejournal.com]

You know, you're right. I read it in French, and attributed my lack of awe to my sketchy French. But then I read it in English and I was just, well, bored.