Comments on: Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

By: Superfast Reader

Superfast Reader — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:40:58 +0000

Glad you liked it! Definitely more literary than most page turners. I liked that, too.

By: Laura Droege

Laura Droege — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:41:11 +0000

I stayed up late finishing this book, too; that doesn’t happen very often, given that I am not a late night person!

I really enjoyed the literary quality of it. I have a master’s degree in English, and I got a hoot out of Blue’s constant referencing of source material for her observations, how the novel was structured as a course syllabus, and the final examination. Excellent read.

By: Superfast Reader

Superfast Reader — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:35:10 +0000

I really fell in love with it, but you’re not the only person I’ve met who had that reaction.

By: Libby

Libby — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:16:28 +0000

Reposting a comment from email:

I blogged a while back about checking out Special Topics in Calamity Physics from the library. I never really got into it before I had to return it — it seemed, at least at the beginning, to have crossed my (somewhat arbitrary) mental line between “fun intellectual jokes” and “pretentious”. What do y’all think? Does this
change as the book gets rolling, or should I give it up and move on to re-reading The Remains of the Day?

By: Peggy

Peggy — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:05:02 +0000

Thank you. I might even have that book. Now I plan to read it.

By: superfastreader

superfastreader — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:48:31 +0000

You might like Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer–I read it recently & it addresses a lot of what you’re talking about. It’s all about immersing yourself in literature.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:46:37 +0000

I agree. This book does engage with “the biggest issues of life” and that alone may be my answer. I guess I have to take a literature course again. I seem to now know what I like but not why. When I try to read a book like “The DaVinci Code” I am painfully aware of the poor writing and carelessly developed plot and its basic untruthfullness to how real people think and act. Any suggestions on what I might read (nonfiction?) to help me get back in touch with what I might have known when I was getting my Master’s degree in English at NYU a long long time ago? (I am now trying to finish a one-act play and immersion with thoughts on good literature might help.)

By: superfastreader

superfastreader — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:13:16 +0000

I think we can start by asking “What is literature NOT?” I think a lot of people would say that genre fiction does not “count” as literature, even though genre books can and do engage with the biggest issues in life. I think any definition of literature needs to reject the false dichotomy between genre books and “serious” books.

What do you think?

By: Peggy

Peggy — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:03:19 +0000

I’m 2/3 finished with “Special Topics in Calamity Physics.” There are very few books that I can’t stop reading. I usually set myself a chapter goal. I’m also re-reading “The Spoils of Poynton” and will take several weeks to get through it, although it is a short novel–at least for Henry James. I agree that Pessl’s book is defintely “literature.” But I can’t define why it is. Or is the asking wrong–like “What is this painting about?”