Well said. I only realised in the last year or two that I really love George Michael. It really wasn’t the done thing for a straight boy in the 80s to approve of him but now I just hear a heavenly voice.
I wasn't a fan of Wham, and although I enjoyed some of his singles, I didn't realise I'd not really appreciated his talent until after he died. I got hooked on Listen Without Prejudice and Older.
I wonder how many of our 'guilty pleasures' are guilty because they have been deemed so by others? My gran was a voracious reader of romances: she particularly liked hospital romances, but hey, any old romance would do, even historical, at a pinch (not a Heyer fan, my gran). She read an average of one a day, all from the library (there wasn't a book in the house other than library books). When I got old enough to read 'her' books, I got hell for it. You shouldn't be reading this rubbish, you should be reading Good Books. She went on and on and on about it, for years. To the point where, when I could buy my own books, I couldn't bring myself to buy what she called 'rubbish'. I still struggle with it, and I'm now in my early sixties, gran long gone. It's not my own judgement, though, it's hers.
I think you're right. Actually, you reminded me of my interview for the grammar school. Miss Lester asked me what I liked reading, and I talked about Jane Eyre. She asked me, rather sternly, if I'd been told not to mention Enid Blyton. I was quite shy back then but had the sense to answer truthfully - yes I had been warned. And I did like Enid Blyton, but preferred Malcolm Saville, but also loved Jane Eyre.
And there's still a general snobbishness around women's fiction - which is not just romance but anything which deals with the stuff of everyday life. Unless it's on the same kinds of themes but written by a man, in which case it's brave and sensitive and moving....
Just did the George Saunders grid and a few things popped into mind I'd forgotten about. But I think, writing SF, one's not allowed to be precious about influences (even if I had read a few classics (thank, Mum)) so I've been happy to admit to my first crush (Marine Boy, aged 4) and then the very mixed influences of a bookish mother, eccentric dogrel-performing father, and punk college years - plus science, travel, ecology... composting Dickens with Murderbot and Monbiot. It's fun now it's occurred to me that absolutely no one else will have quite the same decay ecology in their mind.
Guilty pleasures always reminds me of the Tim Minchin sketch where he's unsure what to say when someone asks him but realises it shouldn't be something like 'watching Nazi porn dressed as Iggle Piggle' and opts for 'cheese' (which is my least favourite of his songs). I've taken to Strictly this season, for the sheer escapism. Also I like escaping people (much as I love them) and I love disco and pop music (because I did loads of aerobics in my 20s and that was the backing we used. Patti Labelle's New Attitude is just brilliant.) I love John Newman's Love me Again and the Kungs, and Lily Wood and, shh, James Blunt. I know. My father must be spinning in his grave (I wasn't allowed pop/rock music till I'd done O'levels).
I think that's true of crime fiction too in a way - that we're kind of expected to mention The Secret Seven and Nancy Drew. Though I confess I'm not a fan of Sherlock Holmes, unless it's the Cumberbatch version..
I've still not done the exercise - but am sort of looking forward to it.
Being sent to ballroom dancing by June when I was a very clumsy eleven year old likely didn't help with Strictly - it put me off dancing for ages, as the very first thing I did at my first lesson was fall over in front of everyone....
But my dad was a brilliant dancer and used to do all that traditional ballroom stuff. He gave it all up, as he did everything else he loved.... but he turned up on the day I was granted a medal to show I'd completed the beginner class - pity I expect - he had a fabulous time. He knew one of the teachers from his old dancing days and he was waltzing and foxtrotting and even tangoing. I saw a side of him I just hadn't known about and that made it worthwhile, in retrospect
Well said. I only realised in the last year or two that I really love George Michael. It really wasn’t the done thing for a straight boy in the 80s to approve of him but now I just hear a heavenly voice.
Come to think of it, I am still impressed by the openness and courage of that album title. Listen Without Prejudice. Genius, really
I wasn't a fan of Wham, and although I enjoyed some of his singles, I didn't realise I'd not really appreciated his talent until after he died. I got hooked on Listen Without Prejudice and Older.
I wonder how many of our 'guilty pleasures' are guilty because they have been deemed so by others? My gran was a voracious reader of romances: she particularly liked hospital romances, but hey, any old romance would do, even historical, at a pinch (not a Heyer fan, my gran). She read an average of one a day, all from the library (there wasn't a book in the house other than library books). When I got old enough to read 'her' books, I got hell for it. You shouldn't be reading this rubbish, you should be reading Good Books. She went on and on and on about it, for years. To the point where, when I could buy my own books, I couldn't bring myself to buy what she called 'rubbish'. I still struggle with it, and I'm now in my early sixties, gran long gone. It's not my own judgement, though, it's hers.
I think you're right. Actually, you reminded me of my interview for the grammar school. Miss Lester asked me what I liked reading, and I talked about Jane Eyre. She asked me, rather sternly, if I'd been told not to mention Enid Blyton. I was quite shy back then but had the sense to answer truthfully - yes I had been warned. And I did like Enid Blyton, but preferred Malcolm Saville, but also loved Jane Eyre.
And there's still a general snobbishness around women's fiction - which is not just romance but anything which deals with the stuff of everyday life. Unless it's on the same kinds of themes but written by a man, in which case it's brave and sensitive and moving....
Just did the George Saunders grid and a few things popped into mind I'd forgotten about. But I think, writing SF, one's not allowed to be precious about influences (even if I had read a few classics (thank, Mum)) so I've been happy to admit to my first crush (Marine Boy, aged 4) and then the very mixed influences of a bookish mother, eccentric dogrel-performing father, and punk college years - plus science, travel, ecology... composting Dickens with Murderbot and Monbiot. It's fun now it's occurred to me that absolutely no one else will have quite the same decay ecology in their mind.
Guilty pleasures always reminds me of the Tim Minchin sketch where he's unsure what to say when someone asks him but realises it shouldn't be something like 'watching Nazi porn dressed as Iggle Piggle' and opts for 'cheese' (which is my least favourite of his songs). I've taken to Strictly this season, for the sheer escapism. Also I like escaping people (much as I love them) and I love disco and pop music (because I did loads of aerobics in my 20s and that was the backing we used. Patti Labelle's New Attitude is just brilliant.) I love John Newman's Love me Again and the Kungs, and Lily Wood and, shh, James Blunt. I know. My father must be spinning in his grave (I wasn't allowed pop/rock music till I'd done O'levels).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF45J4PFWy0&list=RDHF45J4PFWy0&start_radio=1
And yes - it is surely the combinations of all these influences that makes us unique as people and as writers.
I think that's true of crime fiction too in a way - that we're kind of expected to mention The Secret Seven and Nancy Drew. Though I confess I'm not a fan of Sherlock Holmes, unless it's the Cumberbatch version..
I've still not done the exercise - but am sort of looking forward to it.
Being sent to ballroom dancing by June when I was a very clumsy eleven year old likely didn't help with Strictly - it put me off dancing for ages, as the very first thing I did at my first lesson was fall over in front of everyone....
But my dad was a brilliant dancer and used to do all that traditional ballroom stuff. He gave it all up, as he did everything else he loved.... but he turned up on the day I was granted a medal to show I'd completed the beginner class - pity I expect - he had a fabulous time. He knew one of the teachers from his old dancing days and he was waltzing and foxtrotting and even tangoing. I saw a side of him I just hadn't known about and that made it worthwhile, in retrospect