Accidents Waiting to Happen has been out for a while, so emails have been hitting my mailbox from readers. I can honestly say there’s a little bit of trepidation when I receive an email titled: I’ve read your book. Sounds innocuous enough, but a statement like that can be read a bunch of ways. I’ve read your book…and I loved it. But it could also mean, I’ve read your book…and you should be looking over your shoulder for a long time because I know where you live, you son of a bitch.
Luckily the emails I’ve received have been the former and not the latter—and for those who think the latter, I’m armed, okay? So just back off, buddy.
So my ego has been fed over recent weeks with some very nice praise. One of the recurring themes has been along the lines of, “a great beach read.”
Hmm. A great beach read, eh? No one has mentioned anything about it being a future classic of literature or a life changing experience. It keeps picking up the beach and airplane tag. I mentioned this to a friend and they asked, “Aren’t you offended?”
The simple answer is no. I think it’s wonderful to be thought of as a beach or airplane read. I have no pretensions. I really mean it when I say I want to entertain the reader. I don’t have an agenda. I don’t want to educate. I want to provide a little escapism. I want someone to forget how cramped it is in economy and how much work is building on their desk while they veg out on the beach as they flip through the pages of my imagination. If the book ends up as a dog-eared bundle of pages that spends the rest of its productive life as a doorstop, so be it. All I ask is that they’ll remember me the next time they hit the beach or board a plane.
Yours in your hand luggage,
Simon Wood
Simon, I feel the same way. I want people to laugh, to forget about the hard stuff for a little while, to be entertained. There are plenty of important, thoughtful books out there, brilliantly written, but I think writing something that makes people laugh and have fun is more where I fit in the spectrum. And when someone writes to tell me I did that? I am over the moon.
At least they’re not calling it a great bathroom read.
I’ve read you novel, and I think it’s great … just about anywhere.
Stacey
At first I bristled at any comment that included the phrase “a fast read,” or “a real page-turner,” or “a beach read.”
I’m smarter now.
Now I know it means “an engrossing read.” Or “something I want to read, not something I have to.”
Simon,I’m right with you. “Beach-read,” “Fun,” “A kick,” and “Fast-read,” all of these labels delight me.
My job is entertainment.
Although I write about some heavy historic/political topics from time to time, I also love it when readers tell me they were up all night reading a Mas Arai mystery. Hearing “page turner” is music to my ears.
I think I would like a blurb along the lines of “A great bathroom read. You couldn’t get me out of there. I didn’t leave until my legs went number.”
Great post, Simon. Delightful to see you getting praise where praise is due.
I can hear my first Publisher’s Weekly Review, now…. “Leave this one by the commode, where it belongs.”
A worse review would be, “I found this book most absorbant…”
Or, “If only this book’s paper was flushable, I would have found something of use in Mr. Cochran’s debut effort.”
that would be harsh…
m739k