Reader discussion: Legacy

Public reader discussion about Legacy in the WeRead Catalog by James H. Schmitz.

From ‘today not widely read’ to ‘signs of renewed interest’ to ubiquity: examples of literary resurrections in the past decade or so (inspired by Shirley Jackson)

By aqua_sparrow4801

I rewatched *The Haunting* (1963) last night and then started thinking about the book, which I read a few years back. What I keep noticing is how suddenly Shirley Jackson seemed to blow up out of nowhere—like her books were just everywhere. I’d see those Penguin Modern Classics editions piling up in shops and libraries, and it didn’t feel like that kind of slow, steady thing. It might line up with the timing of all the adaptations—*We Have Always Lived in the Castle* getting made into a film, *The Haunting of Hill House* turning into that Netflix miniseries, and then that movie *Shirley* that came out later. But still… was all that interest mostly a good thing, or just something more neutral? Or does it feel kind of bad if it’s more “industry momentum” than people actually discovering her naturally? I went back to an October 2016 essay about her, and at that point it was more like “renewed interest,” not full-on resurrection status. Then five-ish years later she’s treated like a modern classic, and that timeline feels way too fast to me. Like, I can’t help thinking it’s consumer-driven because of how popular Mike Flanagan’s series was, but it also feels like publishing just got the ball rolling and didn’t look back. Anyway, I’m curious what other people think about the last decade of Shirley Jackson getting pushed back into everyone’s faces. And does anyone else remember other authors who had that same kind of surge in visibility? I’m not trying to compare them exactly, but it feels like Natalia Ginsburg and Clarice Lispector got bigger too. Even Thomas Bernhard seems like he’s had a crazy rise, and Robert Musil maybe is starting to move that direction again. Right now it feels like he’s still somewhere around the “signs of renewed interest” stage.

Question for fiction readers: what are the things that annoy you in books? I'm asking from a fantasy & science fiction reader perspective, but feel free to comment if you're just interested in reading no matter the genre

By deepwren

Gimme a minute. For fantasy stuff, I feel like it’s often just way too dark. Like, some books seem like they’re trying really hard to be edgy and heavy instead of actually being fun. I get that you want the mood a little gloomy, but after the umpteenth time you realize that in this world every character’s a jerk, people keep getting mistreated, women get abused, and if someone dies it’s almost always horribly, it just starts to wear you out.

The Modern Library List--how many have you read?

By jar967

I’ve read maybe 75-80% of these. A few I still haven’t gotten to are Appointment in Samarra, The House of Mr. Biswas, and Finnegan’s Wake. I’m not really a fan of lists like this, but I was curious. I did look at Le Monde’s list too (kind of heavily French, unsurprisingly) and I’d only read around 60% there. If I made my own list, it would definitely look way different.

Best of the best

By ScarfPlain2002

I’m kinda blown away by how much talent Robert Penn Warren had—especially as this big Southern author/poet from the 20th century. My pick for his best is *All the King’s Men*, and it’s basically about a corrupt politician, kind of like Huey Long. Right behind that, I’d say *At Heaven’s Gate*—it’s really complicated, but in a way that just keeps you locked in. I finished it and immediately wanted to go back and read it again from the start. I grabbed the audiobook for *All the King’s Men* through the library app Libby, and the narrator is honestly flawless. And his writing is so smooth it’s like you forget where you are and what time it is.

Does anyone know any classic sci-fi books with good female characters?

By Small-Mug1980

Kind of just putting this out there, but does anyone have recommendations for classic sci-fi where the women aren’t just there to look pretty or be a “sexy lamp” type character? Like, are any of the women actually the main characters, or at least not totally sidelined? This is a bit of a rant, sorry, but I’m honestly tired of getting told to read the “everyone says it’s a must, if you don’t read it you’re not really a sci-fi fan” classics… and then the only women in the whole thing are either really dull, not even around much, or basically only exist as eye candy. It feels like it’s almost always dudes as the main characters. And if the aliens show up, it’s usually either some completely male alien society with slave women, or a female alien race that’s mostly just super sexy and trying to get with the human men (or whatever species). And when there actually are human women, they’re almost always like 17–23, also extremely sexualized, and they’re the love interest or the “conquest” thing for the main guy. It’s just… exhausting and not interesting to me. This trope feels way too common in sci-fi. Anyway, I’d really love recs for books that don’t do this, or at least have some genuinely interesting women instead. Edit: Thanks to everyone who replied! I didn’t think I’d get so many responses, but I made a list of some of the most common ones people mentioned (especially the ones that sounded the most interesting) and I think I’m good for a while. I got overwhelmed and couldn’t reply to everyone, but I really appreciate all the recommendations, seriously.

Project Gutenberg is the world's largest digital library of over 57,000 free ebooks. Contains some of the most important literary works in history.

By BeanBee

Project Gutenberg is the best thing around. If anyone’s curious, https://librivox.org/ is kind of the same deal, just with audiobooks.

Writers taking over book series after the original writers die. Why that never quite works

By Lone_Summer1979

After Robert B. Parker died in 2010, I guess his estate brought in a bunch of other writers to keep going with the series he’d started. I’ve read six of the Spenser books by Ace Atkins. They’re fun enough, but they’re also kind of annoying to read, like you’re listening to a cover band playing your favorite songs. It’s close, but it’s not the real thing—more like Beatlemania than the Beatles. Like, a genuinely great writer will throw you for a loop every once in a while. But if someone is basically hired to write in a specific person’s voice, even if they’re doing it well, you can kind of predict what you’re going to get. It’ll match what they were told to mimic, not surprise you. I don’t want to be too mean about Atkins, though. He had a job and he seems to have done it. I even added one of his original books to my to-be-read list.

If you're into espionage (well, reading about it anyway), we've interviewed quite a few experts on the best spy books…

By marble-chilly

I just started reading the Slow Horses books by Mick Herron, and I’m already hooked. It’s basically about this drunk, overweight, really old Cold War guy running a bunch of total mess-ups, while the new, flashy MI-5 seems like they’d rather just make them vanish.

The Surprisingly Controversial Legacy of Fabio

By Honest-Key

Does anyone else remember when he stopped what he was doing just to kill a bird on the roller coaster? Like… what a total jerk.

The Hawthorne Legacy

By door_rusty92

I read the first one, *The Inheritance Games*, and I really liked it. The plot was solid and the ending had a good cliffhanger. I figured the second book, *The Hawthorne Legacy*, would be just as good, but instead it felt like it got totally changed. I’m not going into details, but it honestly started to feel like fan fiction. I just couldn’t bring myself to finish it, and in my opinion it would’ve worked better as a standalone.