DT Project | S2 E7 | Popular vs Literary Fiction

Today I talk about popular fiction and literary fiction and The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

JOIN THE PATREON FAMILY & The Readrum Book Club!

CHECK OUT THE PODCAST I CO-HOST!

USE MY BOOKDEPOSITORY AFFILIATE LINK (I get a small commission if you use this link to purchase your next read):

CONNECT WITH ME OTHER PLACES!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[dianapalenzuela]

Ooooh I LOVE this video! I never understood the categories on libraries and book stores - you opened my eyes! Now it means I have to watch everything you ever posted, that's weekend sorted :)

[autumnrose]

There's a quote in one of the dark tower books where Roland says something along the lines of "why would people only want one flavor in a book?" I think Stephen King purposely made the dark tower to fit under a bunch of different genres. It could sci fi, it could be horror, it could be fantasy, but it's not one, it's all of these things.

[DaisyXMachina]

Love this video. I remember when I was an assistant manager in a bookstore in the 80's, I'd be subversive and shelve 'fiction' books in genre sections (esp. Vonnegut). I think Dark Tower is a fantasy series personally but if you're looking for a Stephen King novel, you'll look in the horror aisle so I understand why it's shelved there.

[LeighannesLit]

So looking forward to this series Emily! The Dark Tower series is one of my absolute favorites and I followed along the first series and loved it.

[ilovesmallville]

Thank you for this interesting conversation! I think it's very difficult to classify books in one genre or another. I haven't read the Dark Tower series yet but as soon as I do I'm planning on watching your videos with spoilers about them! I'm also excited for the book club you're starting! Soon I'm going to start reading Duma Key for the first time.

[nocturnus]

I have noticed Walter Mosley has this problem: booksellers have shared with him that a number of people have asked where his new books are during publication week. The expectation is that if he has a new novel, it should be in the mystery section. I think a prolific author like King is probably best served with a thoughtful shelving: he is cogitating on connections between the mysticism of his worlds & the illuminations to be learned in ours, we should have his books shelved outside horror & in the appropriate fantasy shelves. I would think Seanan McGuire would also be best served sharing a shelf with the dark tower series.

[micaelagonzalez]

These videos are very informative. Sometimes I have to rewatch to understand what you mean but that just makes them better cause it means I'm using my brain haha. Fantasy is not my cup of tea (HP and ASOIAF aside), but a few years ago I found I really like sci-fi. And in my personal experience at university, my professors have always given fantasy more credit and treated sci-fi as bullshit (unless it was dystopian lit). Maybe it's a cultural thing: Argentina does not have a sci-fi tradition, whereas it does have some fantasy and a lot of magic realism lit. I'm not trying to contradict what you said, though. But I was thinking how I felt the other way around about how these two genres were treated in my social/educational circle. Anyways, we don't have courses for any particular literary genre here. I wish we did.

[geminisundone]

You really should read some Dan Simmons novels.
The terror and Drood are outstanding historical fiction.
His horror novels like Summer of night and Carrion comfort are outstanding.
His si fi series the Hyperion cantos is amongst the greatest si fi novels ever written.
Dan Simmons excels in all genres.

...and I've never seen you cover a single book of his...

[dionyssisgreece]

The dark tower series is one of the most interesting books Stephen king has ever written the TV adaptation was awful because the books have many details that it's difficult to be on a movie with 120 minutes duration well done Emily I find your videos very interesting and it's nice to see a Stephen king fan beside me ha ha 😉😁

[LiquidSteve]

Hey Emily! What do u think of Murikami? I found him very well written but kind of indulgent & not very interesting... have u checked out any of his stuff??

[Aust]

I’d definitely teach the Dark Tower series in the college classroom when and if I become a professor!

[onestar]

Have you ever thought about becoming a teacher ?

[zubaerchaudhari]

Emily Cait you’re really always most soooo awesome pretty nice nicest coolest favorite friend