What Makes This Book So Great (51 page)

There’s another thing I’m doing here that isn’t part of the normal field of criticism, and that’s talking about the practice of reading. Posts like “Why I re-read” and “Do you skim?” had huge responses as people talked about the way they approach reading, how it fits into their lives. I find this fascinating. But if I’d been putting together a volume of criticism, there would be more pieces on books and less of this kind of thing.

It’s funny. I’m a real writer. But when it comes to this I feel as if I’m not really a grown-up critic. And I don’t want to be. It’s too much of a responsibility and not enough fun.

Thanks

These essays originally appeared on
Tor.com
. I’d like to thank Torie Atkinson, Pablo Defendini, Bridget McGovern, and the rest of the team at
Tor.com
for all their hard work that has made the site possible. I’d also like to thank Macmillan for being so innovative and having the imagination to agree to do something like this. Patrick Nielsen Hayden originally asked me to contribute and gave me my brief. Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden also deserve huge thanks for coming up to Montreal and spending a weekend working on putting together this collection—it was both tremendous fun and very illuminating as a process. My husband, Emmet O’Brien, provided technical help as well as love and support. I’d also like to thank Alter Reiss, Rene Walling, Sasha Walton and Alison Sinclair for specific discussions that made some of these essays stronger.

Books by Jo Walton

The King’s Peace

The King’s Name

The Prize in the Game

Tooth and Claw

Farthing

Ha’penny

Half a Crown

Lifelode

Among Others

About the Author

Jo Walton won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy Award for her novel
Tooth and Claw
in 2004. Her several other novels include the acclaimed Small Change alternate-history trilogy, comprising
Farthing, Ha’penny,
and
Half a Crown
. Her novel
Among Others
won the Hugo and Nebula awards in 2012.

WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO GREAT

Copyright © 2014 by Jo Walton

All rights reserved.

Jacket design by Jamie Stafford-Hill

Edited by Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Walton, Jo.

      What Makes This Book So Great / Jo Walton.

          p. cm.

      “A Tom Doherty Associates Book”

      ISBN 978-0-7653-3193-9 (hardcover)

      ISBN 978-1-4668-4409-4 (e-book)

     1.  Science fiction, American—History and criticism.   2.  Fantasy fiction, American—History and criticism.   3.  Books and reading—United States.   I.  Title.

PS374.S35W35 2014

813'.0876209—dc23

2013028170

e-ISBN 9781466844094

First Edition: January 2014

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Cordelia could mean Lear’s daughter, Miles Vorkosigan’s mother, or somebody in
Buffy
.

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2011. I was absolutely right about this!

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Good news, it isn’t. Le Guin herself forgot, and reused the name, she has a note on her Web page saying that the planets are not the same. Phew, what a relief!

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No, she wasn’t, unfortunately.

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The responses on this were all over the place—there seem to be plenty of both kinds of people.

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It turns out that a remarkable number of people skim. I still don’t understand it.