Not as easy as it looks

Ok, going for 3 in a row.

For the past 4 months a good friend of mine has been trying to convince me to start reading Harlan Cobin (well not actually trying to convince me, that he did 4 months ago but he still hasn't come across any in his house to lend me).

So yesterday I went to the bookstore as both of the book chains in this country are having sales. I thought that if I was going to try this guy out I might as well do it right by buying everything that the store had to offer of his (well it might not be the right way but some of you know that this is MY way - I think that I got this from my father). So I brought all 4 books that I found to cashier who looked at the books and said (by way of a recommendation) "great writer, easy to get into while you are reading and forget as soon as you close it".

Now I don't know about you but I don't think that they said the same things about Twain, Dickens or Dostoevsky. In the last decade I think that the only book that I have read that was memorable after closing was Perfume by Patrick Suskind (which I definitely recommend) . I guess that todays books are trying to be more accessible to the MTV generation .

Well, since I grew up on MAD magazine and other types of short forms of entertainment I guess that the John Clancys, JK Rowlings, and James Pattersons of this world at least understand their audience and what sells. I wonder if we will ever get back to more memorable fare or are we just laying the groundwork for even shorter attention spans.

Whatever the situation is I hope that there are providers that will continue to know how to pander to the public whims and market to the right audience.

I think that the KISS principle is changing to Keep It SHORT Stupid.

In the meantime - Keep On Walkin'