The List

Jul. 21st, 2006 12:16 pm
threemonkeys: (Default)
[personal profile] threemonkeys
The Whitcoulls top 100 list was announced a few days ago. It makes interesting reading from a SF genre point of view. There are a lot more genre titles than the previous year with a lot of them could be considered YA reading. Some authors of note J.R.R. Tolkein (twice), J.K. Rowling (four times), Philip Pullman, John Marsden, Audrey Niffenegger, C.S. lewis, Raymond E. Feist, Jean M. Auel, Joanne Harris, Paulo Coelho, Frank Herbert, Elizabeth Knox could all be accused of writing speculative fiction even if a few of them would not agree. That is quite a lot really and I may have missed some.

Remember that this is a popular vote and therefore has little connection with how good the book is - witness The Da Vinci Code at number 1. But it does show how entrenched genre fiction is within the general reading public - it does not just belong to the fan community.

Date: 2006-07-26 09:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] russellk.livejournal.com
I am angered by the existence of this list. Whitcoulls has moved from a well-loved bookshop with a large stock to a seller of only the most popular books. The Top 100 list has been designed to focus customers on a small range of books. It is blatant customer manipulation.

Whoops, that was a little ... sharp. Ah well.

Date: 2006-07-26 08:10 pm (UTC)
ext_112556: (Default)
From: [identity profile] threemonkeys.livejournal.com
I hadn't thought of it like that. In any case, I pretty much stopped buying books from Whitcoulls 2 or 3 takeovers ago. Luckily here in Welly we have a couple of superior alternatives.

A big part of the problem with Whitcoulls is that they took all book buying decisions away from the stores and now make all decisions from head office. This lead directly to the type of bland high volume selection that they have now.

Date: 2006-07-27 07:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] russellk.livejournal.com
Yes, sorry for the angst-filled comment. One would almost think I had a personal issue with the chain. Well, I do, but let's not get started.

Your main point, the infiltration of genre titles into the top 100, was well made. I apologise again for my hijack.

Date: 2006-07-27 08:40 am (UTC)
ext_112556: (Default)
From: [identity profile] threemonkeys.livejournal.com
No problemo - angst is the lifeblood of lj.

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