This is the first novel I have ever read by you, I am not into mystery but And Then There Were None was fantastic. I am a 9th grader who goes to Scotch Plains High School. I read your book because I needed to read an outside reading novel. The one reason I choose yours is because my cousin read it and told me it was an amazing book. I am glad I did choose it. You could never know when something was going to happen. It was a thriller; I loved it from start to finish.

I enjoyed how the whole time you made everyone look suspicious. The whole time I thought the murderer was U.N.Owen, but it surprised me who was. It was very creative and it was cool how they all died from how it went in the poem. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading mystery and exciting books. In the novel I couldn't really relate to anyone but if it would be someone it would be with Dr. Edward George Armstrong. The one and only reason I could relate to him is because I am also very gullible. I would fall for anything if someone told me to do it. I am so glad you really described the characters. Something I got out of this book is never judge someone from what he or she did in the past or how he or she look. That's how the all died, they suspected everyone of being the murderer because of their past. You also made it very descriptive so I could picture the story happening right in front of me and all the characters were described so I could picture exactly how they looked.

The novel is definitely a book I will remember and recommend. I give it a 4 and ½ out of 5 stars. I really hope you decide to write more mystery novels like this one. I will read your other books but I don't think they will be as great as this one. When I started to read it I just couldn't put it down. Thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope you respond back.

Sincerely, Zack Carow

There are many seemingly unrelated plotlines in Bare Bones: The skeleton of an infant is found in a woodstove and the suspect is one of Tempe’s acquaintances; During an outdoors party her dog runs off to find a bag of animal remains and one human bone thrown in the mix; A plane crashes where the passengers were apparently smuggling drugs and maybe something more sinister as well; A handless and headless skeleton is found in an outdoor privy on the farm near where the animal remains were uncovered. As all these events turn out to be intertwined after all, Tempe’s probing might be putting her own life and that of her daughter in terrible danger, but she doesn’t even know what exactly she’s not supposed to be looking into…

The first-person narrative makes you feel very close to Tempe, and you sympathise with her and the stranglehold her career has over her personal life, something that many successful women can certainly relate to.

The fact that in the very first page we are told about something that will happen at the  end, however, takes away some of the sense of immediacy and suspense that is the lifeblood of gripping thrillers. If this book lacks anything, it is a creepy atmosphere thick with fear and foreboding, but it certainly makes up for that with wit and unusual plot threads. Although the endless tangle of plotlines remains a bit confusing to the very end, you are not left feeling lost, and Reich’s style makes the scientific information and complicated nature of the evidence feel manageable.

This is a book that is easy to pick up and easy to put down. You get an entertaining read and you might just learn a thing or two about bones in the process.

In this touching fable, we follow the story of several mole generations through the decline of Duncton. The two central characters are timid Bracken and loving Rebecca, who is the daughter of the fearsome Mandrake, a mole that rules the system with iron talons.

Religion, ambition, greed, lust, love, tenderness, compassion and cruelty: William Horwood succeeds in enthralling the reader in the epic story as these emotions shape the happiness and destiny of an entire world. Only every so often are you reminded that this world is only a very small corner of rural England, and then you are brought back for a moment into your human skin, but only for a moment.

Horwood reminds us of the human side of animals, and the animal side of humans, as the unnecessary tragedy and destruction of war take their toll, and tragedy after tragedy wreaks havoc on the lives of these small creatures. They ask themselves the  timeless questions humans have asked since they developed reasoning. They wonder about the existence and nature of a higher power, which for them is embodied in a stone. They love and suffer and wonder what the point of it all is. They hate and cause hurt even to the ones they love, but sometimes they acquire the wisdom to learn from their mistakes.

This is a deeply philosophical book, but while the slow pace means it is not exactly a page-turner, it manages to entertain and move the reader, leaving you with an odd sense of peaceful sadness as you finish the last few pages.

The main character of the story line in the novel is Robert Langdon, the same name as in “Da Vinci Code”. Moreover reference to Roman Catholic Church, secret societies is also taken from the previous novel. Robert Langdon is a professor at Harvard University of art history and religious iconology. The main plot of the story is where he tries to stop the destruction of the Vatican City by a secret society. Leonardo Vetra, who is a respected physicists is found murdered in his quarter by the director of CERN, Maximilian Kohler. Kohler finds Vetra's one eye dislodged and illuminati branded on his chest. So Kohler contacts Robert to assist him in getting the murderer as Robert is an expert with illuminati.

After finding the symbol on Kohler's chest, Robert gets frightened as the symbol belongs to a secret society which was believed to be finished long ago. So the thought that the secret society is back again, disturbs Robert. Later Vittoria, Kohler's adopted daughter is called on to the scene. It is found that a dangerous substance canister which is comparable to a nuclear bomb is also stolen from there. The problem occurs when it is found that the bomb is placed in Vatican City and the countdown of the bomb is ticking with a security camera showing it.

To stop the bomb from destroying the Vatican City, Robert and Vittoria reach Vatican City where they found that pope died. Because of the death, a new pontiff is to be elected but the cardinals are went missing who are the likely candidates to be elected. So both Robert and Vittoria begin their search for Preferiti, in a hope that they will encounter canister as well. Following this, the story takes many twists and turns that keep the suspense going and finally Robert manages to prevent the bomb to burst within time. After this the story begins which is the main part of the story. But to keep the suspense going on, do read the novel. For all the people who found “Da Vinci Code” a good novel, would find Angels and Demons to be better. It is highly recommended for people who love to read plot driven novels as well as the ones with full of thrills.

The book focuses on one discussion group (rec.arts.tv.soaps or r.a.t.s.) and specifically on one soap (All of My Children or AMC) and explores issues of media reception and the sociality of fandom. It is in many ways a personal account as the author clearly considers herself as being in some way part of that community, and her first-person perspectives are often used in the book. She asserts that ‘rather than judging from the outside, we need to listen closely to what members of new media communities have to say to one another and to those who ask. Only then will we understand their diversity and the opportunities and challenges they offer.’

The main question that this book strives to answer is how audience members use mass media to structure and articulate their social relationships and make the world ‘intellectually meaningful, aesthetically pleasing, and emotionally compelling’ (quoting Jensen & Pauly, 1997:163)

Finally, the author also emphasizes the fact that fan communities should not be considered a homogeneous whole, asserting that: ‘as we come to live in an ever-expanding array of specialized communities, the issue of how those communities interweave is crucial to understanding culture.’

1- Sociality in Fandom

‘Whetmore and Kielwasser (1983) argue that postviewing and previewing interaction are as important to fans as is the actual viewing of the soap. Because of the value of this talk, they argue, the soap opera audience becomes interconnected.’Their enjoyment of the text is greatly enhanced by their discussion of it within the confines of a highly knowledgeable and sympathetic environment.

The sociality is obviously a crucial aspect of the viewing according to the author as she asserts that ‘looking at this group as an audience community leads to the understanding that when an audience becomes collaborative, it changes what it means to be a fan. The pool of relevant information is expanded, the range of interpretations on offer is broadened, genre expertise is refined and cultivated, and the opportunity to discuss the private worlds of feelings and relationships with others is enhanced.’ She quotes Blumenthal (1997, p. 105) in order to reinforce this point: ‘Soap operas offer people the chance to create relationships in which they can explore emotional reality together.’

Also according to Blumenthal, soap operas produce a space ‘from which we can stand outside and analyse others’ connections with each other without becoming implicated in the consequences’ (quoting Blumenthal, 1997, p. 105). This enjoyment of experiencing different scenarios is also applicable to videogames, where players can experience emotions and enact actions that they are unable or unwilling to in reality. The sense of freedom and release from the restraints of everyday life is part of the reason why these media products inspire such loyalty in their fans.

2- Marginalized Audiences and Fan Phobia

Baym points to the ‘stereotype of soap opera viewers, and fans more generally, as mentally and socially deficient’. The author argues that fan communities are aware of this marginalized status and perception of fandom in general as an unworthy practice. This awareness of the outside world perception of fans in itself denies the stereotype of the recluse fan buried in a fantasy world and oblivious to reality. Like in videogames, there is a pervasive sense that soap fans are too close to the object of their fandom and have therefore lost the ability to separate it from reality. She argues that ‘the image of the fan who revels in low-taste culture rather than displaying appropriate shame can thus be seen not as a reflection of the fan but as a ‘projection of anxieties about the violation of dominant cultural hierarchies’. This is also applicable to videogame fans, who are seen as being overly engaged in a childish and trivial pursuit. Jenkins concurs by stating that ‘Whether viewed as a religious fanatic, a psychopathic killer, a neurotic fantasist, or a lust-crazed groupie, the fan remains a ‘fanatic’ or false worshipper, whose interests are fundamentally alien to the realm of ‘normal’ cultural experience and whose mentality is dangerously out of touch with reality’ (Jenkins, 1992: p. 15). The use of the term ‘addiction’ is often used to describe fan activity and loyalty, implying a media text that is empty and mindless while simultaneously retaining the power to take over the weak and inferior minds of those foolish enough to let themselves by trapped by it.

3 - ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Identity Through Fandom

In order to have a strong and developed sense of ‘self’ within fan communities, fans tend to build themselves as being in opposition to other groups, notably the producers of the texts. ‘Jenkins (1992, p.86) describes fandom as ‘an institution of theory and criticism, a semi structured space where competing interpretations and evaluations of common texts are proposed, debated, and negotiated and where readers speculate about the nature of the mass media and their own relationship to (them)’. In fandom, Jenkins finds that fans appropriate the texts, engaging them in all the ways one would expect from previous analyses of media texts but also using the shows as the raw material for their own creative impulses.’

Fans in this study express the feeling of being part of a group of people who have exclusive insight of what the correct interpretation mode of their chosen object of fandom is. For Soap Opera fans (as for videogame fans in similar environments) the existence of such fan-exclusive areas gives them ‘possibility of expressing one’s emotional responses to the show to a sympathetic audience.’ This means that knowledge and practices central to a fan’s life, which are likely to be derided in the outside world are valued and engaged with within the fan community. Knowledge of the text in this case constitutes not only valuable cultural capital that enables the fan to gain status within the community, but also ensures that a tighter sense of community is built. Actively constructing a social environment in which taking soaps seriously is considered appropriate rather than a waste of time, individuals have the opportunity demonstrate genre competence, creativity, and expertise to others gaining social status and pleasure from the affirmation that posts receive.’

It is also interesting to note that the pleasure gained from the social interaction surrounding a media text remains constant irrespective of whether the media text is pleasing or displeasing to the fan. Videogame fans get as much pleasure in complaining about the inferiority of new releases compared to previous versions and discussing shortcomings in the games as they do sharing their excitement at a product they really enjoyed. The evidence in this book suggests that the same applies to Soap Opera fans: ‘sharing frustration and anger about the show’s shortcomings with sympathetic others lessens those negative feelings.

4 - Creativity in Fandom

Finally, fans transform their criticisms into opportunities to let their own creativity shine. When the show fails to perform for them, they perform for one another. Jenkins (1992, p.23) argues that this combination of criticism and creativity is common in fan cultures:

‘The fans’ response typically involves not simply fascination or adoration but also frustration and antagonism, and it is the combination of the two responses which motivates their active engagement with the media. Because popular narratives often fail to satisfy, fans must struggle with them…because the texts continue to fascinate, fans cannot dismiss them…but rather must try to find ways to salvage them for their interests.’ (1992, p.23).

‘with critical humour, r.a.t.s. participants assert their mastery over a text they do not own and find collaborative ways in which to sustain their involvement. Participants are able to distance themselves from the soap by laughing at it, but at the same time, the laughter encourages them to stay attached to the drama.’

‘By using the show’s flaws as material with which to entertain each other, the community becomes amusing enough to hold the participants’ attention through the show’s lows. The humour offered by the discussion might even be the only reason why fans remain engaged during periods when the soap is particularly bad.’ The community therefore constructs its identity through ongoing communicative practices where sharing displeasure towards a media text can be just as rewarding as sharing pleasure.

5 - Hierarchy in Fan Groups

Baym argues that group values make some forms of cultural capital more valuable than others and, hence, lend those with such capital greater status.’(p. 159). She argues that some heavy posters develop unique and recognisable styles and play particularly influential roles in creating the group’s social environment, becoming ‘particularly responsible for personalizing an otherwise anonymous environment and for setting the tone of the group.’

The author argues that ‘Online identities are built out of, and in response to, a group of other voices and a value system that makes some types of voices more appealing than others.’  While online identities are potentially very flexible, in order to gain acceptance and status within such a group one must bear in mind the social constraints practiced within it. ‘There is a delicate balance between individuality and the needs of the group in which individual identities are created, and both sides of this tension deserve equal consideration.’  By continually validating and honouring some identities over others these fan groups reinforce group values.

His account is intended as a general introduction and synthesis of the myriad of theories regarding fan culture, also suggesting that it is possible (and important) to arrive at a general theory of media fandom. He also aims to ‘explore how cultural identities are performed not simply through a singular binary opposition such as fan/academic, but rather through a raft of overlapping and interlocking versions of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This makes locating cultural ‘power’ or cultural ‘resistance’ in any one group (fans/producers/academics) extremely difficult.’

  1 - Defining Fandom and Setting the Premise for this Study

Hills asserts that the ‘everydayness’ of fandom in itself hinders its definition, meaning that most people have preconceptions of what being a fan entails, many of which might be unfounded or simply grounded in prejudice. He suggests that fandom is not fixed object of study that can be ‘picked over analytically’, but always essentially performative. Fandom, he explains, consists of an identity which is (dis) claimed and performs cultural work, yet different ‘performances’ of fandom all share a sense of contesting cultural norms. This means that claiming the identity of a ‘fan’ remains ‘improper’ within dominant cultural discourses, in a sense seen as a weaker form of cultural identity based on a commitment to seemingly trivial cultural products. Claiming fan status may on the other hand, he concludes, ‘provide a cultural space for types of knowledge and attachment.’

While Hills recognises the importance of Jenkins’ work in extending the ‘imagined subjectivity of the academy into the cultural spaces of fandom via discussions of fan knowledge and expertise’ he cautions that only recently has Jenkins exercised a self-reflexive recognition of the strategies he has used.

2 - Moral Dualisms

The author strongly suggests that fandom should be represented in its own terms rather than merely being used to form part of moral dualisms. Offering the idea of hybrid and overlapping identities as a better and more representative alternative, he nevertheless acknowledges that these identities present us with an entirely new set of issues that need to be analysed. The identity of the ‘scholar-fan’, for example, presents negative consequences for representations of fandom because it ‘tends to leave the imagined subjectivity of the rational academic firmly in place, simply extending this to cover the cultural practices and experiences of fans.’

The imagined subjectivity mentioned above has myriad effects within academia affecting respect, status and the threat of pathologisation, and this ‘means that where academics do take on fan identities, they often do so with a high degree of anxiety:’  Burt scathingly criticises such hybrid academics, characterising then with the greed to ‘have it all’ while retaining the right to judge the fandoms they engage with and find them lacking. Hill recognises some insights in Burt’s thinking, yet points out that it too is grounded on a moral dualism; that of fan’s self-absence versus  the academic’s attempts at rationalisation.

These moral dualisms permeate the very cultural foundation on which fandom and academia are founded. These are ‘created and sustained by systems of cultural value which defend communities against others… academics and fans both value their own institutionally-supported ways of reading and writing above those practices which characterise the other group’. The mutual marginalisation caused by these moral dualisms means that ‘scholar-fans are typically looked down on as not being ‘proper’ academics, while fan-scholars are typically viewed within fandom as ‘pretentious’ or not ‘real’ fans.’

 Hills refers to these disruptive and dividing subjectivities as ‘imagined’ because they do not in fact correspond to the actual subjectivities of either group; ‘Academics are not resolutely rational, nor are fans resolutely immersed. Academic knowledge is not always meaningfully ‘testable’, nor is fan knowledge always ‘informal’ or ‘experiential’.

3 - Contradiction of Fandom

Hills fans are in a way ‘ideal consumers’ (Cavucchi 1998:62) with highly stable and predictable consumption habits, they paradoxically hold strong anti-commercial beliefs. The essential contradiction of fandom therefore is that fans are ‘commodity-completists’ while simultaneously expressing anti-commercial beliefs or ideologies.’ Unlike Jenkins and Lancaster, Hills refuses to address this imbalance by ‘recuperating fan-consumers as ‘producers’ and ‘creators’. He instead embraces this essential contradiction of fandom by refusing to explain it away. The author therefore believes that the preservation of that cultural contradiction is important and that approaches favouring one side of it will inevitably falsify the fan experience.  He concludes by saying that ‘The best we can hope for is a theoretical approach to fandom which can tolerate contradiction without seeking to close it down prematurely.’

Hills draws on Adorno’s theory of the ‘dialectic of value’ which considers fans as being ‘simultaneously inside and outside processes of commodification, experiencing an intensely personal ‘use-value’ in relation to their object of fandom, and then being re-positioned within more general and systematic processes of ‘exchange-value’. ‘The fan’s appropriation of a text is therefore an act of ‘final consumption’ which pulls this text away from (intersubjective and public) exchange value and towards (private, personal) use-value, but without ever cleanly or clearly being able to separate out the two.

Hills encourages us to think of fans as performers, displacing the emphasis on the text-reader interaction, and concludes by quoting the work of De Certeau, who saw consumption within a model of consumer appropriation. The model depends upon a rigid separation between producers and consumers who ‘poach’ or ‘appropriate’ the producer’s products.

4 - Fan Sociality and Status

Hills looks at the work of Bourdieu on processes of cultural distinction as a means for analysing how fan ‘status’ is built up. ‘It allows us to consider any given fan culture not simply as a community but also as a social hierarchy where fans share a common interest while also competing over fan knowledge, access to the object of fandom, and status.’ Bourdieu also introduces the idea of the ‘playful’ fan, playing in the sense of recognising the rules of their specific fan culture, building up different types of fan knowledge and skill most relevant to that culture in order to gain distinction. Hills does, however, criticise the way Bourdieu links all fan thought and activity directly to class, heavily limiting the application of his theory to such widely diverse communities. The centrality of the concept of ‘the economy’ of culture excludes any type of fandom that does not fit into corresponding modes of competitive and calculative ‘play’

Hills criticises academics such as Fiske and Thornton for overemphasizing the importance of cultural capital perhaps in detriment to social and symbolic capital. He also accuses them of not reflecting on the moral dualisms (Fiske’s ‘good’ popular cultural capital against ‘bad’ economic capital, ‘pained’ fan victims (in Bacon-Smith 1992) against ‘poaching’ fan victors (in Jenkins 1992a) constructed within their academic accounts.

The author points to the fact that the ‘discursive mantras’ of both fans and academics tend to be taken at face value in ethnographic studies, assuming that both groups can fully account for their discursive practices. In addition to this, ‘fan ethnographies have focused on fans of single texts or narrow intertextual networks, treating these fans as naturally-occurring (and spectacular) communities. This tends to close down the investigation of how we may, as subjects, negotiate our way though multiple fandoms of varying intensities at different times.’

5 - Players and their ‘Little Madnesses’

Hills argues that fans should be viewed as players in the sense that they ‘become immersed in non-competitive and affectionate play. What is distinctive about this view of play, he suggests, is that it deals with the fan’s emotional attachment and suggests that fans may imaginatively create their own sets of cultural coundaries. Kleinian and fantasy-based approaches, according to Hills have a tendency to positioning the fan as lacking, recreating the academic moral dualism of ‘us’ versus ‘them’.

Winnicon defines some emotional attachments within culture as ‘little madnesses’ which, according to him continue throughout our lives as a way of maintaining mental/psychical health. ‘In this reading, fandom is neither pathological nor viewed as deficient; instead it can be theorised psychoanalytically as a form of ‘good’ health. Such an account can also be turned on the figure of the academic, for whom theory and theorists can provide a personal and idiosyncratic ‘third space’ for play activity. Just as fans create the contexts of their fan cultures, so too do academics create new contexts for future work through the interplay of affective play and ‘tradition’ (producing academic movements such as ‘deconstruction’ or even something called ‘cultural studies.’

Hills concludes that fan cultures are neither rooted in an ‘objective’ interpretive community or set of texts, nor are they atomised collections of individuals whose ‘subjective passions and interests happen to overlap. Fan cultures are both found and created, and it is this inescapable tension which supports what he terms the ‘dialectic of value’ that is enacted by fan cultures.

6 - Fandom as ‘Cult’

Hills suggests that ‘cult texts and icons…share ‘family resemblances’ such as endlessly deferred narrative, hyperdiegesis, auterism and contigent denaration. This implies that cult status cannot be viewed as entirely extratextual or fan-led.’ He does clarify, however, that ‘the text itself cannot exclusively determine whether or not it will be poached. (quoting Smith 1999:68).

Hills argues that fans make use of religious discourses of ‘cult’ because they lack the restrictive text-specific nature of aesthetic arguments as well as preserving a place for  ‘self-absence’ - which is important to accommodate the somewhat irrational contradictions of fandom – while still allowing for accusations of complete fan irrationality to be warded off.

He adds that fans often feel the need to defend or justify fan activities, yet tend to unintentionally become enmeshed in connotations of  ‘religious fanaticism’ or ‘detachment from reality’. ‘The discursive defence of fandom which draws on religious terms hence reintroduced the possibilities of stigmatisation which it seeks to evade.’ Hills argues that positions which wholly disassociates cult discourses from religious sentiments (as do many fan accounts) are relying on yet another simplistic moral dualism.

Hills suggests that cult status hinges on leaving a certain space fro interpretation, speculation and fan affect which cannot be closed down by final ‘proof’ or ‘fact’. ‘Even texts which appear to offer closure or resolution can be mined by fans for endlessly deferred narrative.’  This endlessly deferred narrative together with ideologies of romanticism worked through the notions of  ‘uniqueness’ and ‘art’ (via the figure of the auteur) are two of the major factors that generally define cult status. This concept of endlessly deferred narrative could also be applied to videogames, as they by their very nature do not offer final ‘proof’ or closure.

7 - Performative Consumtion (relevant to cosplay)

Hills introduces the term ‘performative consumption’ as a way of capturing the contradictions between use-value and exchange-value represented and staged by fan culture. He argues that this is a useful term because it refers to oscillations between intense ‘self-reflexivity’ and ‘self-absence’ characteristic of fan culture. He unpacks this notion by suggesting that practices such as impersonation and costuming can embody and physically replay the self-reflexive/self-absence contradiction of fandom.

‘By blurring the lines between self and other, fan impersonation challenges cultural norms of the fixed and bounded self. Criticism of fan impersonation tend to be produced within ‘common sense’ notions of ‘good’ voluntarist individualism, therefore dismissing fan-impersonators as lacking a ‘strong enough’ self-identity’.  This notion, however tends to ignore the finer working of fan culture in favour of judgement of individuals. This theory could be applied to practices such as cosplay in videogames.

Hebdige assets that subcultures are in large part expressions of tensions between dominant and subordinate groups in society yet videogame fan communities tend to have varied input, and in England the class system is less clear-cut than it was in the 70s.

I will begin by trying to find an ideology as defined in this book that applies to videogame fans, then move on by examining the concept of resistant readings. Looking briefly at methodology and how accounts by fans might be advantageous for their insider knowledge yet flawed in their relative lack of an objective framework, I will see how videogame fans apply resistant readings to those texts. The author concludes by highlighting a paradox where as soon as a resistant view held by a subculture succeeds in being heard by the parent culture, it tends to lose its resistance value and be absorbed into the mainstream.

1- Fan Subculture and Ideology

 

Is there an ideology behind videogame fandom? At first glance it might be difficult to believe that such an apparently trivial media object could support such a notion, but fans’ organisation and careful adherence to game canons suggests a somewhat higher purpose than simply enhancing their experience of a commercial product. I would argue that fans are indeed inspired by ideology, even though many might not consciously regard it as that. On the other hand, Hebdige does say that ‘ideology by definition thrives beneath consciousness.’

Hebdige quotes Hall as arguing that ‘the media have ‘progressively colonised the cultural and ideological sphere’ which could be seen to imply that for many young people living in this age, the only channel through which they can effectively develop their identities and ideologies is through media and technology, hence the popularity of subcultures based on videogame playing.

‘different youths bring different degrees of commitment to a subculture. It can represent a major dimension in people’s lives – an axis erected in the face of the family around which a secret and immaculate identity can be made to cohere – or it can be a slight distraction, a bit of light relief from the monotonous but none the less paramount realities of school, home and work.’

2 - Resistant Readings

The author begins the book by quoting examples of commonplace objects, commercial products or commodities that can be ‘appropriated’ by subcultures and made to carry ‘secret’ meanings that resist their ‘legitimate uses’. This often happens, it could be argued, with videogames, since the ways in which many fans play videogames consciously and intentionally subvert the intended meaning embedded in the product by its designers.

‘participant observation continues to produce some of the most interesting and evocative accounts of subculture, but the method also suffers from a number of significant flaws. In particular, the absence of any analytical or explanatory framework has guaranteed such work a marginal status in the predominantly positivist tradition of mainstream sociology.’

Although many subcultures strive to be heard by the parent culture or dominant ideology, when this happens it robs it of its resistance power, because the dominant ideology selectively absorbs part of the subculture and this similarity robs the subculture of the opposition on which its survival depends.‘the cycle leading from opposition to defusing, from resistance to incorporation encloses each successive subculture.’

3- Methodology of Studying Subcultures

Hebdige tends to criticise the intense involvement of accounts of subculture written by members of that subculture, a theme already visited in the previous study of Soap Opera and Science Fiction fans, in which approaching an audience/community/subculture from the point of view of either a member or a distanced academic is bound to bring different insights as well as different omissions and blind spots (See Science Fiction Audiences and Tune In, Log On). ‘for all the Chandleresque qualities of the prose; for all the authenticity and close detail which participant observation made possible, it soon became apparent that the method needed to be supplemented by other more analytical procedures.’

 

New Moon had trouble keeping my attention, and wasn't as positive as Twilight.

     If you had any trouble reading Twilight cover to cover, it will only be worse with New Moon. Mainly, I didn't get through it very quickly, because nothing very interesting happened until it got about halfway through the book, although, on a positive note, it did get very interesting after that. The reading has sent some more sensitive readers into a bit of a depression, until they finished the book.

There are some good characters introduced to New Moon that only appeal to some people.

     When the reader gets to a certain point in the book, one of the minor characters from Twilight becomes a major character in New Moon. In my opinion, this character was a good replacement for the other character that's out of the book at the time (I can't say who, or I'd spoil the surprise!), although some people didn't like him. He became one of my favorite characters, because I found it easy to relate to him, because I've been in his place before (being hopelessly in love with someone who only wants to be best friends).

New Moon's plot moves more slowly than Twilight's, but it's still worth reading to the end.

     While it did take me awhile to read through this book, I thought it was worth it for the ending. If you're the type of reader who gets a little depressed by the book, it's important to read it to the end.

New Moon can be either happy, or sad.

     While some people have fallen into a bit of a depression reading the book, others have thoroughly enjoyed it, and been very hopeful that it would end happily. I still enjoyed it, because although there was a lack of real action, I got to learn about a new "species". There was more drama than the last book, and a little less romance, but I still liked it.

So overall.....

     While New Moon was a good deal more dramatic than Twilight, I would still give it a seven on a scale of one to ten. It had an interesting new character, with more and more revealed about him as the book progresses. I still like Stephenie Meyer's writing style, and she continues to use many literary devices, with alot of similes, and metaphors. So overall..... I would reccomend this book to anyone who likes drama, or enjoyed reading Twilight.

Twilight has plenty of love, drama, and action, and it's kept well-balanced.

     While some people may claim Twilight is a "girl book", it's actually not hard for a guy to get through. Being a guy myself, I personally had no problem getting interested in the book, because it's kept suspenseful, and there's not TOO much passionate, mushy stuff, although it is a love story.

     The book does get a little dramatic at times, when the protagonist (who IS a girl) talks about the other main character... the one she's in love with, although it doesn't get too extreme. While the author does use ALOT of similes, metaphors, and does get very descrpitive when describing things, it doesn't get out of hand, and the plot is advanced quickly enough to keep most readers interested.

     Although this book is mainly a love-story, it does have a bit of action. Some of the main characters are actually supernatural characters, and it's very interesting to hear about their amazing abilities. The book isn't action-packed, like some books I've read, which keeps it balanced, and helps it appeal to members of both sexes.

Twilight is a major page-turner, but only at some points

     Another reason I liked Twilight is because it's just suspenseful enough for the reader to stay initerested, without getting lost or confused. Various things about the characters are revealed at good times throughout the book, so most readers would stay interested long enough to make it to the good parts. This is where the book appeals a little bit more to the feminine sex, though, because it uses many passionate, descriptive words, similes, and metaphors, but because of this, it can be a bit slow-paced for a guy with a short attention span. Admittingly, at times I did get a little bored with the book, though I did finish it, and like it.

Twilight's characters are all well-developed, and all interesting in their own way

     Twilights characters all vary greatly, (I can't go into great detail without spoiling the book) and they're all interesting in their own special ways. From the mysterious Edward, to the puppy-like Mike, to the young Jacob, back to clumsy Bella, all of the characters are very interesting, and much more is learned about them through the book. There is a great twist dealing with one of the characters (again, can't go into detail), and it really fills in alot of blanks in the book!

So overall.....

On a scale of 1-10, I would give this book a solid 8. It keeps the reader interested for the most part, but does lose one's attention at times. Still, everything taken into account, this is one of my favorite books, and I would reccomend it highly to just about anyone with an at least average attention span!

For those of you who have already read Twilight, then check out my review on it's sequel, New Moon

When celebrities bring out their biographies, it is customarily a pack of lies. They fall in two categories, how I would have liked my life to have been, and how I would like to be remembered. This one falls into the second category. But whereas other celebrities showed a certain artfulness in names dropping, this is just plain over-kill.

Starting with his childhood in Stockwell, South London, is not a topic that fascinates, nor being a hypochondriac. But calling every person he cares to mention, i.e. names drop, a very good friend is putting it on too brown. And leaving out two marriages and the reasons for their break up just shows the quality of the biography: Zero content. Instead we get some sop about his children and his current marriage.

This book probably started out life as a list of names that then were cobbled together willy nilly by construing painful sentences to fill empty pages. The long litany of names dropped from actors to singers, from presidents to royalty, is interspersed with thin anecdotal comments. The final bomb shell is the last chapter; it's a boring list of all the countries he has ever been. Publisher said it needed a few more pages.

There is absolutely no reason why anybody would want to buy this book. It's bland like a glass of water. It is boring. It puts you to sleep every second passage. Even fans will be shocked by the complete emptiness that is Roger Moore.

I have accorded this book the title of Passenger Number One on the James Bond marketing train. If you like to meet further passengers, here they are:

Why James Bond is Eternal

Quantum of Solace by Ian Fleming: Reviewed