Frazz by Jef Mallett for June 13, 2017

Barbara Cartland churned out more than 200 in her lifetime.

Romance novels, any author.

Hey, at least she’s reading something. There’s no reason to be so snooty.

‘Chelsea Churnemout’ LOL! Publisher’s favorite “bodice-ripper” type of writer.

You could say the same about pulp novels or mass-market science fiction or fantasy, and I like those.

The author of Doc Savage, Lester Dent, spat out a novel a month. The Shadow’s author, Walter Gibson, was doing one every two weeks at the height of its popularity. He wrote about 300 Shadow novels, and more than a hundred other books.

Then there’s Isaac Azimov who was quite prolific in his output…

Actually, Heinlein claimed there were only two stories to tell. So, in fact, there are similarities in structure, but content is quite different. And with Heinlein, you got ideas galore.

OTOH, I quit reading Andre Norton (mostly quit) around 1975 because I felt her stories had become basically all the same. I still love Galactic Derelict though.

That’s Isaac Asimov, and he wrote more than 300 books, but most of them were non-fiction and covered the range of human intellectual endeavor from, say, Shakespeare to cosmology. Not to be compared to hack writers of fiction.

Why do Edgar Rice Burroughs and Louise Lamoure pop into my head?

Sigh. While it is indeed WONDERFUL to read classic, good literature and it is also wonderful to read novels by authors that do not serialize. There is NOTHING inherently wrong in serials. If I like a particular author’s writing style and genre, I will read a series willingly, and I read a lot of other literature as well.

In my own case, I have been slowly working through Jonathan Kellerman’s works. Many have been wonderfully fun, casual reads (there were 3-4 clunkers, IMO, too).

I sincerely doubt that a character like Mrs. Olsen would truly think you do not get more from reading a book a second or more times. It feels insulting for Caulfield to say that. What I would think a teacher like Mrs. Olsen would mean (from yesterday) is that there are SO MANY forms of literature out there, right now it may be best for you to explore works by authors that are NEW to you.

I find yesterday and today to be rather mean spirited again, sadly.

You know, the occasional surf’n’turf is quite a treat, but for most people, most of the time, a simple burger or pizza is OK. And I personally follow 2 comic-book titles each month. No need to get all snippy about it.

For the record, however interesting Joseph Heller’s ideas may have been, his prose is virtually unreadable.

So many of you are defensive about your reading. Grow up. The comic wasn’t really about you, but about why it is that we read material which is essentially the same over and over.

Garfield strips are rarely memorable, but Calvin and Hobbes strips often are. Is it elitist to say that? Get real, because it isn’t. It is an observation, pure and simple.

What it comes down to is de gustibus non est disputandum or, put another way, you read what you like and I’ll read what I like!

Some people get their jollies from mucking up in people’s likes to be contrarian. I find “Frazz” to be refreshing because it is different. Even if it uses some well known conventions like precocious children which is a standard.

Catch-22 is enduring genius.

If your life is so bland that you need to criticize a comic strip, then that’s the problem with the world today. Who cares what your opinion is.

Graham Greene