At 08:33 AM 3/17/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>Edgar Beach writes:
>
>>Reading a good book requires attention and commitment also.  Yet Reading
>>still remains a popular human endeavor because there are still good books
>>being written and read today.  Some may even attain classic status.
>Steve Schartz replies:
>Really? Which ones? Clancey? King? Krantz? Barry? Rice? These are, after
>all, popular authors.  I even admire two of them.  Have you read Jared
>Carter or Martha McFerrin? I doubt either of them sell 2,000 copies
>nationwide.  It seems to me that serious art is in trouble, no matter
>what art it is .

In support of Steve's and my sad conclusion I looked at the NYTimes best
seller list this morning. The fiction list shows just one book that may be
considered a serious work- Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections " . There
are a few "good reads" on the list- John Grisham's latest is in the number
1 spot. Fine- it serves a purpose, fills a need, and that is it.
  AS usual the NY Times supplements the best seller list with a few titles
to " Bear in Mind." Here is the interesting stuff, like Ian McEwen's "
Atonement".
  Bernard Chasan