I'm currently reading the Tom Clancy series, up to Executive Orders. His books are always too slow to get going (apart from The Hunt for Red October and Rainbow Six, which imo are thrilling from the off). There's not much keeping me turning the page atm, but i know it'll get better. What surprises me though is that his writing style doesnt seem THAT good. Very expositional at times and often feels like wading through a long two-page description. THFRO and R6 are his best though imo, and teeth of the tiger's good, but I'm starting to realise that these giants of writing are not that great. Reminds me of a simpsons episode I had a topic on another forum of reccomended reads, and plan to go through the list that people have suggested, as well as venture out to more classical books and different writing styles.
Mokrie, I agree with what you've said about the "giants of writing" not being the technically greatest of writers. I think a lot of aspiring writers would do well to keep that in mind. I don't know if writers like Tom Clancy would admit to as much, but I liken the construction of his books - like Grisham's, or Patterson's for example - would be akin to a craftsperson building a sturdy cabinet. I don't think of mass market writers as being the best writers, but rather really good at constructing something that is highly functional, efficient, and dependable. Great mass market fiction is your basic, inoffensive square brick building - as opposed to the ornate architecture found in "literature". Anyway, I'm hardly an expert, but I saw what you'd said about Clancy, and I completely agree. Back on topic...I'm currently reading "Popular Crime" by Bill James, and re-reading "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace...both are excellent.
I've been working on Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. Currently, I'm in the middle of book 9, and seeing as there's 20 books total I've still got plenty of enjoyable hours to go.
160 pages into Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. A little while ago I tried The Bourne Identity, and it was unadulteratedly awful. Earlier this year I read Casino Royale as I thought it was time to give the Bond novels a go - and I regretted it. Le Carre outstrips both of these superbly. It's a slow-burn novel, but there's nothing boring about it. There's none of the melodrama of Ludlum or the lack of character of Fleming - it's layered, complex, and compelling. Needless to say, I'm loving it.
Just finished John Keats collected letters. I have to admit, I found his last letters, from Italy as he was dying, really hard to read. But this has given me a strong respect for Keats the person, as well as the poet. I'm currently reading Virgil's The Georgics. This will be the last new poem/poem collection (not quite sure what you would call The Georgics) I will be reading for a while, and this seems like a good place to start the break. I have grown to really love Virgil over the past few months with reading The Aeneid for University which was amazing, and this book was bought just because of how much I liked The Aeneid. Not a big book, and half the pages show the original Latin the poem was written in, so it shouldn't take too long I suppose. I've heard good things about this particular translation from my old lecturers too.
Just finished VA Frostbite and Getting into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist can learn from Actors last night. Today I'm hoping to finish The Editor Devil's Guide to Characters and 45 Master Characters. If I have time I also have The Editor's Guide to Dialogue. I'm a fast reader
After finishing Su Tong's My Life as Emperor, I became gravely depressed and couldn't pick up anything for several months. Trying to pick myself up out of that funk, I ill-advisedly stumbled onto Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, and now I'm trapped in another circle of tragedy...
Currently about to re-read Tomorrow When the War Began, and then the rest of the series. I always end up reading the first four, but never get to the last three. Hopefully this time I actually finish it
Just finished The Georgics and oh - my - god I loved that little book. It was so peaceful, pastoral and relaxed, and really was such a joy to read! Also, reading that makes one thing very clear in my mind: Virgil was clearly a genius. Now reading: Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton. I'm taking a break from 'heavy' literature and just taking the chance to enjoy something not quite as serious. I can start reading more serious stuff shortly.
I just finished Wired For Story by Lisa Cron. It is a non-fiction about how insights from neuroscience can be applied to writing stories. I found it easy to read and very helpful in understanding what readers crave for in stories. I really love the book and will re-read it to take some notes.
Reading Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton now and I'm a bit of a ways in to it. Already I can tell two things, 1) S.J. Bolton is actually a pretty talented writer. I'm in a very generous mood right now and, though this book is riddled with cliches and overlong, unneeded descriptions of characters, the writing is to be honest fairly decent, even good. It's keeping my attention, which is all you can ask for in a book like this really. 2) I wish I had edited this book. Quite a lot could have been removed from this book that isn't needed and there would be no great change, and it feels like just one or two more drafts to smooth out the characters, plot and actual writing could have made this into an amazing debut novel. As it stands, considering it's a debut novel, it's just not bad. Not bad at all. But not good either. The cliches are killing it, there are too many little coincidences that hurt the novel, and there are moments when someone will act out of character - sometimes it's even funny, made me laugh during what is supposed to be a serious scene which is not a good thing. Sometimes a scene can be really over-dramatic about something when an intelligent reader has guessed that something pages before hand. And some things are made really (almost painfully) obvious. If you read a lot of this kind of fiction, or just watch a lot of TV, you'll be able know everything about the book within the first 100 or so pages. These are the things that are really standing out to me, but I can't help but feel S.J. Bolton has more to her than just this, and I feel she's capable of producing some pretty respectable light-reading material. I'm thinking of getting more of her stuff at some point to see if I'm right or just overpraising trash.
Just finished: The Wasp factory by Iain Banks. I got WF to recommend me weird, blackly comic books, and this definitely had elements of that. It's about an OCD 16 year old who lives on a Scottish island. He gets a kick out of torturing animals, has a mental brother who's escaped from a lunatic asylum...Not to mention his dysfunctional relationship with his father (Theres some great dialogue here that had me smirking). This book's very well written, but my interest started to wane a little bit as the book hurtled towards the end. I'd still recommend it though, for those looking for something a bit different. Now reading: Journey to the End of the night by Louis Ferdinand Celine. Without trying to gush, you have to read this book. Celine's writing style, for any aspiring writer, is fascinating. He is the voice of the disenfranchised. But so far Ive found his choice of words, his turn of phrase, the rhythm of the speech all amazing. The book is full of pessimism, but it can also be pretty funny too. Check it out, it's great
He is the voice of the disenfranchised. <--Didn't wanna read it. But so far Ive found his choice of words, his turn of phrase, the rhythm of the speech all amazing.<--- I'm gonna read it.
It's certainly a unique thing to have someoe whine so much in a book and yet, when you read it, you lap up every word that he says!
I've having a hard time finding things to read lately. When that happens, I usually end up going back to one of my favorites. This time, it's Dune by Frank Herbert. I'm embarking on my third journey to the planet Arrakis, and I know that I'm going to love it, and probably understand it better than the first two times, thats just the kind of book this is.
In a way, yea. But I suppose Catcher was writen in that really specific context. Journey, on the other hand though, drifts from place to place and there's actually no limit to Celine's despairing outlook. He's the most isolated man on the planet, the only sane one, whereas everyone else, to him anyway, is crazy. A big saving grace for the book though, is the black humour (And the writing too of course)
I'm reading some Dylan Thomas , and some Shelley poetry right now. And a book on analyzing surrealism - I don't really get poetry but I guess that's why I like it, it's sort of like dream-language.
I finally started reading Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, though it feels a bit like cheating since I've already seen the first season of the TV series. But that hasn't made it any less enjoyable/heart-wrenching. I didn't expect all the characters to be so young, which makes it all worse. I just want to wrap up all the little Starks in a big quilt and make them hot cocoa. Poor babs.
Mr g: A Novel About the Creation, written by a physicist. Kind of interesting. Quick read. Can't wait to finish it so I can start reading from the Man Booker longlist
Been reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. What fantastic books, and I read them right around the time they land Curiosity on Mars. Didn't even know they were doing that.
I just finished reading a factual book about greek heroes and gods and have turned to the second book in "Grimberg's world history", also about greek history and mythology and later philosophy will come as well. Very interesting. However, to get some other "fun" stuff in as well: my friend just got me Paul Auster's The Music of Chance. I've never read any Paul Auster before, so I'm looking forward to it
I'm reading The Hobbit at the moment. It's pretty addicting stuff. I'm thinking about reading Paterno afterwards.
