In general I love to read, but I do go through phases where it feels like a chore and I can't stay interested in anything- usually just after I've finished a really good book, and I can't 'clock-out' of it and get invested in anything else. It's annoying because I end up playing Angry Birds during my commute instead of reading As for suggestions, based on what you've said apart from what Lemex mentioned I'd recommend trying China Meiville's books if you haven't already- The City and the City is a murder mystery with a 1984 kind of angle, and you might like his other more scifi-ish books too. If you happen to fancy some fairly lighthearted modern fantasy you could try the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher- they're fun, quick reads at least. Also, you might want to try the goodreads website- you can rate the books you like and it will give you suggestions based on what other people who like those books also rate.
Indeed. The last two pages seem to have shot straight over my head. However, while my brain was trying to figure out what the subject was, I thought of two other SFF books that I enjoyed. Worldshaker by Richard Harland and Eon by Alison Goodeman. Like I said earlier, I have not read very many books, but these held my attention pretty well.
A small breakdown in communications occurred, but it seems to have resolved itself. Correct, gentlemen?
To the OP, have you read Chuck Palahniuk? He's the author of the novel Fight Club and a host of others. Also, I commend you for mentioning Philip K. Dick - you might want to know that there are five volumes of short stories that are truly excellent. Myself, I used to read indiscriminately until I started writing, and found that writing made me more critical of stories and I've become much selective in reading. I understand that you're quite old, so maybe your age has to do with it, but even though I have American friends and have heard a lot of negative stuff about the US, I'd still like to see the US for myself to form my own opinion.
In answer to your suggestion... I didn't say I do something before learning, but that I learn through trying. In the example you give, if I studied aeroplanes and then was presented with the bits, I just wouldn't be able to do it. It would be too alien to match the concepts to the pieces. I would have focussed on the wrong concepts in the theory and forgotten little details I needed now. Instead, I should start off by examining the pieces, thinking about how they went together, and making guesses. Then when I studied the concepts, I would be looking out for how the physical parts I had thought about exemplified the theory; I would understand them better, what they did, how I could use them for the target I had in mind, and I would read looking out for the answers to the questions which had arisen during my explorations. The theory cannot answer my questions if I don't know what to ask when I look through it. Unless, of course, you're suggesting that every musician has to build their own musical instrument before they can learn to play? I think flying an aeroplane would have been a more appropriate analogy.
Irvine Welsh, doesnt really meet your interests, but is billed as a controversial novelist, kind of out there so to speak, so might capture your imagination. Ian Irvine perhaps. Have you tried any autobiographies as your interested in personal experiences.....
@RowenaFW: This tangent is off topic, and honestly, we are not understanding one another. @The Tourist: Even though I still have no idea what you were going on about before I'm not here to make enemies. So if I came across as antagonistic in any way I apologize unreservedly. OP: You might like Arthur Conan Doyle too. The Sherlock Homes stories are pretty good.
So much derailing. Can you not? I'd like to keep track of this thread, both so I can get a better picture of what the OP likes and doesn't like and offer more suggestions, and in case anyone suggests anything I haven't come across before for my own reading. I don't want to read meaningless posturing, random generalisations about other posters or their generations, etc etc. Too boring. Take it from me and quit it - I suspect otherwise you'll be taking it from Cog. Cheers! To get back on topic, I second Palanuik. Also, maybe you should try House of Leaves; I didn't love it, but it might suit your tastes better I think. Why not Kafka or Joyce? A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a good place to start with Joyce. Oh, and Umberto Eco. I should have thought of him earlier, he might be right up your alley. I know it's only been a day, but let us know where you're leaning and why, it'd be interesting to hear.
Joyce and Kafka are not easy. I don't think this is a good idea for some who admits they are selective about their reading. Otherwise why not Shakespeare, Virgil, Homer, Balzac, Aristotle, Dante, Proust.
Some people on this thread are making some really odd suggestions, like great, difficult works of literature like Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce. The OP is selective about what they like and read, so do you think Gravity's Rainbow will open their eyes? Gravity's Rainbow, a book where there is a club just for people who have finished it. I love Pynchon myself, I think he's a god, but to suggest him on this thread is just ... wrong. What the OP might like is short stories, Poe, Lovecraft, Murakami, Carver, these are all suggestions I would consider. All short story writers that can be read within a few minutes to a few hours, and are really varied in tone and subject matter.
Lemex: I agree about the short stories, but go back to the first post; Borges? Casares? Vonnegut isn't exactly pulp, you know. I think more difficult might end up being more interesting in this case.
That's very true. I'm trying to think of a few others and the only one that comes to mind is Stephen King.
Hm.. Isaac Asimov? Arthur C. Clarke? Orson Scott Card? To be honest, there are at least a few weeks worth of suggestions here already. Perhaps it's worth waiting for the OP to reply.
Well, I'm 45, I ride a BMW R1100GS over unpaved roads, I like camping and hunting with crossbows and slingshots, I'm married with two children. And I only snivel when I catch a cold. And I'm glad I don't share your prejudices.
Can't begin to say how much I like this line. It fits one of my characters so perfectly. I'm amazed at how often, even in off-topic disagreements, pure gold just pours from this forum and into my hands.
No I haven't read any of Chuck Palahniuk's works. I found some of Lovecraft's works online. I was angry that my train ride had arrived to my destination and I was still in the mood to read more and more. Thank you for the suggestions, now I have one author on my list I want to read more of.
Cool. I'm glad to hear you are enjoying them. Just out of interest, which ones did you read/have you read?
I suffer from the same predicament as you. I'm very particular about my reading material, but the best tool in my arsenal has to be the library. I can take out six or seven different authors at a time, and wittle them down to a good one or two. Your taste in books is quite strange. ^^ I hope you can sate your hunger for tasty books! I'd recommend the Cloud Atlas, it really is a beautiful story. My favourites have always been the 'Series of Unfortuneate Events' by Lemony Snicket, I'd recommend them too. And as for The Tourist, your posts make for an interesting read, I understand what you are getting at but the reason some forum members may not understand you isn't to do with anything superficial such as age, just the way they think and how they process your prose, but you are entertaining as always.
I wouldn't want to be you either. The factor of your bragging seems extremely immature for such a "wise" age. If you haven't already, you should read Cogito's warning.
I also used to have this problem. I was forced to read so many books I didn't like during school, I thought I just didn't like books. Although, I've always been interested in writing, and because of this I went to an effort to find books I did like, and once I did, my problem was solved, and now I find that I can even finish books that I don't find all that interesting from the start. Just have to find the books you like enough to finish.
Whether people admit it or not, they drag around their personal life lessons. Coupled that with age, and the way you feel about things comes bubbling out in your stories. This "good friend, bad enemy" bent is just what life has taught me. Many people will smile at you. Most are insincere. They want something, usually the fruits of your work. We (the editorial 'we') will most likely want to "go along to get along" and many times we resent that. Then you turn 60, and the filters get discarded. You (editorial) are retired, you have no vested interest in buttering anyone up. You don't need an idiot's money, you're sick of laughing at their jokes, and frankly you've been plotting their deaths for several decades. My problem is watching this process through my father, and being an open, skeptical and angry young man through most of my life. My dad was a business success, but at the cost of kissing a lot of frogs. I've never had the filters he had. I hated the liberal aspects of society from the git-go. The idea of being a social parasite is really what 'easy rider' means. I distrust smiles. And a young man with this bent found motorcycle clubs, or they found him. As a bill collector I could hunt down parasites. As a credit manager specializing in distressed companies I could expose the abuses of men in power, and fix the problem. As a retired writer, I no longer have to hold my tongue. At 60, I told my wife I would no longer self-censor my speech. After knowing me for 40 years she expressed surprise that I ever did. As to our writing, the decades in building these coping mechanisms is reflected in my prose. For example, my lead is ordered to stop a sniper, who turns out to be a young foreign dignitary. In "doing his job" he dispassionately shoots and kills the 'sniper,' who appears to have already murdered a hostage. However, once the smoke clears, his employers and the power behind the throne find it easier to quell the political fall-out by firing him. Much like me, he chews them out at his own hearing. He is unrepentant. While fanciful, that happened to me. By both social reputation and strident discourse I put so much fear into the middle manager who fired me his hands shook. He was in so much fear of retaliation that he processed full unemployment benefits--for which I never asked. I use real events in my life to write. Fully 75% of my lead is me.
To understand how to write well, reflect on why things work and don't. You can go deeper than, "Well, I just lost interest!" Why did you lose interest? What was it about the writing that lost your interest? If you don't know, why not find out! You can go deeper than, "I like science fiction!" What do you like about science fiction? Why? If you don't know, find out! Curiosity is a wonderful, wonderful thing. If you get in the habit of asking, "Why?" in reflecting upon your reading experiences, your understanding of the workings of your own writing can only improve. The finer grained your reflection, the more nuanced your own writing will be. You may find yourself going, "My God! So this is what this writer is doing to instill such passion in me! He is using a combination of this technique and that structure and this attitude! Let me try this combination in my own! WAIT I AM SO INSPIRED WHAT IS THIS FEELING OF ENERGY COURSING THROUGHOUT MY BODY I MUST WRITE OR I WILL DROWN IN UNUSED POTENTIAL." I'm not saying you have to pursue this level of curiosity and insight in order to write. You can write whatever you want. If the only quality you enjoy about your own words is your possession over them, you don't have to go any farther than that. But, you can go deeper. It's there. And it's the way to enjoy books on a much deeper level, to develop an interesting opinion about literature and life, and as a result, develop your own innate talent. That path is open to you. If you want it. You don't have to want it, but if you do, I wouldn't blame ya.
Well, as the OP says "The stories are boring and I feel like falling asleep. I can read them but I cannot be interested enough to remember what is going on or even care about what is going on." That says to me that the story failed to engage the reader [you could also surmise that the reader failed to be engaged by the story, but most likely the flaw is with the story, not the reader]. As to why the story failed to engage, there are multiple answers: the characters are either cardboard or too far-fetched for empathy, the prose is either too dull or too extravagant to suit the taste of the reader, the dialogue is clunky and unrealistic, the obstacles for the characters are not interesting enough, the plot is too convoluted to be followed, the problems of the characters either fail to resonate with the reader or are simply not interesting/shocking enough. You can go on and on... As Elmore Leonard says, 'Skip the boring parts'.
