After giving up on George R Stewarts's Earth Abides, I started on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World last night. First chapter is a right slog and more than a little anal with his descriptions and explanation of the fertilization clinic. Chapter two picks right up from the first, so it seems the torture isn't over yet After this, I'm done with the so-called 'classics' for a while.
Shame, because I really liked Brave New World, but I think people take it much more seriously than it deserves. It's a very funny book, in a way.
The plot properly starts when you meet Bernard Marx. If you don't like it by the time you reach the savage reservation you might find the novel a bit of a slog.
I didn't have a problem reading BNW. Breezed through it. I consider it a book of great genius. A satire, a tragedy and a projection. "Ending is better than mending" - more relevant now than ever. Especially with our shallow, glossy, throw-away culture. I think he offers some valuable insights regarding certain laws of nature, like conditioning etc. It helped me question my social and cultural conditioning. Long live Huxley, the visionary! Hurrah!
I'm just now reading Stephen King's On Writing. Apparently reading it is a prerequisite for calling oneself a "writer."
It's ok, it's just mostly rubbish. It also makes it painfully clear King doesn't know how to redraft.
Good to know. I'm reading it because its supposedly motivational, and I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get much from his actual writing advice.
Aside from 'Don't use adverbs' I don't remember any actual writing advice from it. It's mostly memoir, and the first half of the memoir, before the 'writing advice' middle section is actually quite inspiring.
I am currently reading Dreaming of Babylon by Richard Brautigan. I am enjoying it so far. I've always liked his sense of humor.
For personal reasons, I've decided to stop reading Kalimpura by Jay Lake. That, and I was stupid enough to not check his book list so I would know that this was the last book of The Green Trilogy. I'm currently reading the following from the library: Empires at War by William M. Fowler The French and Indian War by Walter R. Borneman. The above are research materials for my historical mystery set in that era. Another fantasy called Kings of the North by Elizabeth Moon. THIS TIME, I checked the list and got the earliest copy available in the library of The Paladin's Legacy novels. This is the third out of five total (not sure if it ended or is still on-going) books released in that series. I've learned my lesson well.
@Link the Writer you should try Moon's Deeds of Paksennarion trilogy. The Paladin's Legacy novels takes place in the same world, and apparently involves a lot of characters introduced in the Paks books. The Paks series is well worth reading.
"White Cargo" a book about indentured servants. I'm only at the first page haha so I can't give my opinion just yet.
Still persevering with Huxley's BNW. While I'm not keen on his style (too much info, not enough action) I do find it astonishing that this thing was written in 1932. To have written a vision of the future, so radical and out there, that it still reads as a vision of the future 83 years on, is a remarkable achievement.
Took an afternoon out from my studies and dissertation to read something totally unconnected, so I read William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell. What the ... fuck was that? I'm sure I'm not the only person who has thought that about Blake, but ... what? I can't deny this is great writing, I can't deny I absolutely loved it, but I can't deny I didn't understand it. At all. What? Just, what?
Makes perfect sense! William Blake, one of the sanest men to ever tread the earth. Read it again and again, for 'If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.' And don't be afraid to change your position, for 'The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water and breeds reptiles of the mind.'
So that's how you read it? Heh, well, don't I feel silly. I read through Songs of Innocence and of Experience trying to find the connections between Innocence and Experience and see what the connections meant. In this, I just couldn't read it like that. There are some really wonderful quotes in it, you are absolutely right, Blake was a genius.
Well, it would take a lengthy discourse to explain how I read it. But I will say, to understand his work (even remotely) it helps to put it into context. You have to look at his beliefs, his outlooks, and the things that were going on around him. Essentially, the world is contrary. These opposites make the whole. There is no pleasure without pain, 'It is right it should be so / Man is made for joy and woe'*. I could go on and on waxing lyrical about the virtues of Blake, but I don't have time. It's quite a deep discussion and never fails to pique my interest. *Auguries of Innocence
