Just finished Elena Ferrari's My Brilliant Friend. Absolutely loved it. She writes simply but beautifully, and all of the characters are lifelike, I feel like ive met them. Can't wait to read the rest of the quartet.
In the middle of reading The Written World by Martin Pucher which is a history of writing and would be fascinating for any writer. About half way through and finding it interesting and stimulating.
I finished ATMOM and got to the part about the penguins. I see what you mean. What horrifying beasts! Utterly beyond imagination. I had to chuckle. I actually find penguins really funny. I think it’s because of the way they walk. He, he. The most impressive thing about ATMOM was the mountain being bigger than the size of Everest. I thought, wow, that’s really re-writing things as we accept them. I have since read the Shadow of Innsmouth and I liked the story-line a lot more. I realise there’s a predictability about his writing and to expect those monster/devil/aliens/Cthulhu (whatever they are) in most of his stories. I know they’re always behind it. I wonder if he was trying to tell us something about them? Uh, oh.. Hope you never meet one, you’ll be eternally cursed!
Finished Kafka's The Trial. Now have a reading list, part of which comes from this thread. Giovanni's Room-James Baldwin* Invisible Man-Ralph Ellison. Silent Spring-Rachel Carson* At the Mountains of Madness- H. P. Lovecraft, On Writing-Stephen King The starred ones constitute research for current projects. Invisible Man I had read excerpts from and gave it to my nephew, also an aspiring writer, a few years ago. Over the holidays he mentioned it to me, assuming I had actually read it. Oh, shit. I'd better get on it.
I see a few people are reading On Writing by Stephen King. I've only read Salem's Lot, and it was good because it did put me in a scared, tense mood, but I can't say I enjoyed the prose. The book was also a tad long-winded ... Those of you reading On Writing, what do you think of it and of King's writing? I'm reading The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe and some of H.C. Andersen's fairytales. The latter are difficult to read because there used to be a toddler in my life I keep thinking of when I read them, and it makes me miss them.
I haven't read the book, but I want to. I've read nearly all of his books and his writing style differs depending on what genre he's engaging in. I don't think it's a large difference, but I can tell a change from Eyes of the Dragon to IT to The Dark Tower series. I love his writing, particularly his fantasy and science fiction. __ I just finished The Martian and am now devoting my time to Mr. Mercedes (by Stephen King). I haven't chosen my next book, but it might be Stardust by Neil Gaiman.
I'm currently reading The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter. So far it's readable, though there are a few little niggles I have about it, nothing to justify putting the book down. Next, I hope to read The Foreigner by Stephen Leather.
This week I'm mostly reading Enigma ~ Robert Harris. Nearly done...Let him know, if you ever see him, pg 17 + 45 had standout impressive lines in them and from pg 291 thru 296 he wrote a compelling setup for the finale.
Just finished the first Southern reach novel, Annihilation. An interesting read, fairly cerebral and wordy by kept my interest because it was so mysterious and well written. About to start reading a Hermann Hesse book, Steppenwolf. An author recommended by someone here and never read before by me.
I hope it turns out to be something you like. That's a good one, to me. Anxious to see what you think -- he may not be your cup of tea, but at least you'll know. I'd also recommend Magister Ludi (The Glass Bead Game) as his best-written book; I am fascinated by the ideas in his Journey to the East, but I don't think it's his best written one.
Just started reading it so not much to report. Some repetition in the first chapter which I`m surprised his editor let him get away with, but I guess he wanted to make sure the reader got the point about who Haller was, plus it was a very different time with very different tastes. The character of Haller seems interesting though.
I am currently reading "Too like the Lightning - Ada Palmer" but I'm struggling getting past the first few chapters. The book I read before this was "All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr"... it was great and I recommend it!!
Oh, well now you`re talking, that guy won the Pulitzer for that novel; beautiful story, really wonderfully written.
Rebecca. I never got around to read it, it's just one of those classics I kept ignoring for whatever reason. I'm five chapters in and definitely enjoying it. It really does make you feel uneasy and nervous about what's to come, even if you don't really know what it is that's going to happen.
I just finished Phillip Pullman's La Belle Sauvage, the first in his new Dust series. Man o man, that guy can write. And this is definitely not a 'children's book.' It's quite scary and brutal. But I could not put it down.
Wife left something in the bathroom by James Patterson. I find that stuff barely readable. Grisham is an exception. She likes Janet Evanovich too, and I have never made it past two paragraphs of one of hers. I really need to hit the library, or a garage sale, which is where I picked up the Kafka I recently finished.
Rebecca is a wonderful long story. I remember reading it when I was in seventh grade, twenty eight years ago. It was part of the academic curriculum. It was tough times; we were obliged to read it all and expect any question on any chapter! But thanks God, I passed it. But, its great that you are reading it.
Just finished reading a great story called The Labyrinth of Osiris written by the great late author Paul Sussman. Indeed, I enjoyed it a lot. Its a detective story.
Just finished reading On Writing by Stephen King and The Greeks by HDF Kitto. Now wading through A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I still read more non-fiction than fiction. Reading non-fiction is often good research/source for ideas for writing fiction.
Recently finished Passage to Dawn by R.A Salvatore. A friend of mine turned me on to his books set in a D&D world following a drow named Drizzt. Really enjoy the way he writes his fight sequences.