Should writers be nice to each other in print? It’s fun to watch them duke it out.

I still remember the feud between Virginia Woolf and Arnold Bennett, which was amusing to read about, especially from Woolf’s own writing. (She didn’t like H.G. Wells either, because she thought his writing was too “Edwardian.” In other words, his writing was too stuck in a certain format that didn’t focus on the characters of a story.)

In the spirit of this post, I would also recommend this book, a hilarious read about our writing predecessors who weren’t afraid to squirt ink at each other for the sake of criticism.

How do you read a book? The “normal” way is to read a book from beginning to end, but that’s not always possible, especially if 1) parts of the book are boring, 2) you want to know what the ending will be [which is frankly just another way of saying “the rest of the book is boring"], or 3) the entire book is boring, in which case you don’t bother to read beyond the first few paragraphs of the first chapter.

But what about the other ways people read books? An example would be where the person reads a certain number of pages in one book before moving on to another book to do the same, and so on.

I read a book on Friday night in three hours and I’m now eyeing three other books I’ve been trying to get through or want to start; I will probably read them in the same fashion as the above blogger reads, or give that fashion a try. No previous experience with reading exams required, either.

Across the bow is another way to define a certain style of writing - namely, the way an author writes her books. Some authors are very diverse with how they write, although diversity is relative depending on the author. Stephen King, for instance, has a distinctive descriptive style that I like, and he’s written novels about a single theme or setting (Castle Rock comes to mind), all within the realm of horror or fantasy fiction. I won’t address genre much because that doesn’t have much to do with style, at least not in this context.

The book I read Friday night is Christian romance fiction, and I didn’t think about the author’s style much until I finished the book. That’s when I noticed several things about all of her work that I’ve read previously, as well as the current book. Firstly, the reader will immediately recognize the same plot the author’s used in her other books, which usually entails a similar obstacle the main female character must overcome in order to love the main male character. Secondly, there will be the same “sweet personality” traits for the main female character. Thirdly, there will always be the same kind of pastoral figure. Finally, there will the same themes of family and God and church. History is probably the only diversity offered because all of the books take place in different historical periods.

I don’t have a problem with an author using the same kind of style for every book she’ll have published, and I should probably expect any future work to be modeled after this style, too. Still, I’m wondering how I can read essentially the same story without getting tired of it already. Who is better: an author who uses a different style for every book she writes even if she may stay in the same genre, or an author who uses the same style for her published work and the only difference the reader notices is the framework of the story (i.e. setting and time period)? And do readers immediately recognize that recurrent style - if applicable to the author - and if they do, what changes for them?

NOTE: This is a Revised & Expanded version of one of my posts from another blog.

I kept a list of all the books I read in 2003 and decided to make it an annual tradition, so here’s my list for this year:

Myst: The Book of D’ni – Rand Miller, David Wingrove
Retief! – Keith Laumer
Wild At Heart – John Eldredge
Dust and Conscience – Truong Tran
Reunion – Katie Hern
On Writing – Stephen King
The Firm – John Grisham
The Visitor – Lori Wick
The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne – Stephen King
Lyon’s Pride – Anne McCaffrey
The Pelican Brief – John Grisham
1949 – Morgan Llywelyn
Everything’s Eventual – Stephen King
The Case for Easter – Lee Strobel
Nightmares and Dreamscapes – Stephen King
Different Seasons – Stephen King
A New Kind of Christian – Brian McLaren
Separate Parts – Martha King
The Teeth of the Tiger – Tom Clancy
From Beirut to Jerusalem – Thomas L. Friedman
So You Want to Be a Wizard – Diane Duane
Deep Wizardry – Diane Duane
High Wizardry – Diane Duane
A Wizard Abroad – Diane Duane
A Wizard Alone – Diane Duane
Skeleton Crew – Stephen King
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – JK Rowling
Night Shift – Stephen King
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt – Edmund Morris
Theodore Rex – Edmund Morris
The Devil’s Code – John Sandford
The Hanged Man’s Song – John Sandford
The Church on Earth – Ronald Knox
Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire – Isaac Asimov
Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov
The 9/11 Commission Report
The Los Angeles Diaries – James Brown
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon
The Empress Files – John Sandford
Fighting Words – James Charlton

Total: 43

All of the books I’ve read recently or am in the process of reading all begin with The.

I might’ve stolen ‘em from Dane. Er, The Dane, I mean. (There, see? I just returned one.) I swear, I’m just borrowing them.

Eh, particles. Picky, these creatures.

Has anybody read this book before? And if you have, what are your thoughts on it?

Kevin Holtsberry from Collected Miscellany wants to know: what kind of book person are you?

My answers are in italics.

1) What is your favorite type of bookstore?
A. A large chain that is well lit, stuffed full of books, and has a café.
B. A dark, rather dusty, used bookstore full of mysterious and vaguely organized books.
C. A local independent bookstore that has books by local authors and coffee.

2) What would excite you more?
A. A brand new book by your favorite author.
B. Finding a classic you’ve been wanting to read.
C. Receiving a free book from a friend in the mail.

3) What’s your favorite format?
A. Novel
B. Short story
C. Poetry

4) Favorite format, part II.
A. Contemporary fiction.
B. Classic novels.
C. Genre (mystery, espionage, etc.)

5) Favorite format, part III (none of the above) Fiction or non?
A. Almost entirely fiction.
B. Almost entirely non-fiction.
C. A mix of both.

6) Does the design and condition of the book matter?
A. Yes, I love a well designed book and keep mine in mint condition.
B. No, the words are what matter.
C. Yes and no, I appreciate good design and treat my books with respect but I am not obsessive about it.

7) On average how many books do you read a month?
A. I am lucky to read one.
B. I am dedicated. I read 4 or 5.
C. I am a fiend. I read 10 or more!

8) Do you prefer to own or borrow?
A. There is a particular joy in owning a book. I have a large library.
B. Why spend money when you can read it for free? I use the public library.
C. Different tools for different job. I do both.

9) Where do you get (the majority) your book news?
A. Newspapers.
B. Magazines.
C. TV
D. Blogs.

10) Are books a professional obsession?
A. Yes, I work in the field (writer, reviewer, publisher, teacher, etc.).
B. No, I do it for fun.
C. Kinda, I write the occasional review but have a regular job outside of books.

You can answer here or at Kevin’s blog.

How many of these books have you read? Out of 101, I count 20. Clearly I have some readin’ to do.

My favorite out of the books from this list that I have read is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The books I want to read are The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, and The Illiad and The Odyssey by Homer.

Interesting that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is on the list but George Orwell’s 1984 is not.

(via Blackfive)

We had an interesting discussion in class last night about autobiographies, after reading Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face.

I actually don’t like reading autobios and personal memoirs that much because they’re not my type of book, but how much detail in most autobiographies are true? Think about how different autobiographies are compared to biographies about the same person. Which account is more interesting to the reader? Why are they different? And if they’re so different, why sell the story in the first place to a particular audience?

How different is a politician’s memoir from a writer’s?

And now that I’ve deluged you with all of these questions, how much of my Distractions post are you willing to believe is true if it happened (which it did) but I was also very selective about which details to include in the story?

Does that change how you read it?

I’m not talking about Elvis. I’m talking about Stephen King.

I’m currently reading his On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and it’s such a fun book because he’s blunt about, well, everything.

To date, this is probably the only book of his that I’ve actually read. Cripes, I haven’t seen a single movie adaptation of one of his numerous novels because I’m not a big fan of horror in general. Nope, I haven’t even seen Carrie. However, Dreamcatcher is sitting on my bookshelf and I’ve told myself that I will read it - someday soon…

So, what books and/or movie adaptations of Stephen King’s work have you read/seen?

Since I was gone for the New Year’s celebration, I couldn’t post anything about the books I read during 2003. A friend and I made a deal at the beginning of last year to keep track of the books we read throughout the year, so here’s my tally. Note: excluded are all books assigned for homework that I was forced to read; included are all books assigned for homework that I did enjoy reading.

The Forge of God - Greg Bear
Ender’s Shadow - Orson Scott Card
Shadow Puppets - Orson Scott Card
Road to Perdition - Max Alan Collins
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Glory Road - Robert Heinlein
Shadow Warriors - Tom Clancy & Gen. Carl Stiner (Ret.)
Rainbow Six - Tom Clancy
Endymion - Dan Simmons
Eyes of Elisha - Brandilyn Collins
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
Executive Orders - Tom Clancy
The Stamp of Glory - Tim Stafford
True Valor - Dee Henderson
And a Hard Rain Fell - John Ketwig
Mortal Prey - John Sandford
Twelfth Night - William Shakespeare
All’s Well That Ends Well - William Shakespeare
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Sudden Prey - John Sandford
Easy Prey - John Sandford
Cymbeline - William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
Chosen Prey - John Sandford
Travels - Michael Crichton
Secret Prey - John Sandford
Naked Prey - John Sandford
King Henry the Sixth, Part I - William Shakespeare
Certain Prey - John Sandford
1984 - George Orwell

Total: 30

I haven’t started reading anything yet and while I do plan to keep track of the books I read during 2004, this isn’t a competition. I recommend any of the books above for serious readers who enjoy reading non-school-related material while procrastinating on that twelve-page term paper. Oops - ignore that last part, hehe.

And they’re all still sitting up in my closet, peering at me anxiously whenever I open the door and wondering, fretting if I’ll ever touch them. Never fear, dears, I’ll get to you one of these days - whenever that is.

Glad I ain’t the only one with this problem, either.

Do you prefer online reading material over an actual book that you can hold or vice versa? Or both?

Just wondering.

(No thanks to Billy, because surely he knows I have enough on my plate to read already.)

You heard it here first: I’d read a book by Thomas Harris any day over something by Jane Austen, which is considered a classic in lots of “literature” circles. Well, screw it.

That’s right, you writing elitists who decry popular fiction. You’re just jealous ‘cause they sell more books ‘n you do!

I am one extremely happy reader at the moment. For one thing, two boxes worth of books that have been sitting by my desk since we moved into our digs last August have now found a home in my closet.

And I seem to be on another Vietnam War trip: I’m trying to finish Ketwig’s …and a hard rain fell, which is very very good, and I just received this amazing volume that was put together by a writer friend’s namesake for a character of his: John Plaster.

Did I mention I was in Bookworm Heaven?