Introduction
Just
because I have not made a reading post recently does not mean my eyes are not
tired from a varied month of reading.
Since
reading and enjoying The Silkworm in July I have
added a number of good books to my reading heap which have edged out other
reads, either started or not started. Reading
overload looms again at the expense of writing.
M K
Tod’s book Lies told in Silence, an enjoyable read with an ending which left me
lost for words, was commented on in.
http://allrightersreading.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/lies-told-in-silence-m-k-tod.html
In a post on 3 August in a
series I am writing for the TIPM Mick Rooney site I concluded:-
Reading One – Write what you enjoy writing as there are so
many tastes amongst readers one is bound to find someone who likes what you
write.
Selecting Books to Read
Selecting
books to read is a similar minefield as well, especially when one gets caught up
in reviewer’s ideas such as those which follow.
I
hope Michael Henderson will not mind me re-quoting from his Daily Telegraph
weekend paper article about John Cowper Powy’s book “A Glasonbury Romance”
“It is far too long for the tale … he has
little idea of structure or plot … there are too many, often tiresome
characters, and the relationships and connections between them can be hard to
follow. The author is also repetitious and makes D H Lawrence seem a model of clarity. There are
lengthy digressions that add nothing to the story .
Yet despite these impediments it is an
astonishing novel. Reading it may be like being gripped by a madman but when
you are finally released from that grip you will never behold the world in the
same way again.”
As a
writer and reader I felt totally bemused so went to Amazon Reviews of the same
book.
From
a high star qualified rating -
“However, it is a very unusual book written
from a very unusual perspective, and I would recommend it to anyone with a
little patience and time on their hands.”
Compared
to a low star rude / crude rating
“In fact, it made me feel sick and I
eventually threw it away without finishing it, something I very rarely do. His
writing in this is so mannered and constipated, in fact the book itself is like
the tortuous undulations of a particularly painful bowel movement. I found
nothing in this to give me pleasure, was this the sort of dreary, windy garbage
that passed as high lit back in the 60s?”
Overall
one to be missed for the time being.
I
have been looking at the other reviews made by Amazon Reviewers and again a
mixed picture emerges of likes and dislikes often opposed to me in both ways.
How wonderful because many tastes to be catered for in my writing.
Reading during the last few weeks.
On a
more positive note and a complete contrast to John Cowper’s writing the
following have entertained me
- The biography of James Lovelock The Gaia, fewer henge rows and "microwave oven" man.
A delightful book found after an inquiry of the Director,
Jim Smith, of the NIMR on the Ridgeway, Mill Hill, North London about the
future of the building. Its work is to be relocated to the new Francis Crick
Building near the British
Library next year. This is part of a longer story which will form the subject
of a separate post. Jim Smith also kindly let me have a copy of 100 Years of
the NIMR. Although much of the science is beyond me the book traces years of
social change and solid research achievement. The current NIMR Annual Report is
also worth a download and read as a pdf document from their web site. Everyone
working there seems to be covered in what seems a family environment.
- Another pleasurable event this month has been meeting a local author Brenda Littlewood – who writes as JJ Franklin and reading her first crime book – An Urge to Kill. A genre I am not too keen on. However, the book proved a nice read especially as the killer is known from page one – so unusual - and because the setting of the book is Stratford, Warwick Kenilworth and Leamington Spa. The book is a mere 99p as a Kindle download. Hardly a large return for all Brenda’s work.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Urge-Kill-1-JJ-Franklin-ebook/dp/B008K7Y47K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408457470&sr=1-1&keywords=urge+to+kill+jj+franklin
- Old friends of the family, in both time and age, recommended - A Higher Call - a true story about German and American pilots in WW2. An interesting and educational read.
- This Boy by Alan Johnson a frank straightforward read increasing my respect for this politician.
- Hilke’s Diary Germany 1940 to August 1945 edited by her sister Geseke Clark a friend of my wife. A touching view of life as a child during WW2
- A couple of recommendations from Tony Riches – The Writing Desk. renatus a novella By Ryan Link and Wrong Flight Home (Wrong Flight Home, #1) by Noel J. Hadley who also has a web site the open part of which contains some wonderfully sharp professional photographs.
·
A little aloud for children continues to amaze. An extract from
H G Wells The Invisible Man together
with my reading of The Silkworm and
also a re read of Worth Dying For by Lee Child have convince me of the need to
analyse their writing to understand what the “magic” ingredient is to these
books being so enjoyable to read. Following a recommendation on Tony Riches
Writing Desk web site I am using Auto
Crit https://www.autocrit.com/ to tease out weaknesses in my writing. So far my use has
shown it to come at editing issues from a different angle. I will have to test
out whether the Auto Crit can tease
out what the “magic” ingredients may be.
Other
My drift back to reading non fiction rather than fiction
continues.
As my last post several books await reading / restarting -
Its a Man's World by Polly Courtney, The years of Rice and Salt by
K S Robinson and the recent prize winning tome The Luminaries , despite
its size, by Eleanor Catton the New Zealand writer.
On non fiction flying craft books Wings on my Sleeve and a book about the Miles M52 by the same author and a beautiful book about the Comet airliner have all been started. Martha Gellhorn Travels with Myself has been started ... a feisty read me thinks.
The
Amazon / Hachette dispute continues to be in the headlines. When I started
writing I saw myself as a new writer on one side of a mountain range with my
readers on the other side. When I am reading mode I look into the mountains for
authors. After reading Helen Corner’s description of the traditional publishing
route in How to write a Blockbuster and
being completely put off by the process what I see now is a situation where
both readers and writers will be casualties. Perhaps the way forward is a
writers and readers co-operative?
See two Lancasters at Eastbourne - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xDPh_WNXqI
Continued
reading to you all. Brrrr…. cold winds of winter are upon us again … I always
thing winter starts as soon as the football season starts.
Douglas
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