I am curious as to what books you read.
What books are you reading at moment?
How many are you reading at the moment, and by what authors?
Are they contemporary award-winning authors, or traditional authors?
Do you think the authors you read have enhanced your writing skills?
I am reading, Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte.
Idylls of the King - Tennyson.
The English Novel - Walter Allen
Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzche.
Jane Eyre is brilliant.
Idylls of the King is excellent.
The English Novel is an interesting history of the Novel.
Beyond Good and Evil is a challenging read. I will continue to read it a page at a time.
I can't say I agree with a lot of this. The only thing you might learn from reading older novels is how not to write modern prose. And if you struggle through a book, how many others do likewise, or give up?
I once decided I ought to read a modern, prizewinning author and chose JP Donleavy's 'The Ginger Man'. That'll teach me. Now I stick to what I enjoy - adventure fiction - and try to write something similar.
A book should entertain or enlighten; both, if one is lucky. Life's too short to waste on anything that doesn't.
Who said I got out of the wrong side this morning? ;)
I asked the question because I strongly believe that budding authors should be very selective about what they choose to read.
It is important to read traditional literature as well as the best contemporary literature. Award winning quality literature, teaches us what works and sells in todays market.
There is also an abundance of best selling drivel on the market. I realise that publishers have to earn a living, and that there is a large market for what I regard as rubbish.
I am not influenced by how well a book sells. However, I am influenced by well respected literary critics. They determine whether I purchase a book by an unfamiliar author.
I believe I have gained, either consciously, or sub-consciously from reading quality literature. The best contemporary authors have individual strengths to learn from.
A few examples.
Joanne Harris is excellent at sign posting. You always know where you are in her books at any time, and where you are going with her topic sentences.
Malorie Blackman is a superb plotter. It is hard to find another author that plots as well as her.
Michael Morpurgo is an excellent example of simplicity of style. He does not choose to write to intelligently. He favours the shorter word over the longer more complicated word.
Eva Ibbotson's short five or six line paragraphs are bursting at the seams with infomation.
Regarding traditional authors.
Is there many better examples of writing a narrative, or in the first person as Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre?
Thomas Hardy is brilliant at centrally motivating a setting. His discriptions are long- winded by todays standards, but he is an excellent guide.
There are not many books I have not enjoyed and tossed into the bin after a few chapters. But the pleasure of readng is a secondary consideration for me.
My first priority is to learn and improve as a writer.
Just finished "What Money Can't Buy" by Michael Sandel and am re-reading "The Street Of Crocodiles" by Bruno Schulz.
I love the magical world that Schulz created. The way he mixed his observations of his home life, with this fantastical and rich language. His prose lifted those observations to a higher level and transformed the life of his little town into something whimsical and delightful. Everyone should read this little book. It's a true work of art.
As for Sandel's observations of the philosophical malaise at the heart of modern day laissez faire capitalism. Well let's just say I needed to read Schulz as an antidote. Sandel's observations of the world as it is are too painful. Escapism is vital if you want to survive it.
Reading these two books side by side however, allowed me to absorb Sandel's work without crying too much :-)