I’ve just finished writing a massive, technically difficult novel and ground my brain into dust trying to make it feel, to the reader, luxuriously, joyously clean and simple. I believe it’s a writer’s job to be a good host: to welcome the reader, make even the most difficult subject matter and obtuse characters easy to enter.
Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be a priority for other writers. Or perhaps they’re just not able.
In the last three or four weeks I’ve downloaded dozens of sample chapters only to become irritated and impatient. In this regard, the Kindle is very frustrating: I can’t throw it at the wall. I have to put it down carefully, then throw something else at the wall. Tuh.
I’ve read one paper book all the way through, my ancient 1961 paperback of Alistair MacLean’s Fear is the Key. The object itself is in dreadful shape:
If you look carefully, you’ll see the bookworm holes in the cover. Here’s how it appears from the inside:
Don’t worry. Those worms are long dead. And, just in case, we keep it in a plastic bag. This has the added benefit of keeping the book together. Alas, we’ve already lost about thirty pages over the years. Not so bad when you consider the thing is nearly as old as I am. But it doesn’t matter; I know the story; I’ve read it often enough.
But it’s sad when one is reduced to reading a broken, vermin-riddled, mouldy, fifty year-old paperback.
Of the newer books I’ve attempted, some are not acceptable because the writing is pitiful. Sometimes the digital design and/or conversion is appalling. Sometimes the premise, story or characters are tedious and/or unbelievable. Sometimes the style is stiff and unconvincing. Sometimes–no, often–they suffer (I suffer) from a combination of the above.
I admit I’m currently a difficult customer, but here’s the thing: I don’t need a book to be perfect. I do need it to do something interesting and/or do most things competently. Finding books that pass even that low bar hasn’t been easy.
Here are some of the books I’ve actually finished in the last three weeks, all sufficiently engaging to get me through to the end:
Reamde, Neal Stephenson
11/11/63, Stephen King
Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey
The Long Tomorrow, Leigh Brackett
The Affair, Lee Child
Island, Thomas Perry
The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan
Haweswater, Sarah Hall
These are books I’ve read a bit of and might very well read more:
Floating Worlds, Cecelia Holland
Beyond Black, Hilary Mantel
Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan
The Stranger’s Child, Alan Hollinghurst
The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje
These books failed me:
State of Wonder, Ann Patchett
The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman
The Element of Fire, Martha Wells
Sister Mischief, Laura Goode
How Fiction Works, James Wood
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Tomorrow I’ll talk about why.
I love Long Tomorrow!
Also: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=4435412547
I recommend To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild; also In The Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson. Yes, this means I have been reading mostly non-fiction.
djfiander, yep, I've read it a few times. BTW, your link doesn't work.
barbara, if I'm going to read non-fiction, I think I'll try 1491.
I couldn't put 1491 down. It massively contradicted most of what I was taught about the pre-Columbus Americas, but it also ultimately made more sense (IMO).
Matheson's “I am Legend” is on the 'Failed' list? :O
I anxiously await for tomorrow to hear why.
I read I Am Legend in the early 1970s and found the story haunting. If you don't already know how it ends, I recommend soldiering through — or possibly just read the last chapter. Neither of the film versions captured the pathos of the original ending.
Dianne, I'm currently done with soldiering. Just not in the mood for it.
I finished Cat's Table a few days ago. I'm not sure I would have read it at all, even though I generally like Ondaatje, if I hadn't heard him reading from it on the radio. It was able to keep me going, but I found that I was largely uninterested in the adult story, only in the child's.
I also recently finished Susan Hill's Shadows in the Street. She can write, although I have some qualms about the utterly nonchalant way in which she kills off characters, particularly those for whom one has developed a fondness. I suppose it's more true to real life, but that's not what I'm looking for in a mystery.
What I'm not getting into much at the moment is Atwood. I think I've forgotten too much of Oryx and Crake, so Year of the Flood seems hard to pick up and sink into (if you'll forgive the pun).
Quite liked the latest Peter Robinson. Read a truly dreadful novel about murderous Mennonites (author and title both now forgotten) which I would never have finished had I had anything else to hand.
Nothing I've read lately has really reached out and grabbed me, though. Although I think that's harder for a book to do when I have to read it in dribs and drabs (no time, no time) instead of swallowing it whole.
Have you read Glass Houses and Proxies by Laura Gould? Both are worth the effort, though I do favor Glass Houses.
Stephen King's 11/22//63 was excellent (that's what you meant, right?)
Ann Patchett's State of Wonder was passable.
Richard Matheson's I Am Legend was completely boring.
I've found it difficult to find engaging books lately myself. But I've found a few. I'm not likely to recommend any of the ones I've read recently, if only because I know yours and my tastes are dissimilar, and I'd not like to think you would like what I like. You may chastise me for that if you will.
I did, however, just finish reading All Quiet on the Western Front, which I found very well written, very engaging, and thought-provoking.
Wendy, oof, Hill's books sound kind of grim. As for Atwood, I haven't been able to read her for years. Her stuff feels quite amused but not amusing: rather distanced. I haven't read Peter Robinson.
Lisa, nope, haven't read those yet. I can't remember why. I'm guessing I've started at least one of them more than once–they've been recommended to me several times.
Rebecca, I found Patchett's book infuriating. I loved Bel Canto, so I kept reading …Wonder long past the point where I'd normally give up. One of the things about Matheson that drove me nuts was the lack of dialogue. All Quite… I've never read it. Seen the film :)
How odd. The link continues to work for me. Regardless, it's a link to a $1 copy of “Fear is the Key”.
I gave up on Atwood's genre fiction after the overly didactic Handmaid's Tale, but her her literary fiction continues to be worth reading, I think.
dj, it's working now. Interesting.