Booklist Update 3

Booklist Update!

1. The Story of English by Robert McCrum
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (owned)
3. A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Ian Bickerton and Carla Klausner (owned)
4. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
5. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
6. A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
7. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
8. Nemesis by Philip Roth
9. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
10. The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell (owned)
11. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
12. Transgression by James Nichol
13. Fall of Giants by Ken Follet (owned)
14. Dune by Frank Herbert
15. White Russian by Tom Bradby (owned)
16. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
17. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
18. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
19. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (owned)
20. Shogun by James Clavell (owned)
21. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
22. The Physician by Noah Gordon
23. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
24. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
25. The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley
26. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
27. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
28. Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof
29. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
30. Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

What do you think of TIME'S List of the 100 Novels? Most of them people would have read in school I think—I definitely did! And a lot of them I read on my own, to see what all the fuss was about. One of my favorite books of all time is on the list (American Pastoral) but some I really hated are on there too—The Sheltering Sky, in particular.

Fynn is Fin, Again!

Draft 2 Complete! So exciting!

I can't wait to look at this printed out, as one unit. I think it will HELP!

Quotes to Write By #5

http://www.theawl.com/2012/04/how-to-write-the-great-american-novel

What do you think of that article?

Oh, I want to be published so badly!

Book Journal: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

I think this is the fourth time I've read this book...

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

Like I said for my entry on Mirror, Mirror, Maguire's writing really enchants me (though I understand if it isn't everyone's cup of tea). I also believe this is his greatest work, paces above Mirror, Mirror and absolutely the Wicked series, which seems to be pretty much universally panned by reading audiences, though really gave way to a fantastic Broadway show (which I saw with the original cast! God, that was amazing).

He's got a big vocabulary which I really appreciate, and CoaUS is more direct in its writing, so that his messages aren't quite as esoteric as they were in MM. That's not to say that sometimes you kind of look down in mild exasperation at times--his strength can at times be his weakness--but this is far and away the most accessible, and the most engaging.

The story is set in a believable 1500s/1600s Haarlem with really interesting characters and wonderful imagery. The book isn't long, at about 350 pages or so, but there are times when Maguire approaches a flat road that could have better benefited from a more uphill rise. My favorite aspect here is the relationship between Caspar and Iris, which I would have liked to see played out on page more, and the dastardliness of Margarethe, a great villain trapped by her own evils and the circumstances thrown at her in life--marked by the fact that she is, in fact, a woman.

The more I read Maguire's works the more I am enchanted by his writing--and the more I see where that kind of writing masks less decent aspects. That's not a knock on Maguire so much as I feel grateful for a more critical eye.

7/10

Book Journal: Dune

How do you write about reading Dune? Kind of like the experience was running intervals on a treadmill, I guess.

Dune by Frank Herbert

Okay, Dune. I finished it! And I finally read it. Like Tolkien's works, people should read this in a study of how to create well their own complete worlds, and make them unique and ridden with thematic elements--instead of just sloshing together mythical or mystical (or sci-fi) elements to avoid the trappings of real-world adventure. Like Tolkien's works, Dune is not necessarily the best-written thing out there, and can be a real uphill climb to read in certain parts (though admittedly LLtR is more taxing). But jeez, this book is really amazing nonetheless. If you read it carefully you can piece together the thousands of offbeat terms and cultural references to get a semi-accurate historical background to the universe, and if you just read it quickly you can still appreciate the amazing scope of Herbert's detailed and believable universe.

This is only the second sci-fi book I've read--the first being Ender's Game when I was in sixth grade. For me personally, sci-fi works better in movies and television or video games, since you can really throw yourself into a work visually, and all of the convincing writers do to support technological advances can be kind of weighty, especially for casual readers. But Herbert does all that really well, balancing the natural world with the technological, and highlighting other details to make his universe solid and complete, instead of weighing you down with heady descriptions and directions to convince you. He trusts his writing, so you trust him.

The story is long, and Paul may not be the greatest dude around (I actually found Herbert's female characters the most complete and engaging), but the fact that, for once in literature, he is in control of his own destiny is a really cool concept. And those sandworms. Those are cool too. At times I wish Herbert had gone deeper into his ecological themes--he focuses a great deal on the religious aspects, which is highly important and highly engaging--but really, there can't be more complete works than this. Guess I'll have to read more of the genre to find out!

8/10

On Writing -5-

#ThatMomentWhen what you've put down has struck you, and what you've put down says exactly what you meant.