XOXO and Other Letters: It's February and I Love Reading

That's how you do it!

I really disliked High Fidelity as a movie. It just didn't work for me at all. The book though, one of my favorites.

thanks. I´m gonna order both books today.

It did give me the same feeling, I felt like I was out in the wild instead of in my room among grey apartment buildings in the city.

Started reading The Chrysalids by John Wyndham on a whim. Looks like I'll be sticking with it.

I would love to read it again, along with some of his other books!

I only read Chocky by him and enjoyed it a lot.

I had never heard of him before recently. I was reading a list of popular dystopian future novels. This one got mentioned a few times. It sounded interesting.

Michel Houellebecq is a writer I will never forget. Atomized is the novel I read. Here is a quote from another novel of his:

The truth is scandalous. But without it, nothing has any worth. An honest and naive vision of the world is already a masterpiece... As you approach the truth, your solitude will increase.

Michel Houellebecq
from To Stay Alive

For those who are interested in Houellebecq in French, here's the pdf of one of his first novels :
http://jeanchristophe.coulie.perso.sfr.fr/livres/houellebecq%20Michel%20...

Thanks, Ludwig, I've been trying to get some French novels to read.

I can't seem to read this month. Maybe I'm broken.

Nah, it happens Tuff. I hardly picked up a book in January.

I'm reading The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.

That's totally weird, Pete. Just yesterday, after I finished Never Let Me Go, I googled "Top Dystopian Novels" and that title was on several lists at various websites. Let me know how it is...that is my favorite genre (sub-genre, I guess).

Did you like Never Let Me Go, Alecia?

I did, but I think it would've been a much better short story. The first two parts just went on and on, and I didn't think all the minutiae was necessary to build the overall story or what it all led up to in the last part of the book. I did enjoy it, though, and it was really very sad.

Yeah, it could've been shorter, indeed. I really liked it, too, it's one of my favourite stories. You should also see the movie with Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan.

My favorite genres (and I think yours too?):
- Horror
- Dystopian Future
- Noir (this one, less and less though)

I used to think I was a huge fan of "literary novels" and I don't think I am as much anymore. I'll take a great story with okay writing over amazing writing with no story - to a point obviously.

Yeah, that's pretty much it for me, too.

- Horror
- Sci-Fi (and it's various sub-genres)
- Mysteries (sorta)

I used to say I didn't like mysteries at all, but then in the last couple of years I've thoroughly enjoyed Kate Atkinson, Gillian Flynn, etc, so there you go. I don't like authors like James Patterson or the lady who writes the A is for this and B is for that novels and other stuff like that, though.

Then there are authors and books I've loved that I can't fit into any one specific genre(like The Silver Linings Playbook that I just finished, or anything by Gary Shteyngart, or The Night Circus, The Sisters Brothers, and on and on and on).

I just really love a good story.

So as if my reading list wasn't expansive already, I just got my Nook and bought Andrez Bergen's 100 Year's of Vicissitude and Chuck's Phoenix story.

I've been contemplating purchasing that Phoenix story. But I'm wondering why he didn't just sell it to Playboy or any of the other mags that he's published in? And then if it was too long for them, why not save it for the short story book coming out?

I guess I have not reached that place where I prefer the story over the writing, to go back a few posts.

I love a good story, but so very often I find myself not caring about the story as long as the writing is superb. I mean, there is something about the way prose is presented that just chills me if done wonderfully.

There are some stories/writings that it does not matter the expertise or beauty in them, though, I just cannot swallow them or like it at all, the story is just too grating and/or superficial or annoying. The Bell Jar and The Awakening are two that come to mind.

I have found books with awesome style but boring stories. I usually rate those 3 stars, because that also matters to me.

Same here.
And I find that even if a story sounds really good, if the writing's bad I can't read it.

I don't like bad writing (romance novels, Dean Koontz, Dan Brown), but I don't have to perform mental gymnastics to enjoy a good story. To put it in perspective:

The Silver Linings Playbook = decent writing, awesome story
We Need To Talk About Kevin = BRILLIANT prose, awesome story
50 Shades of Grey = shitty writing, shitty story
The Brothers Karamozov = excellent all around
The Lovely Bones = decent writing, decent story, but ENJOYABLE because the experience is that of a person sitting in front of you and telling you a story

I agree with Karamazov and Kevin, those are the only ones I've read. I loved We Need To Talk About Kevin, you could feel her pain in every one of those letters.

I loved The Lovely Bones. I think Alice Sebold is a more than decent writer too...

The Lovely Bones is such a good book. I stayed up all night Christmas Eve of 2009 reading it. The Almost Moon was also very good, but I enjoyed The Lovely Bones more.

Have you read Lucky? That's my favourite of hers. Even more than The Lovely Bones (which I have read many times).

A couple of years ago I went to a Q&A and signing for The Almost Moon. She seemed quite a reserved person.

I haven't read that one, but I'll put it on my list!

I want to read The Lovely Bones! The film makes me cry and cry and cry.

I'm talking bad writing as in the kind of bad writing you mentioned and anything that is overloaded with cliches or has no concept of pace. Things that are badly edited and laborious to read, too.

God I can't wait for summer. I miss being able to read whatever takes my fancy! Right now if I was free I'd read Wolf Hall because of all the Hilary Mantel fuss today.

I read Beyond by John Galsworthy. Still 300 more pages to go till I finish Vanity Fair.

More money this way. Isn't that what he's all about now?

I was kinda wondering if it wasn't good enough for Playboy. Like maybe they passed on it, and he still wanted to do something with it.

Could be either, or both. He hasn't written anything I've found impressive in years.

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson.

Back to Andresz's MS. Invariably I have to start his stories, put them down for a week after 30 pages, and restart. I blame the OzEnglish and the required mental adjustment.

The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.

I've recently started considering adding a couple of Margaret Atwood novels to my to-read pile.

I just finished his 100 years of vicissitude. Very good. I need more Bergen!

The Average American Marriage by Chad Kultgen.

The Handmaid's Tale is my favorite.

I've only read that so far but I thought it was brilliant.

I liked that one too.

Couldn't get into Handmaid.

Ein Brief by Hugo Von Hofmannsthal

http://depts.washington.edu/vienna/documents/Hofmannsthal/Hofmannsthal_C...

pepper wrote:

I guess I have not reached that place where I prefer the story over the writing, to go back a few posts.

I love a good story, but so very often I find myself not caring about the story as long as the writing is superb. I mean, there is something about the way prose is presented that just chills me if done wonderfully.

There are some stories/writings that it does not matter the expertise or beauty in them, though, I just cannot swallow them or like it at all, the story is just too grating and/or superficial or annoying. The Bell Jar and The Awakening are two that come to mind.

What first draws me in about a story is if it is compelling. If it's a description of a landscape, then the picture needs to be drawn as if your eyes were seeing it. If it's about peace, then peace needs to be felt while reading. There needs to be empathic communion between writer and reader. If it's too stilted or detached it might be compelling but it also needs to be felt in the viscerals. A writer with unacknowledged pain can't write about pain in a way that makes you feel the pain. Writing has to be more than 2-dimensional. It has to be 6-dimensional.

2666. It's a little dry so far but i like dry. Plus, Eddy kept posting quotes from it on Facebook and they were really good so i started on it.