I dabble.I feel compelled to try a lot of different things and am prone to brief, intense obsessions. It's how I'm wired. I was never one of those kids, like my friend Wendy, who knew at age nine what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
There were so many possibilities! How could I decide?
When I'm old (I hope) and dying (if I have to), I want to know I've had a broad life experience. I also know my Shallow Ocean of Know lets me write a wide range of stories with convincing detail. Every new thing I learn informs how I live and write. And what better tool to learn new things about writing fiction than other novels?
How's the advice go? Write a lot. Read more.*
JACK OF ALL GENRES: my attempt to learn more about and from genres I rarely read: science fiction, mystery, romance, western, and graphic novel (I threw out gothic because definitions of the genre vary). For each, I've tried to choose one classic, one recent publication (not necessarily with a contemporary setting), and one book published between the other two ("mid-range"). Within each genre, I'm interested to see which conventions remain consistent and which changed with time or author intent.
Thanks so much for your suggestions! Generally, if a book was suggested by more than one person, I put it in the challenge. Also, I have more books in graphic novel than other genres because I can probably read them more quickly (you know,...pictures). As promised, I'll donate the copies I read to the San Antonio Public Library system. If you suggested a particular book and want me to send it to a different library, let me know!
And if any of these look interesting, read along and share what you think of it.
Science Fiction
Classic: FOUNDATION, Isaac Asimov
Recommended by: Jenn, Richie
Mid-Range: ENDER'S GAME, Orson Scott Card (*finished*)
Recommended by: Carrie, Richie, Conner
Recent: THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, Nancy Farmer
Recommended by: Conner, Faith
Mystery
Classic: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, Arthur Conan Doyle (*finished*)
Mid-Range: THE NINE TAILORS, Dorothy L Sayers (*finished*)
Recommended by: Julie
Recent: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, Stieg Larsson (*finished*)
Romance
Classic: JANE EYRE, Charlotte Bronte (*finished*)
Mid-Range: THE NOTEBOOK, Nicholas Sparks (*finished*)
Recent: A DUKE OF HER OWN, Eloisa James (*finished*)
Western
Classic: TRUE GRIT, Charles Portis (*finished*)
Recommended by: Josephine
Mid-Range: THE GUNSLINGER, Stephen King (*finished*)
Recommended by: Dwayne
Mid-Range: BLOOD MERIDIAN, Cormac McCarthy (*finished*)
Graphic Novel
Classic: MAUS, Art Spiegelman (*finished*)
Mid-Range: THE SANDMAN VOL 1: PRELUDES AND NOCTURNES, Neil Gaiman (author), Sam Keith (illus), Mike Dringenberg (illus), Malcolm Jones III (illus), Todd Klein (letterer) (*finished*)
Recent: STITCHES, David Small (*finished*)
Recent: ASTERIOS POLYP, David Mazzucchelli (*finished*)
Recommended by: Rick
My challenge to you: explore at least one genre you rarely read! Come back and tell us what you think, or link to your blog post telling us what you think.
*possibly a direct quote from Stephen King's ON WRITING
[image via LA Times Festival of Books (2008)]
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14 ate pie:
Maus will knock you off your feet!
Awesome!
Oh, I've been meaning to read Maus.
If you want another SF rec--try Patrick Ness's The Knife of Never Letting Go. I just started it, and it's been BRILLIANT.
Excellent - I've seen your tweets about it. I have a few books lined up to read when I finish the ones listed - will check out Ness's.
Hi nomadshan!
I know it's late, but I just discovered your blog and this list - but I have one more suggestion in the ‘Western’ zone. Have you read anything by Jim Harrison?
Maybe you can squeeze in Legends of the Fall (it’s short - a novella.) Gorgeous – the writing is quite spare, but SO evocative and the characters and western landscape grab your heart and mind more than many books with ten times the details.I think you might like it.
(By the way – while I actually kind of liked the film version – it’s VERY different than the book – so, don’t judge by that.)
- Colette
Howdy, Colette -- welcome to Daily Pie! Thanks so much for suggesting Jim Harrison. As you can see, I don't have a "recent" Western in the challenge. I'm interested in reading LEGENDS as it is, but Harrison's RETURNING TO EARTH may be a good recent choice for western.
I guess Legends is relatively recent (though it begins turn of the century and ends Prohibition-ish), but of all Harrison's books I’ve read (I haven’t read Returning), it's by far the best, for my money. Definitely the most poetic about the whole western thing (though, I should clarify, I’m not generally a big reader of the genre.) So, if you have time, I'd definitely rec it.
Aside: I actually once met Jim Harrison - in a weird, unexpected situation - and it was one of the rare times someone celebrated lived up to my hope for how he’d be in person…really a gracious, man. Meeting him made my husband’s decade too ;-)
Nice talking books with you - it's been a while!
Are you Colette from MTT?
None other. (Sorry if that wasn't obvious ;-)
Yayyyyy! Good to hear from you again. Do you still write? (Good to hear, too, that Harrison is a decent person. Always good.)
Yep, still writing – but nothing as ambitious as I see you have going on (yay,you! btw)...just perennially working on some short stories, moving (slowly) towards actually submitting something somewhere.
C
Great! I look forward to reading them!
Try reading Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner.
It's on my general to-read list, but not for this challenge. Thanks!
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