Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Let's Get This Party Started
So, I've just completed the first chapter of my new book and I figured I should take a break and write my first real blog post.
First I'll pose a question for anyone who wants to answer it: What are your five favorite books, and why? I know this can be a daunting question, so feel free to add any qualifiers to your response. For example, because I'm spending so much time with my head stuck in the world I'm attempting to create, here are the top five books that have inspired my creative process:
1. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King-I read the first three books of this seven part series at the age of eighteen and can say that they are the sole reason I wanted to become a writer. These books made me go to college, which made me meet John Brantingham, who made me a batter student...etc, etc... These books are awesome.
2. A Song of Fire and Ice (Game of Thrones on HBO) series by Geroge R.R. Martin- I read the first of the currently five books in this series beginning the day after I finished my bachelor's degree. They were a recommendation of my cousin Matthew who said, "You'll like them. They are bold." He was right.
3. The Brothers Karamazov by Fydor Dostoyevsky- I read the majority of this while vacationing in New Zealand, and I was particularly impressed by how Dostoyevsky was able to make philosophical arguments through dialogue. It was as if every single character represented a different ideology making each conversation a battle ground. I also loved the ambiguity of it all. In the end I still didn't know which ideology he was attempting to present as the most virtuous, and to me that is a perfect example of the power of words. Most of the dialogue that I thoroughly enjoy is on the witty and snappy side (David Mamet in Glengarry Glenross, Thom Wolfe in Bonfire of the Vanities) but Brothers K is the opposite. It is heavy and often burdensome and so pact with split meaning and conflicting philosophies that I....I just have to end this paragraph and move on. Someone feel free to spark up a conversation about this on here or in real life. I'll buy you a drink...
4. It by Stephen King- I feel really guilty putting the same author on here twice, especially on a 'Five Favs' list. But this is the book I am currently reading and I can't deny the effect it is having on my writing on a daily basis. First and foremost, It is teaching me how to not sleep at night (I made the conscious choice to read it for an hour in bed every night before I go to sleep) and in my hour or two of lying awake with nightmarish visions in my head, I do a fair amount of plotting and dialogue preparation. Second, compared with his most recent efforts, Stephen King use to be scary and I've got the following hypothesis: villains are scary when we don't know much about them. We don't want to spend too much time in their POV and when we are there, we want to be confused/asking as many questions as we can. Perfect example: The Shining. The villain is a house. Why? We don't know = scarrrrrrrrrrry(side note: I put a lot of 'r's here because every other spelling of 'scary' in this paragraph was initially spelled scarry, which is wrong. I'm also horrible with recommendation and definitely). The sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep ***SPOILER NOTICE!!!!!!!***(published a few moths ago): The villain is a group of hippies in winnebagos in whose POV we spend WAYYYYY too much time. We see their fears and insecurities and they become impotent in terms of the scare factor. Back to It...we don't know anything about the clown for the majority of the story, and every detail we get about its (Its) origin tells us a part of a story, but that story is still shrouded in mystery and folklore. Sorry the paragraphs are getting longer. The next one will be a quickie.
5. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut- J. Brantingham gave me this in one of my first college English classes. Still a favorite. Lost the copy he gave me to a friend, so it goes...
Thanks for reading!
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12 comments:
I feel like if someone had asked me to list Kyle's Top 5 Books I would have gotten at least 4 of the 5. Cause we're neeerrrddss.
So let's see…my top five favorite books….
1. Persuasion by Jane Austen-my absolute favorite of hers. It is, in my opinion, her most mature novel. But it's still an Austen love story,so there's snappy dialogue, tons of longing and plenty of coincidences. love love love.
2. The Dark Tower Series by Steven King- my reading choices have been HEAVILY influence by my brother. generally because he is right about good books. He gave me the first one with a note that said, "if you don't like it, i will buy you something else. but read the first 3 chapters" so i did and then devoured all the rest of them plus all the extra books SK has written that are connected to the Dark Tower story, 14 in all. took a while, but totally worth it.
3. A Song of Fire and Ice, If you watch the show and you haven't read the books, you are totally missing out on so much sex and violence and mystery and scariness. I have read these through the night until the sun came up and still convinced myself that if I was just going to read one more chapter, and THEN I would go to sleep.
4. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger- I was enthralled by this book. The idea of it, how it was written, the characters, everything. I also love that almost all of my friends read it too. Talking about books doesn't happen enough and I was stoked this book gave me tons of opportunities to talk about books.
5. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood- only because this was the first thing I ever read from her. Now I'm obsessed with everything she writes. So really, the fifth slot for me is just Margaret Atwood.
My guesses for you: A room With a View, Something by Jane Austen, Harry Potter, The Dark Tower, Nancy Drew. I only got one right and now I feel like a bad brother. (You spent entire years reading Nancy Drew)
I knew both you and Coral would list the Dark Tower. I'm going to think about mine and post later. Love you.
You'd like it too if you'd read it. Do you still have my copy of The Gunslinger collecting dust?
My guess is that Tom Wolfe might be on your list. Love you too, cousin.
Okay, someone has to stand up for highbrow writing: without explanation my five favorites are In Search of Lost Time, A History of Bombing by Sven Lindqvist, Walden, Tristram Shandy, and Hamlet. So highfalutin I don't even have to tell you who wrote them! (for the most part).
John, I heard that if you take King Lear and put him in Hamlet, and take Hamlet and put him in King Lear, that both plays' main conflicts dissolve. What do you think about that?
I like to highfalut as much as the next literary nerd, but my top 5 were the stories that influenced what I've been writing lately, not my top 5 over all. I'd have to add in some other highfalutin falutty stuff to cover my top five. How good is Tristram Shandy?
Hamlet/King Lear switcheroo? I guess I see the point but not really. Why would we want to dissolve the conflicts? That would make for a couple of pretty boring plays. Anyway, am I supposed to believe that King Lear, who was duped by his evil daughters, wouldn't be fooled by other conniving people? Perhaps not; perhaps only a father lays himself open to such attack? And wouldn't Hamlet, whose fatal flaw was supposed to be hesitation (which I don't buy), just hem and haw over Goneril and Regan's machinations? Walden was the book that blew me away as a young person. Tristram Shandy did the same in graduate school. I don't think it's for everybody because it has that ultra-droll, ultra-slow unfolding of a meandering plot that really goes nowhere. I just found it incredibly funny, I guess because I share a sense of humor with 18th century clergy. Go figure.
I might have to pick that one up then while i find the nerve to start Proust again. If Hamlet were in King Lear, he would not have made any of the hasty decisions that Lear did. And Lear would have killed his uncle right away if he were in Hamlet's place. But yes indeed, boring plays all around. I read Walden in college but this was before "college" college if ya knowwhattamean....eh? eh? Basically I read it to answer questions on the test. Maybe I'll give it another go and pay attention this time.
Thoreau and Samuel Johnson both write a prose that flows like warm honey, especially when read aloud. Try it sometime, at a café for instance; people will think you're a freak but who cares, you'll have a beautiful personal experience!
That's how I'm going to meet my wife to be, reciting poetic prose at a cafe' in Paris. Seely Amerrreeekahn! they will say.
I'm changing on e of mine. Strike #4 and put "A Room With a View" in it's place. please and thank you.
Also, most everything between Kyle and uncle John is totally over my head, le sigh.
Good, I'm glad I was right about Room with a View. High five's self*
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