What I'm Reading

I've decided to keep track of my reading for a while. Just for fun.

January, 2006

All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McMarthy
Dialogue reminds me of Hemingway, all manly and terse and shit. Then he goes off into these very descriptive, long, flowing sentences. Interesting. Generally, I really like his writing tho the Mexican grandmother's dialogue seemed off to me. I think this is due to the fact that in the novel's reality, she would speak in Spanish. He's writing in English. So sometimes her words seem very formal, which I understand. Spanish can be both more formal and more ornate--even the language of so-called "uneducated" people--so this may be the reason it stuck out to me. Loved some of the descriptions of the night and the stars. In general, I like his work and found myself underlining or checking things I admired.

I first read this book back at UT for a Life and Literature of the Southwest class. Almost every year I try to read McCarthy's Blood Meridian but I can never get past page 50 or 60 because of all the blood and violence. A lot of people consider that his best (or one of his best) books. They also say, "Page 50 or 60? That's the beginning! It gets a lot more violent after that." Which is why I've never finished it.

Survivor in Death, J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)
I've never read Nora Roberts' romances but I have read some of her "fill in the blank" in Death series. They're tight, fast reads, low on description and characterization. Good airplane reading. Also, for me, the kind of book I reach for when I want to read but don't want to think too hard. (Yes, I know how this sounds.) She's prolific as hell, too. My mother-in-law, who has read some of her romance novels, doesn't like this series. I think that's somewhat common, in that her romance readers probably don't cross over much to these futuristic cop dramas (? mysteries ? not sure what the actual genre is) and vice versa. I don't think I would read her romances, for instance.

Way of the Cheetah, Lynn Viehl (e-book)
A writing book, and like all writing books, offers up advice that could be helpful or not, depending on the writer. Fast paced (I know that sounds like a funny description of a writing book) but she doesn't include a lot of padding. At 72 pages, it's pretty lean. She suggests exercises and a few tips on How to Boost Your Productivity (her subhead), and she's in favor of becoming a better writer by producing more books (versus focusing on rewriting). She's written 32 books in five genres in six years. So if your goal is crafting careful sentences and being an arteest, you may disagree with her approach. Things I found helpful: using things you enjoy (surfing the internet, reading, watching porn--kidding! she doesn't mention porn tho I think that would be on the list for a lot of writers I've known, whatever works, right?) as carrots that you give yourself only after you've completed your daily goal. Smart. Also, using a timer (which creates that self-inflicted deadline a lot of writers need to produce).

Currently reading:
Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson

Are you picking up on anything yet? I read some odd books in tandem.