Musings

Musings on reading and write

Musing: What makes a Good book vs a Great book?

1 May 2012

8 Comments

Someone on a forum I visit asked: what makes a book Good Literature and what makes a book Great Literature? It got me thinking and I tried to distill my thoughts…..

Good literature is:
-Well written
Grammatically correct or appropriate for character. Not repetitive, well chosen and crafted words/sentences. You can tell the difference when someone simply poured all their thoughts out on a page vs when someone thought and thought and edited until they honed their words down to the perfect combination. No trite writing, characters, or events
-Believable
The world and characters created should follow the author own rules and not disengage the reader from the text.
-Well plotted
Enough setting and detail to add depth but a quick enough plot to maintain interest
-Thought provoking
The events, characters, and/or author’s voice should stay with you and keep you musing over the book.

Great literature is all this plus at its center are universal human themes. Not themes that a limited audience can relate to such as: Single girl in the city. Rather themes that all people across nationalities, circumstance, and centuries can closely relate to and feel the Truth of.

I just finished the Hunchback of Notre Dame which is without a doubt a Great book. The themes that really stood out for me in this story were the outsider status of each of the characters and their helplessness with in Fate’s design. I really felt the chaos and hysteria of tiny humans as the massive force of history marched on.

What do you think? What makes Good literature vs Great literature?

By: Shannon Category: Classic literature, Musings Tags:

Blog Hop: Criticism as autobiography

9 Feb 2012

4 Comments

Literary Blog Hop Once a month The Blue Bookcase poses a question to all lit book bloggers. I was excited when I saw this month’s question because it is so timely for me, tying into something I have been thinking about. I read Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray this week and in the preface Wilde made a statement about critics that knocked me out.

First though, The Blue Bookcase’s question:

In the epilogue for Fargo Rock City, Chuck Klosterman writes:

It’s always been my theory that criticism is really just veiled autobiography; whenever someone writes about a piece of art, they’re really just writing about themselves.

My initial thought on Klosterman’s quote is that it is an intentional exaggeration meant to cause I knee jerk reaction. To say that each critic puts a bit of him or her self in their own writing would be a statement I think most would agree with but to use the word “autobiography” instead is insulting. I also feel the word “veiled” insinuates that a critic is trying to deceive, either themselves or the public.

I believe it is possible to critique a work based on its technical merits and to acknowledge the skill an author has, or has not, to cause an emotional reaction; while at the same time limiting one’s personal experiences and emotions from creeping into a review. I haven’t read Klosterman’s quote in context but standing alone, it comes across as a bit Writer Whine. As if no one else’s opinion on his work matters since they are only critiquing themselves and not Klosterman’s skill as an author.

Having said all that, I do think there is a fundamental truth hiding in Klosterman’s quote and now I have to, very unfairly, compare his quote to Oscar Wilde, who said it so much better.

The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.

I read that quote over again about a dozen times when I came across it in the preface to Dorian Gray. In it Wilde sums up everything I want this blog and my writing to be. It’s also slightly painful to read because I know I simply can’t live up to it every time I write.

Wilde’s quote hits on the same point the Klosterman does when he says “his impression”. Breaking it down into definitions, a critic is one who can render in another language an effect, feeling, or image retained as a consequence of experience.

The personal experience that Klosterman calls “autobiography” is certainly integral in a critic’s writing, as well as an author’s. I wonder if Klosterman would say that every author writes his own autobiography again and again? Couldn’t we take it even further and say that everything written- fiction, non-fiction, and criticism is autobiographical. And does that some how devalue the work?

The difference I see in Wilde’s point of view, is that in his quote the critic’s personality or experiences are used not to write about himself, as Klosterman said, but to write about beautiful things in a beautiful manner.

Note that when I say Beautiful I do not mean Pretty. Hemingway, for example, writes beautifully but not prettily. And to critique Hemingway with pretty prose might be jarring. The best writing about books or art, in my opinion, captures a bit of the original in its style. On the other hand, a critic can write beautifully about a book with many technical faults. It’s much harder though and I’m not sure if it is always worth the effort!

So to sum up, a critic can create his or her own art (not all do) and every creation includes the creator’s point of view. How much of one’s self a critic puts in their own work varies greatly and I do not believe opinion or impression equals autobiography.

By: Shannon Category: Musings, Quotes, Writing Tags: , ,

Books I am excited to read in 2012

3 Jan 2012

12 Comments

Look at me! Managing to post on two Top Ten memes in a row! It’s a new year baby and I am determined to get it together and actually post regularly LOL. We’ll see if I can keep it up once Xmas vacation is over…

Anyyyyyway, The Broke and Bookish asks us which 10 books we are most excited to read in 2012, here are mine :)

 1: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time and I’m a little worried once I finally do I won’t love it as much as some of Scott’s other stories. It’s high time I found out! The only question is, ebook or real book? I would love to buy a pretty edition but I think it’s better to remain strong and go with the ebook. Then if I love it, I can look for a vintage hardback. The bummer is, I can’t find a free ebook! What the heck, it’s 90 years old and I have to pay 12 bucks for it?! I did find a pdf but you can’t highlight in that, nor is there a dictionary feature. What was that I said yesterday about NOT minding paying for ebooks…*grumble*

2: Something Hemingway
After reading A Moveable Feast, I am in love with Hemingway’s writing style. I connect with that straight forward, no flourish, just the perfect word thought process. So, I would love to read more Hemingway. Problem is, I’m not a big fan of war or bull fighting novels… Soooooooo, some short stories?

3: Three Lives by Gertrude Stein
This has been on my shelf all year but has not been apart of my 2012 plans until now. Not sure if I can fit it in but I love to read groups of like authors. So, if I’m reading Fitzgerald and Hemingway, it only makes sense to read Stein as well.

 4: Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre by Emily / Charlotte Bronte
Dh gave me the 1943 illustrated editions of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre for Xmas. They are so beautiful and the illustrations so haunting. I am dying to pluck one off the shelf and re-read.

5: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Children’s Illustrated edition
I am looking forward to reading the children’s Pride and Prejudice with my dd. We are reading Moby Dick now and enjoying it, makes me want to re-read the original. My dd is doing really well with the book, but she got very bent out of shape and grouchy over Queequeg’s accent the other day lol. It’s difficult for her to read and understand it but I am using this as an opportunity to teach her that she must have patience and be thoughtful in an effort to understand others from different cultures. I expect Pride and Prejudice will be an easier read and I hope she gets some of the humor.

6: The Madwoman in the Attic by Gilbert and Gubar
I’ve waited a long time to read this one and will have to hold off a little longer, as I outlined HERE. But in the end, I think it will be very enjoyable to read and get all the references.

7: Shakespeare
I am very much looking forward to reading more Shakespeare in 2012. I honestly wasn’t sure if I really liked Shakespeare. I read Hamlet last year and it was fantastic but there was a thought in the back of my mind that, maybe I don’t love Shakespeare, maybe I just love Hamlet! Well, I am reading The Tempest now, I decided to go ahead and start the play leaving the 100 pages of introduction until after, and The Tempest is beautiful! I do love you Shakespeare, what a relief ;)

 8:The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
It’s been a long, long time since I read Wilde but I remember that snarky attitude and I loves me some snark.

9: Percy Bysshe Shelley poetry and/or biography
In 2012 I am looking forward to trying my mind on some poetry. I’ll probably start with Percy Shelley since I am very interested to see how some of his poems may have influenced Mary Shelley. I also have a big beautiful biography of Percy. Seriously, it is such a pretty book, even in paperback. The biography is massive, so I don’t expect to be able to read the whole thing this year but I am looking forward to reading bits and pieces.

 

 10: Paradise Lost by Milton
I am slightly terrified about this one. It will no doubt be extremely challenging for me but I would love to have finally read it. Paradise Lost had a huge influence on so many authors, the Brontes and Mary Shelley to name a couple of my favorites. I would even venture to say that all Gothic and most Victorian authors were touched in some way by Paradise Lost. I would really like to be able to connect with the references to it that pop up in other books.

By: Shannon Category: Classic literature, Musings Tags:

Coming round to Ebooks

2 Jan 2012

7 Comments

I was anti ebook and ereader for a long time. I love holding a book in my hand and nothing will ever replace that. But my once organized and tidy bookshelves are swinging towards complete chaos ‘one last book’ at a time….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My non-fiction bookcase is a total mess and this doesn’t even show the top and bottom shelves. This bookcase includes my oldest books. Our travel books, Dh’s brewing books, home repair, and whatever else we can shove in there.

My two newer bookcases are in much better shape. (btw- you can click the pics to enlarge if you see anything that intrigues you ;)

These cases were once organized prettily by color and included only one row of books on each shelf, with no extras! You can see that is quickly going to pot.. I decided to rearrange the books by date and movement, which makes picking the next book I am in the mood for much easier. Over the last couple months I’ve some how manage to accumulate books that needed to be stacked on top or in front of the others. The second shelf down on the right is the biggest mess because that’s where I keep the books I have finished.

Then dd got a pile of books for Xmas, *cough* I’m to blame for that too, and since she doesn’t have a smidge of space left on her bedroom shelves, they ended up out with mine. And I see, some stuffies made the migration as well.. Now the cermaic vegetables should be in the kitchen lol but they are waiting here until we put a shelf up in the kitchen. The spiral notebooks are not pretty but I use them for taking notes on the books and blog posts, so I want them with in easy reach.

So, it’s not a complete disaster YET but I need to save the last bit of space left for really special books, like the 19th century Shakespeare’s I am eyeing on Ebay ;)

Annnnd this is where the e-reader comes in. God knows I can’t stop buying books altogether! I use to feel very grouchy about paying for an ebook the same as I would pay for a REAL book. Now I realize the advantage of having those titles in a reader instead of on my shelf. For one thing, there’s no evidence!

Just kidding, Dh is an enabler if there ever was one and though he may tease me, he never faults me for buying another book. In fact, earlier this week I was ranting, endlessly, about all the different versions of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. I bought it initially as an ebook and then was ticked when I realized it was not the original edition, nor was it the “restored” edition but something in between! Dh could care less, I know, but being a good man, he furrowed his brow and nodded as I went on and on. Finally, his suggestion was I should just go out and buy ALL the different versions of the book; and I said: Yes, I SHOULD, you’re a wise man.

To get back to the point lol, I don’t feel so bent out of shape about buying ebooks anymore. Plus I am loving the dictionary and search features. I do wish I could copy directly from an Ebook and paste the quote into a blog post, instead of using a round about search, wait for google to open and then copy from there. I’m using the Ipad as a reader and I really wish there was an easier interplay between Ibook and posting on my blog. I just got the Ipad for Xmas, so I am still playing with it. I’ve been able to post a very basic post on my blog through it but have a lot of problems adding images and editing the text.

So my Ibook shelves are slowly catching up with my real book shelves. Today I bought Ahab’s Wife. I decided to go ahead and set aside the Lord Byron biography until I was in the mood to embrace it, and started reading a sample of Ahab’s Wife. I was sucked into the story really quickly and went ahead and bought it this morning. I also grabbed Shakespeare After All, after reading about it on A Literary Odyssey this morning. So two new books today alone, this ebook thing could be trouble…

By: Shannon Category: Add to the shelf, Contemporary fiction, Musings, Non-fiction, Now reading Tags: , ,

Musing: Do all readers want to write?

12 Sep 2011

11 Comments

Do all avid readers want to write? Does reading a great story instill a desire to write something oneself?
Are bloggers, critics, and scholars writing about books because they cannot write fiction?

I love to write and have spent a large chunk of my life writing something. But I never thought of myself as a writer. Mainly because I do not write fiction. I would love to create a story but I don’t think I have the imaginative mind required.

I remember writing one story. I was in the 3rd grade and went to a one day writer’s workshop because, I suppose, my writing showed promise. As much promise as a story about a hippo going to Mars can show lol. I must have enjoyed writing the story, since I still remember it, but I don’t recall ever writing another.

Fast forward to my teen years where I wrote the epic stream of consciousness diary. Notebook, after notebook, after notebook, full. Don’t be fooled by my literary categorization though, my early stream of consciousness consisted almost entire of: I hate everybody. And later: I hate everybody, except The Smiths. Later still, I wrote your typical teen poetry. Heavily influenced by whomever I was reading or listening to at the time.

In my 20s I stopped writing. After certain events, I felt writing was simply evidence to be used against me. Plus it was time to let go of that self reflection. Looking back, I realize that at this time, I also read much less than years previous. As a kid, I was always accused of ‘having my nose in a book’. That reading fueled my writing. So when I stopped reading, I stopped writing.

Now in my 30s, I suddenly realize all this. I’ve put 30 years of puzzle pieces together and see the bigger picture. I rediscovered my love of writing and the more I read, the more I want to write. But I wonder, how can I move forward with it?

What does one write when one doesn’t write fiction? I suppose the only answer is non-fiction. When I think of non-fiction though, I think of authors who are experts in their field. I am an expert on nothing. There are a couple topics I probably have enough knowledge about to fill a small book, DIY mainly. But I feel like my passion for those topics has passed. An instruction book does not feel like a revelation or key to my conundrum.

So I come back again to the bigger picture. Is the world full of readers like me who want to write? How do we move from readers to writers? How do we figure out what to write about?

By: Shannon Category: Musings Tags:
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