Read any good books lately? Rate them here

[Angrboda]

Not sure I fully agree with you on that.  I'd say it can certainly help, but I read very little and most opinions of my writing have been very positive.

For prose your writing is aces but have you tried your hand at fiction?  Personally, I can't even tell a joke straight let alone put a story together to make it interesting.  But like you my prose got some recognition.  When the philosopher Fred Dretski was at Cal for a year I took his theory of knowledge class and got high marks on the three papers and the only A+ I received while I was there.  So I asked for a letter of recommendation from the professor in case I decided to apply to a graduate program.  In it he said that he and his teaching assistants agreed that my writing was at least the equal of the graduate students taking the class.  But when it comes to building a case I doff my hat to you Jorms.

I have rarely tried my hand at writing fiction. In that, I suspect I would likely fall on the left hand side of the Dunning-Kruger scale in not knowing what I don't know.

[Ravenshire]

I suppose it depends on what you’re writing. Moreover, I don’t just mean fiction. If you read a lot of anything, you’re good.

Every writer I've ever heard talk about the subject says the same thing. Read, read, read, build you vocabulary, then read, read, read some more.

[Angrboda]

I suspect that actual practice writing fiction would have more of an effect on my skill than reading would. That writers advise reading does not necessarily mean that they are correct on that score. I'm sure reading has a positive impact, but whether it's as core as practice or native talent is, of that I'm not so sure. I rather suspect that writers opining on what made or broke their writing are as knowledgeable as anybody else is on the subject, which is to say, "not much."

[oldpollock]

To help avoid a de-rail, I'm creating this thread...

Another author recommended that I'll have to take a look at! Thank you

And the Pendergast novels are wonderful.  Own them all.  My final recommendation to anybody reading today:


I almost feel like this thread should be transferred to the "off topic" section.  But I am still interested in Ant-Theist web organizations.

Yeah, the Amber series was fantastic.

I read a lot

I mentioned this one briefly in another thread (and the PacNW crowd would probably like it a lot) and finished it (again, after about 12 years) this morning. "A Gift Upon the Shore" by M.K. Wren. A post-apocalyptic tale set on the Oregon coast about one woman's struggle to keep something of civilization's knowledge after a nuclear holocaust, in the face of fundamental religious fervor.

9/10
Easily one of the best post-apocalyptic stories I've ever read.

I love Zelazny. The 10 Amber books and his Lord of Light are my favorites.
I've read and own almost everything he has written. RIP Zelazny.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Creatures of Light and Darkness, the other half of the Lord of Light duo. Source of:

The Agnostic's Prayer

Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to ensure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.

(AKA "The Possibly Proper Death Litany.")

[Clueless Morgan]

Not sure I fully agree with you on that.  I'd say it can certainly help, but I read very little and most opinions of my writing have been very positive.

For prose your writing is aces but have you tried your hand at fiction?  Personally, I can't even tell a joke straight let alone put a story together to make it interesting.  But like you my prose got some recognition.  When the philosopher Fred Dretski was at Cal for a year I took his theory of knowledge class and got high marks on the three papers and the only A+ I received while I was there.  So I asked for a letter of recommendation from the professor in case I decided to apply to a graduate program.  In it he said that he and his teaching assistants agreed that my writing was at least the equal of the graduate students taking the class.  But when it comes to building a case I doff my hat to you Jorms.

In college I got a damn near perfect score on a paper I wrote on the design of the Rialto Bridge in Venice. The only marks that were deducted were because I didn't use the citation format the professor wanted.

I suspect that actual practice writing fiction would have more of an effect on my skill than reading would.  That writers advise reading does not necessarily mean that they are correct on that score.  I'm sure reading has a positive impact, but whether it's as core as practice or native talent is, of that I'm not so sure.  I rather suspect that writers opining on what made or broke their writing are as knowledgeable as anybody else is on the subject, which is to say, "not much."

My suspicion is that if you know how to analyze the fiction and why it's working when it is and why it isn't working when it's falling flat then reading a lot would definitely be helpful. It expands your knowledge of what other people are doing, exposes you to creativity and gives you examples of what to do and what not to do.

If you don't know how to analyze the work you're reading, you might improve your own writing by reading lots and lots but implementing what you're learning from that reading would be more hit and miss.

JMO.

[Angrboda]

For prose your writing is aces but have you tried your hand at fiction?  Personally, I can't even tell a joke straight let alone put a story together to make it interesting.  But like you my prose got some recognition.  When the philosopher Fred Dretski was at Cal for a year I took his theory of knowledge class and got high marks on the three papers and the only A+ I received while I was there.  So I asked for a letter of recommendation from the professor in case I decided to apply to a graduate program.  In it he said that he and his teaching assistants agreed that my writing was at least the equal of the graduate students taking the class.  But when it comes to building a case I doff my hat to you Jorms.

In college I got a damn near perfect score on a paper I wrote on the design of the Rialto Bridge in Venice.  The only marks that were deducted were because I didn't use the citation format the professor wanted.  

I suspect that actual practice writing fiction would have more of an effect on my skill than reading would.  That writers advise reading does not necessarily mean that they are correct on that score.  I'm sure reading has a positive impact, but whether it's as core as practice or native talent is, of that I'm not so sure.  I rather suspect that writers opining on what made or broke their writing are as knowledgeable as anybody else is on the subject, which is to say, "not much."

My suspicion is that if you know how to analyze the fiction and why it's working when it is and why it isn't working when it's falling flat then reading a lot would definitely be helpful.  It expands your knowledge of what other people are doing, exposes you to creativity and gives you examples of what to do and what not to do.

Your suspicion is based upon writers knowing how to analyze works of fiction and having done so, how to apply any lessons learned to their own writing. I find both propositions dubious, excepting perhaps in those who have studied literary criticism. Writing is knowing-how, whereas analysis of others' writing is a completely different skill. There's some crossover, certainly, but I suspect less than you advocate.

[Clueless Morgan]

Your suspicion is based upon writers knowing how to analyze works of fiction and having done so, how to apply any lessons learned to their own writing.  I find both propositions dubious, excepting perhaps in those who have studied literary criticism.  Writing is knowing-how, whereas analysis of others' writing is a completely different skill.  There's some crossover, certainly, but I suspect less than you advocate.

I guess I wasn't clear enough. I'm not saying writers innately know how to do this or have all studied literary criticism, I'm saying that if a writer had such tools in their arsenal then reading a lot would certainly be helpful to their own writing. Much like how a photographer is more likely to take good photographs if they have some training in composition. The untrained photographer might take one "good" photo in every 50 exposures whereas the trained photographer might take one "good" photo every 5 or 10 exposures.

Does that clarify what I meant?

Of course, having the training or studying literary criticism doesn't automatically make one successful. The single best way to improve a skill is to practice that skill.

[Ravenshire]

Closing in on the finish line of "The Expanse" by James S. A. Corey. Second time for a little over half of it, but they wrote so much new stuff that falls between previous books that I decided to go through the series again from the beginning. It's a wild, sometimes a little weird, and very long sci-fi series, but worth every minute of it.

[Fake Messiah]

Yeah with today's devices that read books aloud for you I find myself "reading" quite amount of shitty books. Like recent biography of Steve Jobs by his daughter, like

A few minutes later, as we got into the residential streets farther away from the main street of the town and closer to my house, he [Steve Jobs] farted, the sound loud and high like a balloon opening, interrupting the silence. He kept skating like nothing happened. When he did it again, I looked away. After the third time, he muttered, “Sorry.”

While other books do get interesting like autobiography of an actor Curtis Armstrong

I would ask him [Tom Cruise] at the end of the day if he would like to join us in the bar for a drink.
“No,” I recall him saying, “got an early call tomorrow. Got to work out still, study my lines. And then I like to read the Bible a little before bed.”
I laughed. He didn’t.
“Ah,” I said, cutting off the laugh at the pass and nodding wisely. “A little bit of the Good Book before bedtime, eh?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Just a little at night. Keeps me on the right track. You know?”
But then returning late one night from some jollification, I found three or four young girls—late teens, I suspect—lined up in the hall outside of Tom’s room. I remember thinking, It’s late; Tom’s going to be really upset if these hot girls interfere with his Bible reading.
So I asked them, with all the stern gravitas of my twenty-eight years, if there was something I could do to help them.
They just stared at me and at that moment, Tom’s door opened and another girl came out, adjusting her hair and took off down the hall, while the first girl in line slipped into Tom’s room and the door closed.
“Aha!” I said to the remaining girls. “Right! Carry on!” Tom, it appeared, had everything under control and didn’t need my assistance after all. This was a young man who knew something about time management, and understood how to successfully juggle Bible study and blowjobs.