purple95

As I answered emelee's question about favorite native authors, I made a comment about how my writing style might resemble that of Mr. Waller's. His works include, The Bridges of Madison County, A Thousand Country Roads, The Long Night of Winchell Dear, and others. So here's the question: When you get around to writing your own Great American (or insert proper country here) Novel, upon its completion, what famous author's style will it most resemble? I have read all of Waller's published work (I think) and simply love his style. His character, location, and action descriptions are excellent, at least in my opinion. Thinking back to the short stories I wrote in high school and college, I feel my "style" is very similar to Mr. Waller's. I'm a rather basic, down to earth, WYSIWYG kind of guy and that's how Waller writes. I'd like to think that I do also. How about you? Please Note: Understand, I'm in no way advocating copying the style of another author!!! dan

Favorite American Authors (No particular order) Stephen King What busy91 said. Harry Turtledove Love his alternate history. His science fiction, not so much. Joyce Carol Oates Love her plots, dialogue, and descriptions. John Steinbeck Some of the best characters ever. Ernest Hemingway Great characters, great locations. Robert James Waller The The Bridges of Madison County guy. When I write my Great American Novel, I'll bet it resembles his style. There are lots more. dan

I have to agree with those above who suggested Psycho and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Others from my "Have Read" list: African Queen I enjoyed Forester's book but the movie was a classic. Black Hawk Down Bowden's book was good, but a properly done war movie, complete with lots of blood and guts, can bring home the horror of combat. Breakfast at Tiffany's Another engaging movie. Not so much the book by Capote. The Postman by David Brin. Costner was great in this role, as usual. And of course: All of the original James Bond books by Fleming are good reads to be sure. However, the movies (Sean Connery only please) are some of my guilty pleasures. dan As I proof read my post, I realized that with the exception of Black Hawk Down, all of my suggestions were based, at least in part, on stellar performances by stellar actors. Perhaps such performances are what turn these movies into our favorites. dan

Ben, Nope. The book was a basic introduction to clocks and watches, very much on a beginner's level. I have always had a passing interest in horology and have read quite a bit on the subject through the years. However............Longitude has been on my to be read list for a year or so. Thanks for the reminder. dan

In my quest to read the science fiction classics, I picked up Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. I was expecting a rather dry read. However, the book moved along quite nicely and kept me turning pages with no problems. Janet, I found your experience here to closely mirror mine with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. "Triffids" is one of my favorite SF classics. Have you read the sequel, "The Night of the Triffids" by Simon Clark. Not exactly a sequel as it is by a different author, but Clark takes up the story where the original ended. dan

As I read the posts in Kell's thread entitled, "The little things you remember...", I likened the subject to a slightly different take I have on the topic. I oftentimes recall what book I was reading at a particular time or in association with a particular event in my life. Examples: During my freshman year in college I was reading Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor when I should have been reading textbooks. Yes, I DID graduate. During my honeymoon, I was reading a book about clocks. The name of the books escapes me, other details of the trip do not. During a trip to a relative's funeral I was reading a book of stories by Poe. This was not planned. I had started the book several days prior to the trip. I have many, many other such memories. I've made no attempt to catalogue or otherwise track these associations, they just pop up from time to time. Anyone else associate a particular book with a special event or time period in your life? dan

I would like to see some serious alternate fiction. I have always enjoyed wondering about what the course of history would have been if, for example: Had Hitler been killed in the attempt on his life. Had Kennedy NOT been killed in the attempt on his life. Had vaccinations or cures for smallpox, polio, or other diseases been impossible. etc, etc, etc Harry Turtledove has proven to the the best at this in my opinion but I think there is room for others in this genre. Serious work and story lines only, not silliness. dan

Maggie, I think the cover looks fine. Purple, as you might imagine, is my favorite color. (Look to the left at the pretty picture.) Pink is almost purple, so it's fine with me. So.......how do I go about getting an autographed copy? dan

Perhaps, perhaps mind you, if these insidious gadgets prompt more people to read proper literature, they might serve some greater purpose. I don't really see that happening however. They might serve a useful purpose for textbooks, periodicals, or the like. I recall spending obscene amounts of money for textbooks in college that quickly became obsolete. Something like this might be useful in the schools or industry, for example. However........... The day I find myself reading a novel by Hemmingway or Steinbeck on one of these blasted things is the day I discover that I've died and been condemned to.........well, you know where. dan

Maggie, Interesting thoughts. Thanks, dan

chesilbeach, I enjoyed your post and I did not feel it was too long at all. I agree with everything you said. It certainly must be a tough job for an editor to keep all sorts of authors happy (and productive). As I stated earlier, I really was interested in reading Saramago's book due to the subject. Tell you what..........I'll search it out and give it another go based on your thoughts and opinions. Not that I'm putting any pressure on you, of course. dan p.s. I'm ever so slightly behind you for 2009. My current total is 43.

chesilbeach, Interesting that you should mention Jose Saramago. He is one of the authors I had in mind when I made my post/rant. I tried to read one of his books, the title of which completely escapes me now. It dealt with the ramifications resulting from death taking a holiday. The book was simply too much work despite the interesting subject. I stand by my premise that authors, GOOD authors, should understand and use proper paragraphing techniques in their writing. As I read that book and was making my decision to abort the effort, I examined several of the long paragraphs. I found what I felt were several places that provided excellent places for making a new paragraph. I could see no reason why Saramago (or his editor) did not create a new paragraph. Understand, I'm not picking on your favored author. This book was just a recently encountered and perfect example of my point. Do editors realize the difficulty readers have in dealing with such situations? I suppose it differs from one author to another but I would think they would like to make their work as enjoyable and readable as possible, if for no other reason than to increase income by increasing sales. Well........unless you're Mr. King or someone similar. dan

I posted these thoughts tonight on a thread about evaluating a book and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to create a separate thread and rant a bit. Two characteristics of a book that will often cause me to pass it over are the print size and extremely long paragraphs. As my eyes age it becomes more difficult to read the tiny print sizes often encountered in many books. This seems to be very common in non-fiction works, and in books published long ago. Please, please tell me why publishers insist in printing a book with such small print. Is this just a way to save paper, ink, space, or what? I'm a product of the early part of the war baby generation and have millions of brothers and sisters of the same generation. Why are publishers blind to the needs of one of their biggest audiences? The young whippersnappers are reading Kindles and e-books and even when they encounter a book with tiny print, their young, strong eyes don't mind. I'm not to the point where I require large print books yet, but I'm far more comfortable with medium to larger sized print. Reading and comprehension is so much easier with larger print. It's discrimination, I tell you. Secondly, I HATE reading books by authors who don't grasp the concept of the paragraph. If I am able to understand the rather simple concept of: One general thought to a paragraph. At least two sentences to a paragraph in most instances. why can't those paid to write, and those who are paid to edit not do the same? This is grade school English Composition folks, not rocket science. I see far too many books with an entire page, or even several pages consisting of one, single paragraph. Why? Are there authors who think that writing one paragraph that fills several pages somehow gives their work a certain sophistication above us mere, mortal readers? If so, "balderdash". All it gives their writing is to make is extremely difficult to read and comprehend. Sadly, if one, or heaven forbid, both of these flaws are present in a book, I'll oftentimes return it to the shelf. Have I skipped over some good books because of these factors? Of course. But life is too short......... I'll descend from my soap box now and return you to your regular scheduled programing. dan