Category Archives: reading

December 07, 2011   Morris   advice, reading  
10

How Do You Break A Reading Slump?

I’m generally always reading a book. Maybe I go two or three days between books, not much more than that. And I read fast. I inhale books. But in the past week or so, I’ve been reading less and less. I’m reading Embassytown by China Mieville right now, and it’s really good in a hard sci-fi kind of way, which I often love. But I’m listening to music on my commute and watching TV at home. These reading slumps hit me every once in a while. I had a very bad one last winter which I broke by reading The Lord Of The Rings again.

I’m going to stick it out with Embassytown – it is good, after all –  and up next is the Art of Fielding. I hope that does it. If it doesn’t, I may have to return to Stephen King…

Do you ever get caught in a reading slump? Got any tricks on breaking them for me? I could use ‘em…

December 06, 2011   Jim   galleys, Jim, reading  
12

The Unwilling Contrarian

The trouble with reading advance copies of books is, as I see it, that sometimes something crosses your desk, you decide to dive in and see what the fuss is about, and you find yourself profoundly disappointed. The flip side of this, of course, is that you read something early that you’re overwhelmingly excited by and can’t wait to encourage other people to read. That, however, is not the subject of this post.

So you finish this new novel with all the buzz and you think, “Wow. This is going to get creamed when it comes out. I can’t believe they’re making it into a big deal.” And then the book comes out and the New York Times raves about it. PW and B&N name it one of the ten best books of the year in its category. It sells thousands upon thousands of copies in its debut week. And you think…if this had come in through slush, I would have drop-kicked it back to the author in the blink of an eye.

I assume this has happened to all of you exactly as I describe.

Okay, fine, I’m talking about a very specific and current example, but the feeling of disliking something everyone else raves about is not completely new to me in any category whether it was feeling like the only person who didn’t love Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or fruitlessly trying to explain to people why I thought E.T. was one of the most overrated movies of all time.

And I do have these debates, but how I handle them can go one of two ways. Either (a) I convince myself I only know idiots who can’t tell quality from trash, or (b) I feel a profound sense of disquiet and begin to doubt my taste in absolutely everything.

Just kidding!

(No I’m not.)

So what do you do when you’re the only person you know who fell asleep during Avatar or can’t for the life of you figure out why anyone loved 2666? Fight or flight? Extra confidence or a bundle of doubt?

December 02, 2011   Lauren   fun, holidays, Lauren, reading  
6

‘Tis the season?

As the holiday season is inescapably upon us now, I was wondering whether to buy a Christmas tree even though I wouldn’t be home on Christmas itself. When I determined, after much internal debate, that lights and borrowing a friends unneeded pre-lit fake tree was the way to go, I decided that if I were going to decorate, I’d need Christmas music.  I polled the fine people of Twitter and got many lovely sounding suggestions, but I realized that plenty of people I know apparently have favorite Christmas albums—and I don’t.  I guess I’d never noticed it was something people felt strongly about (except in that they are pro- or anti-Christmas songs generally).

What I do have, however, are favorite books.  (And movies: if you have never seen Jim Henson’s A Christmas Toy, which is basically like a Muppet-y precursor to Toy Story, do yourself a favor and make it happen this holiday season.*)  As tradition dictates in many a family, of course, Christmas Eve is time for ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas I still remember laughing riotously every time the father “threw up” the sash, childishly making vomit noises with my siblings.  And when I say I remember that, I mean I probably did it last Christmas.  Another family tradition is reading A Wish for Wings That Work, the story of Opus the Penguin (from the comic strip Bloom County)—you can probably work out the plot from the title.

What about you?  I feel like I might need a bit more forced holiday cheer than usual to de-Scrooge myself before I really full on embrace the season.  Any recommendations for holiday books?

*You know I barely need an excuse to talk Henson, but FYI, I loved The Muppets.  Probably the best Muppet movie possible in a post-Jim Henson world, in my opinion.

November 28, 2011   Jim   fun, Jim, reading, recommendations  
14

My best/your best

John stole my thunder and pointed out the New York Times Best of 2011 list last week, but more are pouring in. The Globe and Mail has named theirs. Early Word has its children’s book lists up. Publisher’s Weekly is breaking it down category by category.

And already, a few things are clear: as more of these lists come in, we’ll be seeing lots and lots of mentions of the new Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, and Jeffrey Eugenides novels. Maggie Stiefvater and Laini Taylor will dominate the young adult lists. And I’ll personally dedicate at least five hours to mourning the fact that there isn’t enough time in the world to read every book I want to. I could choose to be positive about this and be happy that there are enough good books that I know for sure I’ll never run out of new worlds to explore. But let’s be honest: that kind of radiant positivity just isn’t my style.

Meanwhile, I want to know what YOUR favorite book was this year. And don’t worry about when it was published. I just want to know what the most transcendent reading experience of your year was. I’m torn between a completely commercial young adult novel that I found compulsively readable and endlessly entertaining (Marie Lu’s Legend) and an adult novella that sneaks up on you with its depth and beauty before delivering a heartbreaking sucker punch of an ending (Justin Torres’s stunning We the Animals). One kept me at the edge of my seat. The other made me cry like a small child.  But I’m asking you to choose a single book, so I’ll do the same and go with Torres.

Of course, the problem with making these calls is that as soon as you do, I start to feel bad for other books that I didn’t choose. The Art of Fielding stands out. Man, that book was great. But what about you? What’s the most exciting thing you read this year?

November 28, 2011   Jane   fun, Jane, reading  
8

It’s not what you read but where you read

Over the weekend, in between wandering through the Motown Museum in Detroit and watching the fantastic Michigan Wolverines beat Ohio State for the first time in eight years, I read this piece in the Wall Street Journal.  It made me think that we spend a lot of time talking about what we are reading in terms of subject matter and what we are reading on (i.e., Kindles, tablets, phones, and other electronic devices or actual physical books) but we don’t spend a lot of time, though, thinking about where we like to be when we read for pleasure.

For example, I work every night in my home office, editing proposals, answering e-mails, reading query letters.  But when I want to read a book for pleasure I immediately gravitate to a big comfortable chair in my living room where I can curl up and really enjoy the whole experience of reading.  Oftentimes, one or both of my dogs will join me which makes the experience all the more cozy.  I actually find that I cannot read for pleasure anywhere else in my house (except perhaps in bed right before I go to sleep).

Then, of course, there is the beach where we try to go for vacation at least once a year—I can sit under an umbrella and read on the beach for hours at a time.  In fact, I’ll be on a beach with a good book in just a few weeks when we close our offices for the holidays.

It seems that I’m not the only one thinking about reading comfort zones (check this out!) so tell me, where’s your favorite place to read?

November 22, 2011   Morris   great books, horror, Morris, opinion, reading, thrillers, writing  
10

Weaving Plot and Prose: A Lesson From King

This past week, I finished Stephen King’s latest book: 11/22/63. The week before that, I read King’s mid 90’s serial novel The Green Mile. The week before that, I read King’s late 70’s horror masterpiece The Shining.

You could say I’ve been reading a lot Stephen King lately.

One of the things I noticed when reading 11/22/63 is that King finally seems to have figured out how to write fiction. He simply knows what words to put where to keep you reading. But that doesn’t mean his work is good. Now, I really liked 11/22/63. But I loved The Green Mile. And I will forever be affected by The Shining.

In The Shining, King is still figuring out this whole writing thing, and it’s apparent on the page. The writing is awkward and clumsy at times. King takes chances with unique phrasing

(REDRUM)

and  narrative techniques. He wrestles with the possibilities that are available to him, and it works. The Shining is the most terrifying book I have ever read. After reading thirty pages on the subway, I was unable to order coffee or read submissions. I was shaken.

In The Green Mile, King tackles a very serious challenge – a literary and suspenseful story about an older man looking back on his past. There isn’t much action in it, but I was on the edge of my (subway) seat the entire time. Again, King’s prose here really helped accentuate the right aspects of the book.

In 11/22/63, King’s writing has become formulaic and universal. There are parts of 11/22/63 that are truly gripping and very, very real, but there are other parts of it where the story fall flat because King is utilizing his perfect writing. And while that may work all of the time, it’s not necessarily appropriate every time.

So what I’m learning from diving headfirst into the deep, deep pool that is The Works Of Stephen King is that prose and plot must always be dancing with each other. When King adapts his writing to suit his story and vice-versa, the effect shines. When he doesn’t, when he sticks with his tried and true prose style, well, it doesn’t fall flat – it is Stephen King, after all – but it simply doesn’t work as perfectly.

But, of course, everyone has their own opinion on craft vs. plot. What about you? Would you endure a terrible plot because the writing is beautiful? Would you drag through clunky prose because the story is great?

November 22, 2011   John   favorites, great books, holidays, John, opinion, reading  
2

What a year!

Well, I’d hoped to stave off the holiday season for just a few more days—at least until Santa lumbers down Broadway on Thursday morning at the end of the Macy’s Parade. But the Times just released their 100 Notable Books for 2011, so I guess there’s no escaping now…

Of all the year-end best-of lists, I find the Times list the most instructive. Perhaps it comes with being the Paper of Record, but typically they go for the popular, consensus picks of the best in a given year, and so it provides a good picture of what worked, both artistically and commercially. For me as an agent, it’s especially useful to look at the nonfiction list and review the categories that got them excited—lotsa history, lotsa memoir this time out. And, of course, it’s always fun to grouse about the omissions—ahem, cough, Steve Jobs, ahem?

But this year more than any other, the list make me realize just how loooong this year felt. Didn’t Swamplandia! come out a zillion years ago? The Tiger’s Wife? I could swear I was talking about Malcom X with the editor back in 2010…

For sure, having a newborn at home has certainly dragged out the days (and nights). On the other hand, coming to the end of my first full calendar year as an agent, I’ve handled a lot more projects than I did as an editor, and with a much faster rate of turnover, too—so in that respect, news quickly becomes old news, and old news seems that much older.

Hence, for once, I’m actually grateful to the Times for reminding me of books that are way off my radar at this point—and that I won’t be hopelessly out of date if I tackle some of them over the holidays!

Any thoughts on the list? Other glaring omissions? Anyone else feel like 2011 went on forever?

November 18, 2011   Rachel   opinion, Rachel S., reading  
4

Just a thought.

In today’s busy world where multitasking is a skill everyone must possess and there are flashes, dings and other attention grabbers everywhere we turn, it’s amazing that the ancient, solitary pastime of simply sitting down and reading a book has survived with such tenacity. Or, I suppose it’s not amazing, since there’s no argument for its intrigue—it is, however, really nice.

The thing is, when you’re reading, you can’t be doing anything else. I do crafts and watch TV at the same time, make playlists for absolutely every household chore and culinary venture, play word games while driving, daydream during long walks and bike rides, and send text messages and make phone calls during absolutely everything else. Except reading.

Reading requires full attention, absolute mental concentration and complete immersion in the text itself. You can read in the company of others, but at the root of it, you’re lost in the book itself. I eat while reading, sometimes, but if I have to use a knife and fork, then I’m stuck. The book takes precedence and I adapt my other actions to suit it.

On this quiet Friday afternoon, with a long(ish) bus ride ahead of me, the pleasure of sitting down with the one entertainment pursuit that doesn’t allow my mind to wander or my hands to fidget for something to occupy them is a welcome prospect. (Okay, I guess I can ride buses and read at the same time).

This isn’t a revolutionary statement, nor is it an incredibly insightful one, but it’s something that I think we can all take solace in. No matter how crazy or frantic life becomes, there is no “x-treme” or 2.0 form of reading—even e-readers are just a different type of book, really. There is no other way to do it than the way that people have been for centuries. And that’s just nice.

November 09, 2011   Miriam   Miriam, opinion, reading  
12

When the wrong character dies

Killing off a beloved character is a surefire way to grab your reader’s attention and piss him/her off.  Say, you’re slogging along, about 9,000 pages into Gone with the Wind, Scarlett’s already been married a couple dozen times, the South has burned and come back as a theme park, Rhett has decided that maybe it’s time to retire to Boca, and then (Jim tells me I have to issue a Spoiler Alert! here) Melanie dies.  Seriously?  Melanie?  If anyone should kick the bucket in that book it’s clearly Ashley, he of the tedious sense of honor and the inability to choose the right woman to obsess over.  You kill Ashley off and Melanie and Scarlett can just get on with their lives—go shopping for a decent outfit for Scarlett to replace the curtain gown, start a book club with the other Confederate widows that includes lots of cocktails, go back to Tara and redecorate, etc.  But, no.  Melanie’s dead and Ashley just goes back to being his ineffectual, wan self.   I guess Melanie’s death was supposed to teach all the major players a lesson and Ms. Mitchell did win a Pulitzer for her epic novel, so who am I to gainsay her.  Still, the choice rankles.

This piece in The Awl about beloved characters who were almost killed off by their authors has me brooding about literary deaths.  I can’t help but muse about who would have gotten the ax if I were the one writing the book.  Given my general feminist tendencies, there would probably be a lot more women still alive at the end of the classics, especially given some authors’ penchant for using death as punishment for rebelliousness in females—for every Sydney Carton and Cyrano de Bergerac dying heroic deaths, there are dozens of Anna Kareninas jumping ignominiously in front of trains, after all.

So, who would you kill off in your favorite books in place of the character who actually dies?  And how would that change the narrative?

P.S.  You guys cracked me up with your responses to my “high concept” blog post last week.  After much cogitating (in a totally subjective and intellectually unrigorous manner) the mug goes to MS because the “what if” posted is both provocative and gives you an immediate idea of what the book/film would be about.  Thank you all for playing along!  (MS, please send your mailing address to miriam@dystel.com.)

November 08, 2011   Rachel   pet peeves, Rachel S., reading  
7

Speed readers.

I’m currently exactly half way through Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend, which weighs in at a hefty 624 pages of small type. I’m hardly complaining—I love Tartt’s writing and I picked up this book without even paying much attention the jacket copy, enamored as I was with her first novel, The Secret History. Creepy and beautifully written, both of these books are completely engrossing.

I’m not here, however, to gush about Donna Tartt several years after she’s produced anything new. No, I’m talking more about the time it’s taken me to get even this far into a book I am enjoying immensely. I don’t know the exact number of days (I know it’s more than a week), but it’s embarrassing me. Not that anyone else in the world cares how long it takes me to read anything, unless I’m on a deadline or they’re waiting for feedback, but it’s a little pet peeve of mine that I can’t shake. It might have something to do with the teasing from my family when I was growing up if I took more than two days to read anything or it might just be that I’m used to doing things quickly—though I’ve been hearing consistently, from teachers and others, since I was eleven years old that I finish my work too quickly.

Obviously, I’m busier now than I was as a child, and if I get down to it, I can read just as quickly as I was ever able to, but it still irks me. There’s no rhyme or reason, and it’s actually quite nice for a novel that’s as compelling as I’m finding this one isn’t over so soon after I start, so I really should get over myself, right? As my sixth grade teacher scolded me, once, “just because you finish first, Rachel, it doesn’t make you the best.”

I suppose the only logical excuse is that there are so many other books out there waiting to be read, and if I don’t move quickly enough, I’ll never get to them all. That’s the excuse I’ll go with, and we’ll pretend I don’t have this silly hang up. What about you? Is it all about leisure or, do you begin to feel the pressure when a book has gone on for too long?

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