Literature - Stuck in a Rut?

[SpoiledPrincess]

I read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest a long time ago, it's one of the novels I said I'd re-read some day. And I'd forgotten Salem's Lot, that was a exciting read, he kept more to the point of what the book was about.

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

Write your own?

I only read factual books so I don't suffer this problem. I used to read a lot when I was younger, I'd read all the set books in Primary School by Year 5 and then I could read my own :smile:

Then it slowly dwindled and now I like to read factual books, particularly about mysteries of the past, disappearances, strange happenings etc.

I think Stephen King, like a lot of writers/creative persons, is extremely introverted.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

If you like Stephen King (and I like his earlier stuff like Guy-Jin does) then I recomend his 4 story novella: Different Seasons

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

What I was getting at was that in earlier times the restrictions on writers fuelled their creativity, whereas now they're free to write what they want but it all seems to be the same.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

What I was getting at was that in earlier times the restrictions on writers fuelled their creativity, whereas now they're free to write what they want but it all seems to be the same.

No argument from me there.

Stephen King is becoming like that, unfortunately. Perhaps his creative well has run dry. Alas.

Tom Clancy was an even better example of a descent into blandness. His first two: The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising weren't literature by any means but they sure were enjoyable action thrillers. Since then, though, his books and their characters have become terribly stale and formulaic.

I'd also recomend Ed Abbey's Desert Solitaire a book I enjoyed immensely because it brought to life so many of my own experiences in the American West. On a much lighter note, Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang has been described as one of the "best bad books in the world," a sentiment I heartily concur with.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

(blush) double post

 

[dong20]

One of my favourite fiction authors is Martin Cruz Smith, or more particularly the Renko novels, especially Red Square.

 

[Guy-jin]

What I was getting at was that in earlier times the restrictions on writers fuelled their creativity, whereas now they're free to write what they want but it all seems to be the same.

Try Murakami, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

People have been recommending Chuck Palahniuk (sp) to me for a while now, too.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

I've been meaning to read Underground as someone recommended it, most of the things I read now are on recommendations.

 

[jack99821]

Once again, READ LISEY'S STORY! It's about as far from whoring yourself for cash as you can get, as it isn't horror. It's described as sort of a love story, but it's really about the origins of a love, the histories of the characters and why it prepared them to love each other. It's amazing how natural King's prose sounds coming from a female protagonist. If anything I think that's his main gift- in It he seemed to become an 11-year-old, in Insomnia an elderly man, in The Long Walk a 16-year-old boy.

I must sound like his publicist or something but Lisey is absolutely fantastic.
For the record, my next favorite King is It, the only novel that ever truly scared me. It does drag a bit in the end, but not painfully so. His long books are his best in any event, considering character development is his strong suit.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

I always say that (despite me not being a huge lover of King) he does have the ability to get behind the though processes of a wide range of characters in a way that sounds authentic.

 

[Guy-jin]

I've been meaning to read Underground as someone recommended it, most of the things I read now are on recommendations.

Underground is a great book. Non-fiction and in the form of interviews, but there's at least one chapter where Murakami narrates his interview that really impressed me (I'm not a big crier, but I definitely teared up). His fiction is at least as good, but I admit I think I enjoyed Underground more than any of it, at least in part because I lived in Tokyo and know exactly where the scenes in it happened and what they looked like and so forth.