I have a very strange relationship to reading. I either love the book I read, or I’m bored to hell, to the point that I can hardly read more than a few chapters. I certainly read more books than most of the general population, although it was more nonfiction. But I still want to make it a habit. I want to read more, and I want to read interesting things.
There’s also that I want to get back to writing. I have a creative itch, and I’ve always had the habit of world-building for its own sake. I remember following a screenplaying course once and the teacher, a fairly known director in my region, praised my dialogue writing. Well… I was 16, many years ago, but maybe I should give myself more credit in that he compared my writing to the other students who were around 30 to 50 y/o and used it as an example of “how to write dialogue”. After so many years, that “natural power” might be dead and buried. So this time I’d like to put something down to paper and see if I’ve still got it.
Regarding books, this is my pattern:
I loved the first 3 Dune books. But I must say, I liked them progressively less as I went on. I couldn’t focus much on the 3rd, and I didn’t feel like reading the 4th at all. I swallowed up Asimov’s Foundation, and I want to read the rest of his work. I just couldn’t get into Philip Dick. I remember my father reading me LOTR before going to bed, but when I tried reading it I just couldn’t get into it. I read one big fantasy saga in my country, “The Last Elf” and “The Last Ork” by Silvana de Mari (if you’re Italian and you know her, YES, I know that), and those were amazingly written.
Recently I started “Gulag Archipelago” (definitely more non-fiction, but I list it here because it’s written like a novel), and I was captured by it. I had to stop it, and I plan on starting it again. I also like more conceptual rambles stuff like Yukio Mishima’s Sun and Steel.
Uhm… I thought the list was going to be longer, right now I don’t remember other books with a focus on narrative I’ve read. I’m writing quickly.
I guess one thing I can say for sure is that I have an issue with long descriptions that don’t move the story forward. I’d rather have descriptions be kept at a minimum, or have it woven into something that tells me more about the narrative, or something that helps me visualize a scene without distracting me with secondary details. Example: someone is charging with a horse, if the writer describes the inlays on his spear for more than a page, then I surely lose interest. If the descriptions are dynamic and tell me about the rider’s thoughts, about his strategy, and the dynamics of his movements, then I like the description. BTW: I believe the first Dune book is amazing in that sense.
Regarding non-books, and if I had to make a non-exhaustive and spontaneous list… I’m absolutely enamoured by stuff like Attack on Titan, Dark Souls / Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Evangelion, The Matrix Trilogy, Control by Remedy Entertainment (I see House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski being suggested in relation to this one).
I realize this is all over the place, so I hope this thread works. 😅
by Leading-Status-202