So, What's New?

Yup, that's me!

 

Congrats, Lynet! She's so cute!

LOL, SBW, vaccuums can be quite frightening. My mom always uses them to suck up any spiders we find in the house, so I'm afraid they're all just waiting in there, planning some kind of conspiracy.

 

Aww cute baby!

When I was traveling this summer, I bet the people working at the Vancouver Airport thought I was the easiest person they had to deal with. Then again, this was before the liquid explosives stupidity, and I probably would've had a lot of trouble if that happened. But yeah, not having any souveneers to bring across the Canadian border, not having suspicious things in my carry-on case (they probably went o_0 at a girl having PS2 games in there), remembering to put my jewelry in my passport organizer before going through the metal detector, wearing sandals the entire time...*sigh*

My dog needs a little more discipline, though we find her funny when she tries to jump up and grab things from people...I guess my family spoils our doggy too much. She's starting to show it in her stomach area...

 

Thanks for the complements on the baby. I guess I donated a few cute genes to that pool.

Anyway, looks like the Babe is back. Welcome back, Babe! You've been missed.

 

I have a question (or five) to ask, and I wasn't in the mood to start a new topic.

What would make you want to read a book? If you were walking around in the bookstore, and the cover of a book caught your eye, what, in the summary, would compel you to try reading it? Vampires? Faeries? Werewolves? Aliens? What about whatever you chose makes you want to read about them?

 

Grrr... I just wrote a long reply to 123's questions and it's gone...

I usually judge a book by it's cover, I like mysterious covers and simple yet effective titles.

Jasmine's very cute!

 

Yes - I admit it! When it comes to just wandering through a bookstore or library, Book Art is usually the first thing that grabs my attention and makes me pick up a book for a closer look. I fact, there are a couple of artists that I can spot from a mile away, and I will always take a look at the books they have done the cover art for.

The second thing that will grab my attention is a good title. If the cover art hasn't grabbed me, quite often a snappy, funny, or intriguing title will.

Once I've picked up a book, the thing that will make me actually purchase it is the plot description. I HATE it when authors become so famous, that they no longer feel the need to include some sort of description on the back (paperbacks) or fly leaf (hardcover)! I have skipped more than one book that had a great title and intriguing cover art simply because the only details about the book on the cover are the biography sketch of the author and/or reviews by critics!

I don't care how good a writer you are, or how much the critic for the San Francisco Chronicle liked the book - I want some clue as to what the book is about before shelling out $20 of my hard earned cash!

So, in answer to your question - "Vampires? Faeries? Werewolves? Aliens? What about whatever you chose makes you want to read about them?" - I might read about any of those things - but the plot needs to be something a little different - something that doesn't sound like it's been done exactly like that before - OR the characters themselves need to sound really interesting. I will read something with a derivative plot IF the characters sound cool, or intriguing or funny....

 

I go by author. I have my favorites that I know I can usually trust to deliver a good story. But I'm always looking for new ones.

What catches my eye is a snappy title. I like funny books so I go for the titles that sound funny. That's how I started reading the Undead and ... series by a local Minneapolis writer, MaryJanice Davidson. She's funny, if a bit shrill. I don't think I'd like to spend much time with her characters in RL, but they make for a good read.

 

Well, that is true - I too have my favorite authors, so I guess I WOULD pick up one of their books even if it didn't have a plot description or teaser...(Such as **** Francis, P.D. James, Dorothy L. Sayers, or George R. R. Martin). In general, though, if I'm just browsing through the stacks, I need some sort of clue as to what's in the book before I'll be tempted to buy...

 

**** Francis? Oh!, THAT *mumble* Francis.

I like those books, too. I think I've got all of them and have read most of them more than once.

Usually, I go by author. I've been reading Laurie R. King lately. However, just in case any publisher is reading this, I check out authors that I've never seen before, too. Type of fiction attracts me first - mystery, science fiction (but generally not fantasy which is often lumped in with science fiction.)

Cover art catches my attention. And, as all of you have said, good titles.

I think my favorite all time title was The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing. Never read the book but I saw the movie. It was a cowboy story. Didn't think it was worth bothering with the book but I still love the title.

Anyway, once the book catches my eye I open it to the middle and read a page. If the style is engaging then I might buy the book.

Speaking of style, has anyone read books by Mickey Spillane? I don't really much care for his ugly characters or gruesome plots but he sets up a gritty New York atmosphere extremely well. You can almost smell the city. SBW, you might try wading through one of his books for that reason alone. Just to sample the style.

 

Yes - I used to wait for his books every year. He usually had a new one come out in the autumn. Now that he's no longer writing, I shall miss my annual trek to the book store. Ah well...

True, true! Another good one in that same vein is Dashiel Hammet - not quite so gritty as Spillane, but a really wry wit and some really excellent and witty dialogue! We're reading The Thin Man for book club, and you just gotta love the interplay between Nick and Nora!

I've often thought of trying my hand at a Hammet-style Sim story! And actually, Lynet, you've got a bit of that style in your writing, which I have always enjoyed!

 

*sigh* I feel so young. Haven't heard of any of those books. I usually read YA. Fantasy, horror...yeah. Books like Clique and Gossip Girls make me barf.

 

Thank you, Sacha. The style I'd like to achieve presents something of a contradiction -- create lots of atmosphere using as few words as possible. But I also like to joke around. It's hard to pursue a really gloomy atmosphere with the sims, especially when my monsters fall off the treadmill or use a modesty blur in the shower. Cracks me up every time.

LOL, 123. But there's time enough for the gritty stuff later on in life. Spillane's books present a world full of nasty people. It's really depressing. Francis is outstanding, though. I'd recommend all his books.

 

Ohhhhh, RICHARD Francis. It took me a while.

His books are all alike, frankly. You read one, you've read them all, IMHO. They're not very subtle, either. The bad guy is the one waving the big red flag that says "I'm the bad guy."

Having said that, he is an entertaining writer and I love the horsey atmosphere. I've always loved horses.

I've read Spillane, Elmore Leonard, Dashiell Hammet, Raymond Carver. Unfortunately, Spillane and Hammet seem like cliches now because they've been copied so much. It's like the group of cool people walking in slow motion away from an explosion. It was cool when Tarantino did it, now it just gets a laugh.

But still, those guys did it first, and they did it best. The Big Sleep is one of my all time favorite movies. I adore Humphrey Bogart. He's the ultimate Hammet hero, IMHO.

 

It's hard to explain my outlook toward certain writers. To simplify a complicated idea, I suppose I divide writers into two groups: one group looks at the world and finds some nasty, evil people in it, but for the most part sees everyone else as decent and goodhearted, and the world itself as a beautiful place. (OK, I'm an incurable romantic.) I have liked D. Francis' books for this reason, and I don't hesitate to recommend them to 123.

The second group of writers seem to see the entire world as an ugly place. These writers can't even describe a vase of flowers without talking about the rot on the edge of the petals and the spider in the leaves. Or hold conversation with a character without noticing spittal at the corners of his mouth. Ick. Stop! you say? That's for atmosphere. Often, yes. But not always. I've only read a couple of P.D. James books but I couldn't bring myself to read any more of them. Perhaps I should not have passed judgment so quickly.

I view Spillane as somewhere in between. His protagonist oftens gets a bit hysterical and spouts long speeches about the evils in the world. However, I would not generally recommend his books, except as a curiousity for gritty writing style.

As for plot, it's true, Francis doesn't make a mystery of the bad guys. His books are an easy and undemanding read. But I'm a lazy reader, anyway. BTW, the horsey set figures in some manner in all his stories, because that's what Francis knows most about, but he also has plots revolving about other lines of business, as a banker or jeweler or a painter.

 

I agree about that some are easier to read than others... but what funny is I'll read some writers like Elizabeth Peters under that pen name but don't like stuff she writes under Barbara Michaels. go figure

 

I love Amelia Peabody!! Though Peters is slipping a bit lately. Still, hard to write that many books about the same person and make each of them equally compelling. It's not surprising that you'd like Elizabeth Peters but not her alter-ego. She uses different pen names for a reason. Peters is mystery, Michaels is for the most part gothic romance. Quite different.

I love Janet Evanovich. I don't think she's the "bestest" writer ever, but she's extremely entertaining, and her guys are hot. Her sex scenes are "eh" and always fade out, but that means they're appropriate for teens.

Connie Willis is hysterical when she writes funny (Bellwether, To Say Nothing of the Dog), extremely depressing when she doesn't (Doomsday Book).

I tend to avoid the rotting flowers writers, but I do like PD James. She's very talented, I think. Though her later books are not as good. I think it's just hard to keep up the same level of excellence for every book.

Other writers I've enjoyed of a science-fictiony nature: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Barbara Hanbly (sp.?), Ursula LeGuin ... not many surprises there. When I was your age, 123, I loved the Anne McCaffrey dragon series.

Stephen R. Donaldson is brilliant but way too dark for me. I liked him when I was 16, and his "Mirror" books are still good, but the rest of his stuff (Covenant, The Man Who series and his INCREDIBLY depressing and much too dark for anyone under 21 series about outer space) is MUCH too dark and just plain icky. The outer space series is too dark for ME, and I'm 40. Blech. I'm only putting it here to warn you that he's definitely not for everyone. His flowers don't just rot, they turn black and fall off. Even the Mirror books have stuff in them that's definitely for adults only.

123, have you read Louis Sachar? He might be a bit young for you now, but he's very funny. He wrote Holes and the Wayside School series. Also, Hoot by Carl Hiassen was a great movie. Might be a book worth checking out. The Golden Compass series is supposed to be excellent. I have to check it out for myself. Oh, and Charlie Bone is a darker Harry Potter-esque series that I think you'd like. Witch Baby finds them too scary, but I think they're really good.

 

Oh man, I used to love the Wayside School series. I love the frank, as-a-matter-of-fact way he writes in those books.

My sister likes the Anne McCaffrey series. They're a bit too swashbuckling-hero-ish for me.

Sometimes I enjoy a rotting flowers book. The roses in our garden have been attacked by Japanese beetles this summer, and I took a picture of one. My mom thought it was disgusting, but I kind of liked it.

 

Woot!

 

It looks like modern art. Not disgusting at all.