Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal
Viewing By Entry / Main
A Good Book
22-Jun-2007
What is it about a good book?
• A workout for the mind.
• A suspension of reality.
• Exploration of altenative realities.
• Total engagement of the imagination.
• A new set of friends until the story ends.
What's most important for you in a new book? What do you look for? What satisfies you the most?
Comments
-A workout for the mind.
-A suspension of reality.
-Exploration of alternative realities.
-Total engagement of the imagination.
-A new set of friends until the story ends.
That's what I want from a book. This is why I read SFF rather than 'literary' novels, 'cos I don't want to read about other dorks like me, but goatherds who become princes!! I do like my heroes to be human though, which is why I like Russell's books, Katherine Kerr's Deverry series, Jennifer Fallon's books, Lynn Flewelling and Karen Miller, just to name a few!!
-A suspension of reality.
-Exploration of alternative realities.
-Total engagement of the imagination.
-A new set of friends until the story ends.
That's what I want from a book. This is why I read SFF rather than 'literary' novels, 'cos I don't want to read about other dorks like me, but goatherds who become princes!! I do like my heroes to be human though, which is why I like Russell's books, Katherine Kerr's Deverry series, Jennifer Fallon's books, Lynn Flewelling and Karen Miller, just to name a few!!
Thank you, Jo!!! That's some stellar company to be keeping.
What I want are great characters, invisible writing (so I'm not jerked out of the alternate reality of the story) and a sense, at the end, of replete satisfaction. I want tears and laughter and suspense and romance, I want to be surprised and outraged and horrified and infuriated and soothed and charmed. I want the real world to be obliterated while I lose myself in the author's world. I want to love and hate the people of that world with as much passion as I could feel for any flesh and blood person. I want to believe that they really exist. For the time that I'm with them, I want them to be real.
Reading is, for me, about the emotional journey and adventure. It's not about ideas, for me. At least not primarily. So the hard sf stuff leaves me cold, for example, because it's not about the people. Great ideas married to wonderful characters is the ideal, but I'll take a familiar backdrop with fantastic characters over emotionally sterile, life unaffirming treatises on whatever, any day. I'm also not keen on writing that's so busy impressing itself or a handful of other writers that it forgets to tell a human story.
What I want are great characters, invisible writing (so I'm not jerked out of the alternate reality of the story) and a sense, at the end, of replete satisfaction. I want tears and laughter and suspense and romance, I want to be surprised and outraged and horrified and infuriated and soothed and charmed. I want the real world to be obliterated while I lose myself in the author's world. I want to love and hate the people of that world with as much passion as I could feel for any flesh and blood person. I want to believe that they really exist. For the time that I'm with them, I want them to be real.
Reading is, for me, about the emotional journey and adventure. It's not about ideas, for me. At least not primarily. So the hard sf stuff leaves me cold, for example, because it's not about the people. Great ideas married to wonderful characters is the ideal, but I'll take a familiar backdrop with fantastic characters over emotionally sterile, life unaffirming treatises on whatever, any day. I'm also not keen on writing that's so busy impressing itself or a handful of other writers that it forgets to tell a human story.
All of the above plus:
* Good storytelling. The flow and twist of a good plot is like great music. I reckon the most satisfying plots are those with 'plausible surprises', in other words, it goes in directions you don't expect, but none of them are silly.
* Good storytelling. The flow and twist of a good plot is like great music. I reckon the most satisfying plots are those with 'plausible surprises', in other words, it goes in directions you don't expect, but none of them are silly.
This is why I had to steal Russell's words, you guys said what I wanted but better. Trudi, I should have included you in my list as well, I loved both your Black Magician's trilogy and the Age of Five as well. Talking of familiar backgrounds with fantastic characters reminds me of Charles De Lint. If you haven't read his work, he's a genius at taking the normal and inserting magic and wonder. You'll never look at crows the same way again after reading "Someplace to by Flying".
Just in case you hadn't guessed, I'm a fan, not a writer, which means I have time to read :-).
Just in case you hadn't guessed, I'm a fan, not a writer, which means I have time to read :-).
Karen, can I use your words as an attributed quote?
Yah my computer is fixed....be very scared Russell!! Anyway....I love crime novels mainly, although have read different genres and enjoyed most..except romance yeeeck!! I like good characters and a strong storyline. I love settings that are almost virtual and descriptive prose. My great delight is discovering a new author and looking forward to all their novels I have yet to read. I like my characters to have weaknesses, foibles, no larger than life stuff for me. To be able to sit and read and not be aware of my surroundings is the sign I am reading a fantastic author. I will be reading you shortly Russell....true, then you will be the 2nd fantasy author I have read, the other one being Juliette Marillier, whose first series I loved....yes maybe it was a bit romance driven. But on the whole I like the murder, crime, smash em up bash em up best. Why? maybe because its so unlike my life that it is true escapism....but then I can always talk to Russell :-)
Certainly, Sharyn! But now I'm having a moment of grammatical existential angst. Should it be what I want is????
Help!
And Linda, before you write off all romance, try Nora Roberts. Her contemporary romantic suspense novels, as well as her more mainstream romantic novels, are brilliant examples of character driven, fabulous storytelling. Of course, if you've tried already to read her and don't like it, well ... horses for courses! But in the same way that one bad fantasy doesn't mean the genre sucks, I don't think some of the more ... overwrought ... romances should condemn the whole family.
Help!
And Linda, before you write off all romance, try Nora Roberts. Her contemporary romantic suspense novels, as well as her more mainstream romantic novels, are brilliant examples of character driven, fabulous storytelling. Of course, if you've tried already to read her and don't like it, well ... horses for courses! But in the same way that one bad fantasy doesn't mean the genre sucks, I don't think some of the more ... overwrought ... romances should condemn the whole family.
Overwrought romances helped my survive my first year at university. I was boarding with an old lady who had shelves full of Mills & Boon novels. When my brain was full of new stuff, reading one of them was good relaxation therapy (and it never took longer than 2 hours per book). Mind you, I haven't read one since and that was 20 years ago (egad!).
Actually, I always preferred the medical Mills and Boone books. I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps because at least the women were professionals. I haven't read any M&B for a long while. I don't read a lot of romance, but I always recommend Roberts, and Jennifer Crusie. There's a woman who knows how to tell a great tale!
Perhaps I should be a bit more specific, by romance I mean the "bodice ripper" kind. Although at present the "bite and bonk" (vampire romance) are all the rage. I do read novels with a strong love story...Paullina Simons The Bronze Horseman...all of Jean Auel (stone age mills and Boon?)Diana Gabaldon, etc but have yet to try a mills and boon although they now have a strong crime and fantasy author base.
You ain't done bodice ripper till you've done Rosemary Rodgers. I had to read her at uni, for a women's fic course. Eeeekkkkk. OTOH, the course did introduce me to Georgette Heyer, so I guess it wasn't all bad ... *g*
What is it like most about books? I'm not sure I can explain it ...
I love discovering unexpected and satisfying links. Like metaphors and allegories. Metaphor as a sort of synaesthesia, linking two concepts not normally associated. We all do this, such as when we connect 'cheese' and 'sharp' (as in a 'sharp cheese'). When I read a satisfying novel I find myself discovering connections in the plots, between characters and ideas. I can't describe how strongly pleasurable it is for me to discover a link between things. It's why I'm an academic. I find this sort of linking happens much more in novels (at least in the ones I enjoy) than in any other medium. From the simple 'whodunnit' where one puts together clues, through to the sort of fantasy I write, where there are a thousand things buried in the text that all link together.
I know this all sounds weird, but I'm writing about Lenares at the moment, and this is how she sees things. Like me, she loves patterns and connections.
As I've written this post I've learned something new about myself. This helps to explain my interest in Lego, for example. Hmmm, how fascinating.
I love discovering unexpected and satisfying links. Like metaphors and allegories. Metaphor as a sort of synaesthesia, linking two concepts not normally associated. We all do this, such as when we connect 'cheese' and 'sharp' (as in a 'sharp cheese'). When I read a satisfying novel I find myself discovering connections in the plots, between characters and ideas. I can't describe how strongly pleasurable it is for me to discover a link between things. It's why I'm an academic. I find this sort of linking happens much more in novels (at least in the ones I enjoy) than in any other medium. From the simple 'whodunnit' where one puts together clues, through to the sort of fantasy I write, where there are a thousand things buried in the text that all link together.
I know this all sounds weird, but I'm writing about Lenares at the moment, and this is how she sees things. Like me, she loves patterns and connections.
As I've written this post I've learned something new about myself. This helps to explain my interest in Lego, for example. Hmmm, how fascinating.
My parents introduced me to Georgette Heyer very early on and I have enjoyed her books ever since. It is always hard to explain to people that although they are romance novels, they aren't "Romance" novels. She stays very true to the period and is well researched, especially her books about the Napoleonic Wars. Gillian recently blogged on her site about people who base their historical information on novels, TV and movies and Heyer was who I thought of at the time. I get very annoyed when I see movies about this period (particularly the Penisular Wars) showing all British troops in red uniforms - "what about the 95th" (who wore green) I shout at the screen. Proving, yet again, that I seriously need to get a life!!!!
What I like best about books.............
Grandure. I love characters who are just like us, but end up doing and being what we all aspire to be. I like it when an author dares to be grand, to assume he is a god, and that all things are possible.
I also like to have a sense of where a story is going, like you already know the ending, but dont know how you are going to get there, and who with. Thats why I like Russell's first trilogy. You knew who Leith was, you knew who he could be, you knew who he would be, but you just didnt know how. If I cant see where we are going from fairly early on, I dont usually read much further. The surprise is the how and why, the where and what is a foregone conclusion.
Grandure. I love characters who are just like us, but end up doing and being what we all aspire to be. I like it when an author dares to be grand, to assume he is a god, and that all things are possible.
I also like to have a sense of where a story is going, like you already know the ending, but dont know how you are going to get there, and who with. Thats why I like Russell's first trilogy. You knew who Leith was, you knew who he could be, you knew who he would be, but you just didnt know how. If I cant see where we are going from fairly early on, I dont usually read much further. The surprise is the how and why, the where and what is a foregone conclusion.
C'mon Russell, put aside that pain, we obviously have nothing more to say on this topic, we need more material :-).
My life is too boring at the moment.
Unfortunately, to that I can relate!!
Your life is boring? That makes mine unfoodie.
Besides, you're a writer - you're *supposed* to make the mundane look fascinating.
Besides, you're a writer - you're *supposed* to make the mundane look fascinating.
I need to fall in love with the characters, care about them very deeply. The writing needs to be easily accessible and the book needs to move forward, preferably with lots of action. That's one of the reasons why I like romance, I think.
I don't like having to think too much, I don't like it to be overly descriptive or wordy and I hate starting a story and then having to wait for the next one, so I never start a series until I have all the books.
I don't like having to think too much, I don't like it to be overly descriptive or wordy and I hate starting a story and then having to wait for the next one, so I never start a series until I have all the books.
f75mBs <a href="http://alteurstqukb.com/">alteurstqukb</a>, [url=http://gvuisxeiadzd.com/]gvuisxeiadzd[/url], [link=http://mlrficeqewda.com/]mlrficeqewda[/link], http://jvuwmuanewvk.com/