The senior editor of my magazine asked me to write without using a certain one-letter word, so here goes (Thankfully, he didn't say anything about 'me' and 'my').
Duncan Campbell's If it Bleeds was the latest to be devoured by yours truly. Full marks for thrill element, suspense and pace. Not too bad characterisation, the hero is particularly appealing. Mafia element. Based on crime reporting--the protagonist is on the crime beat in a newspaper, which makes it interesting to a certain journalism newbie. Flaw? Dialogue doesn't always hold your attention and you tend to skim it.
Also on the reading list was Booker nominee Sarah Waters. An absolute delight. Changing life in post-war Britain, snobbery, the end of the age of class. Next up is A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book. But of all Booker nominees this year, Wolf Hall remains my favourite. And it won! Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII (and wives) and Wolsey. What more does one want in a novel?
While clearing out my room so it could be repainted, the Twilight books caught my attention. These were gifted about a year ago by a friend who was sick of me complaining vehemently about paranormal or fantasy fiction. She swore Edward would enter my 'Top ten favourite heroes in fiction' list. He didn't. But he did get into the Top twenty. Vampires (and werewolves, for that matter) are not exactly my cup of tea, but Edward is something of an exception. So the four Twilight books were re-read last week. Not much has changed in my opinions, except that Jacob Black is on the 'Five most hated fictitious characters' list. It is shocking to find that there are many millions of Twilight-illiterates out there, in spite of all the success, the publicity and the movies. So much for 'move over, Harry Potter'. Someone (clearly Twilight-illiterate) recently spelt Stephenie Meyer as Staphani Mayer!! And it was nearly printed. It was discovered and corrected in time by the only Twilight-literate in the vicinity at the time (cough cough). It's not that everyone has to be a Twilight fan--Twilight is not my favourite book either. It's just that one expects people to have heard of it at least once, in passing.
Yay, a whole blog post without THAT word. Mission accomplished!
Readers' questions: Have you been shocked to find someone totally blank about an ultra-famous book or an author?
How do you get an em-dash on windows? (UK keyboard)
Yes. I'm always shocked to trip over people that haven't read any of the Harry Potters. Most of them have heard of them of course, but still.... You'd think they'd at least read one just due to curiosity.
ReplyDelete'i' think for a lot of people, not reading these books is a badge of honour! which is dreadful attitude towards any book. My friend was very anti-tw, never read the books and now after gobbling them over a weekend is a huge fan!
ReplyDeleteGreat article - amazing how certain words just enter our vocab! Good exercise i think to recognise common words - and see if can write without them lol.