tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post4817713363236192700..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: The good, the great and the just plain bad. How do you judge? - Celia ReesMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-22886024803867638712012-04-19T15:03:12.701+01:002012-04-19T15:03:12.701+01:00Book criteria:
Bad book? Don't finish it.
Go...Book criteria:<br /><br />Bad book? Don't finish it.<br /><br />Good book? Finish it then pass it on to a friend or the charity shop.<br /><br />Brilliant book? One I know I will want to re-read: goes to live on one of my bookshelves.madwippitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02595748471651052552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-1222430758780118092012-04-19T12:59:38.953+01:002012-04-19T12:59:38.953+01:00Dear Barbara Mitchelhill, please will you come and...Dear Barbara Mitchelhill, please will you come and sit on my desk? I could SO do with someone to answer all those 'Would they have said that THEN?' questions!Janhttp://literaryteapot.blogspot.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-27382900587802744352012-04-19T09:14:04.832+01:002012-04-19T09:14:04.832+01:00For Adele: the word 'daft' meaning 's...For Adele: the word 'daft' meaning 'stupid' is Middle English and was first used to mean 'unsound mind, crazy'around 1536. Can't see why the phrase 'That's daft' couldn't therefore be used. <br /><br />I do agree with all Celia's comments. I find myself being intolerant of many books these days. Only last week I 'hurled' two books - one of them a Booker Prize winner - having neither the time nor the patience to finish them. <br />Another problem I have is when I talk with a friend who has loved a book and I want to scream that the plot might cover an interesting subject but it's so badly written I want to get out a red pen. But I don't. I feel that would be 'churlish'. (Middle English/1566)Barbara Mitchelhillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-27519067895433338742012-04-18T21:49:25.109+01:002012-04-18T21:49:25.109+01:00I agree with all of this. So much comes down to Sh...I agree with all of this. So much comes down to Show not Tell (I know, yawn yawn) and with historicl fiction the skill is surely to show just enough to paint a credible picture and not so much that the reader suspects the writer wants to prove they've done their research. What puzzles me is that in Literary Fiction a lot of these considerations seem to go out of the window. I am frequently disappointed in books by highly regarded writers in which both characters and plot just don't stand up. If you write beautifully enough it's Ok apparently. Not with me. Duck while I hurl a few modern 'classics'.griselda heppelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-28276293969548089322012-04-18T18:25:32.402+01:002012-04-18T18:25:32.402+01:00I'm glad I hit a chord but good point, Katheri...I'm glad I hit a chord but good point, Katherine. We are all different and what one may hurl another might cherish. I also have to confess to certain prejudices that I should not harbour, but that is probably a different post.Celia Reeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05059549379622664741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-38744474067159118262012-04-18T18:16:03.471+01:002012-04-18T18:16:03.471+01:00Yes, I agree the ending can be a "hurler"...Yes, I agree the ending can be a "hurler" moment and reading any number of samples can't prepare you for that... I often find I want to rewrite other people's endings, but if I've got that far then I respect the author and will not hurl the book!Katherine Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-36956219487307629302012-04-18T17:06:46.089+01:002012-04-18T17:06:46.089+01:00I will usually read a few pages in a bookshop befo...I will usually read a few pages in a bookshop before I buy to check the writing doesn't irritate me; buying online if you can't 'look inside', you need to rely on reviews, which doesn't always help. Reading is such a personal experience. No book works for everyone. I have flung away one or two at the end too - one that won a big prize, too. Which just goes to show, really.Marie-Louise Jensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18006940874591015786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-16130632856486066492012-04-18T14:23:56.037+01:002012-04-18T14:23:56.037+01:00Ah yes, Celia - I am also far less patient with bo...Ah yes, Celia - I am also far less patient with books now than before I started writing them! But every reader is different, aren't they? I suspect I might hurl some books that other HG's love, and the other way around... it would be a sad world if we all enjoyed the same type of books!<br /><br />Interestingly, now that I have my Kindle and can download and read free samples at leisure before making the decision to buy, I have eliminated "hurlers". Somehow, reducing everything to that grey screen means the words/story must really work for me or I just delete the sample and forget the book. The downside of this is if a title is not available as an ebook, and then I must return to the old method of reading reviews and/or sneaking a peek in the shop/reading a sample online (which is not the same)... and with so many ebooks available to sample, those books can wait.<br /><br />Word of mouth is obviously still important, but since every reader is different (and I've bought a lot of "hurlers" this way!), I now sample everything before I buy.Katherine Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-38909560421383687862012-04-18T11:48:02.331+01:002012-04-18T11:48:02.331+01:00Yes - Atonement is very much a book of two halves,...Yes - Atonement is very much a book of two halves, I've always thought. I'm not patient with books either. But for me, it's just a question of whether or not it keeps my interest. If I find I'm drifting, or if I really don't care what happens to the characters, that's it. I can forgive the occasional anachronism, though - partly because I can't see how anyone could possibly get it all right. I mean, who's to know if in the Dark Ages a peasant/thegn/sea captain drank out of horn cups or metal ones or pottery ones? Or whether in 1257 you could get material in cobalt blue or pea green? Probably not terrific examples, but you know what I mean...Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-28308211715800912972012-04-18T10:44:00.428+01:002012-04-18T10:44:00.428+01:00I'm like you, Celia and am growing less tolera...I'm like you, Celia and am growing less tolerant as I get older. MY LIFE IS TOO SHORT is a sentence I find myself saying more and more often. And in historical novels some things drive me mad. On which point, does anyone know when the expression "That's daft" or "Don't be daft" came in to use? It struck me as very odd in an Elizabethan book but I may be quite wrong. An editor should have picked up on that if it's wrong.<br />Jolly good post. I like the expression HURLER. Some good books become hurlers right at the end because the ending is quite annoying. Someone close to me hurled ATONEMENT very hard indeed when all was revealed!adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-74995804162718293552012-04-18T09:45:20.833+01:002012-04-18T09:45:20.833+01:00Good questions! If a character does something for ...Good questions! If a character does something for no other reason than to get the plot going, the book gets hurled. Lack of narrative drive and I wander off, four pages of someone being a bit depressed on their way to the shops or lazy characterisation (she's a girl - she loves shoes!) and I'm out of there too. Agree about crammed in research. Great book? I believe completely in the characters and in their world and I'm convinced that what is happening to them matters.Imogenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08925800621947616280noreply@blogger.com