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Archive for the ‘Literary works’ Category

Goodreads | Jessica Wilson’s review of The Horn of Moran.

A Moral to the Story.

I would have given this book five stars but again I had a problem with the main character Alex.  He talks way too good for his age.  Unless I misunderstand the time era Alex is from, he defintely doesn’t talk like someone from this era.  I love everything in this book.  The trials they have to overcome, the inner turmoil, and pride are such key parts in this novel.  Most writers don’t even touch on these standards.  I am glad Forman writes about a character so unlike what we see today.  Where did manners, courtesy, and kindness to each other even go? I hope a lot more youth read this book and see that honor is worth more than gold.

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With all the “Big Brother” censorship laws being passed, I begin to feel like protesting.    Now I read in Publishers Weekly that people want censorship for one of America’s classics.  Here is the link:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/45645-upcoming-newsouth-huck-finn-eliminates-the-n-word.html

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is being censored for using the “n” word.  The article gives good reason why they want to censor the novel.  But how much should we change a book to conform to our standards today.  The book took place during a time era when race was a big issue.  The characters had to deal with slavery.  There were all kinds of derogatory words used back in the 1800’s.  Should we censor classics so that feelings will not get hurt today?  Will the reader still be able to grasp the underlining racial issues?

Sadly I have to say, as an artist,  I do not agree with censorship.  There is a thing as too much of a good thing is bad. With schools pulling books off the shelves because it has racist words in it and the government censoring the internet I wasn’t too surprised by the next piece of news I heard.  A school was trying to decide on a mascot and several kids liked “cougars”  but the school board wouldn’t go for it because the word had a dual meaning.  So even now the word “cougar” can not be used in schools because it could mean the female teachers are “cougars” to the younger students.  How stupid is that?

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I was recently reading “Style – The Basics of Clarity and Grace” by Joseph M. Williams for an English class.  The author states using the word “he” as a generic pronoun could become a problem of biased language.  “Common sense demands that we not gratuitously offend reader, but if we reject he as a generic pronoun because it’s biased and they because some readers consider it ungrammatical, we are left with several bad choices.  We can try a first person we.  Some writers use one.  For years to come, we’ll have a problem with singular generic pronouns, and to some readers, any solution will be awkward.  I suspect that eventually we will accept the plural they as a correct singular.”  (p. 24- 25 – Style by Joseph M. Williams)

I don’t know how many times I have seen children’s magazines for parents with articles that use both he and she to describe a toddlers growth and so forth.  I just accept it because they are trying to write an article that encompasses both genders without using a they.   I have had instructors tell me to be more specific when I use a generic pronoun and it seems to help the story line.  Replacing a they with a different description helps too.  I don’t know if I agree totally with Williams about pronouns being biased.  I don’t get offended when I read articles that just use he.

So I guess the lesson here is seeing what works for you and your audience.

 

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How have we become a society where we relish entertaining novels instead of novels with depth and character? Where have the Jack Londons, Thoreaus, and Mark Twains gone?

Cover of "Walden"

Cover of Walden

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”- Henry David Thoreau
I read the novel “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer and loved it. He uses Thoreau’s Walden, Or Life In The Woods quotes throughout and brings more depth and understanding to the Romantic.
I have read chapters from Thoreau’s writings of the “Pond” and “Solitude”. We have a kinship for the love of nature.
Books today do not give a voice to nature or to the wild. Authors look to entertain and to make themselves immortal on paper. But what about nourishing the mind with spellbinding writing? Am I wrong to want more than entertainment?
I have fully engrossed myself in books, these last months, that will not only feed my mind but help me understand what “good” writing is.
Someone once said, “Writing is an art. It can be interpreted in many different ways. What may seem right to the author may look like gibberish to you.” I am sure there were people who thought Picasso’s work was of a deranged man too. My writing may not make sense to some, but to others who find it acceptable, I thank you.

I thank all the authors, who are gone or are still around, that contributed to inspiring all the great authors in the world today.

Cover of

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I recently finished reading “Rot and Ruin” and I have to tell everyone about it.  This is my first zombie novel and now I want to read more.  I can see why YA are eating these kinds of books up like their candy.  Candy that might rot your teeth or brain but very entertaining.  I like how the author starts of by telling a gritty apocalyptic story that evolves into how the main character becomes a real person and in the end the hero.  I know a lot of books that just tell a story and the characters just help move it along.

When I started out to read this novel I was just wanting to see what all the craze was about.  Well it hooked me from the beginning and then I had to finish it.  This author wrote in a way I thought was easy to understand and would be easy to grasp the underlining hints of what was really going on.

I have read some other books in the past few months : “Jazz“, “White Noise”, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Bel Canto“.  All of these authors have received awards for their works.  I can see why they have too.  Their writing is poetic and has a style all their own.  They have helped me hone my own craft and how I should write a sentence in my novels.  Reading “Rot and Ruin”  benefitted me by seeing how the author took a character and slowly had him evolve into an end result where the reader wants to jump up from their seat and yell, “Yes!”.   Some entertaining books are rewarding to new writers.  I can learn why an author has so many people reading his novels.  The voice an author uses sets the tone of how the rest of the book will be and sometimes like in “Jazz”, you can be surprised who the narrator is.

Terry Brooks and Brandon Mull have also been good authors to read.  They know how to tell a story with humor and passion.  I know there are probably many more authors out there that have been beneficial for my writing but I don’t want to make a long list of names.  Reading and writing is something that goes hand in hand.  I couldn’t do one without the other.

 

 

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