[stylist] What are you Reading Right Now?

[Justin Williams]

I' reading a series about a half-vamvipr, intersprinkled wth a book on
Buddhism.  And of course, I'm always on my blio from time to time. 
Justin

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jacobson,
Shawn D via stylist
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 7:58 AM
To: Writers' Division Mailing List <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jacobson, Shawn D <Shawn.D.Jacobson at hud.gov>
Subject: Re: [stylist] What are you Reading Right Now?

Chris

I hate when books are forced on me; it gives me a negative impression right
from the get go.

I had not noticed Salinger's stylistic genius when reading Catcher, I may
have to read it again to try to pick up on it.  Having said that, my guess
is that stylistic genius is like offensive line play in football; the best
play goes unnoticed and is meant to.  Overly noticeable literary style tends
to come off as self-indulgent.

The latest book I've read that I was impressed with was John Scalzi's "The
End of All Things" the latest in his Old Man's War series.  This is military
SF, but the emphasis is less on the actual war part than on the way
statecraft is done.

Anyway, good reading.

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris Kuell
via stylist
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2016 6:48 PM
To: 'Writers' Division Mailing List' <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Chris Kuell <ckuell at comcast.net>
Subject: [stylist] What are you Reading Right Now?

I first read 'Catcher in the Rye' in high school, when they forced us to,
andI remember disliking it.

Fast forward  25 years, to when my own kids were in high school and I'd
developed a much deeper appreciation for the written word. I read every book
they had to read, plus most of the books on their summer lists.

So when I read 'Catcher' a second time, I could see that Salinger was
painting a portrait of an angsty teenager. Holden doesn't come across that
way accidentally--it is quite intentional. I immediately read it again, and
studied Salinger's sentence and paragraph structure, and it's really quite
brilliant. He creates paragraphs where Holden says or thinks something in
the first sentence, then things get muddled and he completely contradicts
himself in the last sentence of the paragraph. 

And after all, isn't that a large part of being a teenager, then and now?
Trying to figure out who you are and what you think, all while being
confused much of the time.

Salinger took ten years to write that book, and in my opinion, it was well
worth it.

Chris


    


_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/shawn.d.jacobson%40hud.
gov

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/justin.williams2%40gmai
l.com