Thursday, November 18, 2010

Authors

Note: this post is a bit different. First, listen to the story in this post if you've not already. Then, when you get to the triple asterisk (***), please stop reading, click on them, and listen to the story.
With uni finished, I've been reading a few books that I've been wanting to get in to. I find that the author I read always have a strong influence on how I write, and how I think. The style of their writing that I hear in my mind tends to carry on after I've closed the book.
I'm making a start on Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, a book I've read once in the distant past, but is so wondrously interesting that it's drawn me back for further inspection. I'd highly recommend this book - I thought I had a handsome grasp of science, but Bryson is more than proficient at explaining lofty subjects.
Another I'm revisiting is Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves. It's a multi-faceted book, with narratives that frustrate and lull the reader. And a structure that                 tries                      to                      re   flect                  the
e
v
e
n
t
s           in the book. Plus - Short punchy sentences. And ones which are long and drawn out like an old tangled rope winding their words around your brain and holding it, transfixed and unmoving with a thrum of ideas in the background that can't emerge, but no, no rope at all, there never was a rope instead a pile of ancient dirt surrounding and ultimately compressing your body until with no other option, your eyes follow these words, my words, in a hypnotic stream.
And then Tao Lin, who I've been reading recently, and who's had a big impact on the way I think ***

And I wonder if this kind of post will eventually catch the attention of Tao Lin, and I realise that 'hey, the internet is a pretty connected place. It seems like there is a reasonable possibility that it will'

3 comments:

  1. Nice one David! You are definitely not a shoplifter. I have never heard you speak as fast as you did in Story, author :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely story, I like the bit about the compliment. I take compliments the same way!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You should volenter for http://librivox.org/ they would love to have you help read books!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

follow me around