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What do you like most about your favorite author
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Jack
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Aug 30, 2011 04:33AM

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Yet he can write a book like Katie and Gilded Needles that take place in New York, and he's so talented it seems like he's a native New Yorker. Bottom line is he could write about any place or time or situation and make you believe every word of it.
For general fiction I am a big fan of Anne Tyler. She has the most wonderful talent for conveying the seemingly mundane heartbreaking and joyous workings of a family. Her novels are always domestic in subject matter, but the way she eschews the general fiction formula by making her characters do the opposite of what you think they should do--just like in real life--keeps you on your toes.




(In order of publication)
Morgan's Passing
Breathing Lessons
Saint Maybe
The Amateur Marriage
Back When We Were Grownups
Digging to America
I liked Ladder of Years OK, but have never read A Patchwork Planet or some of her very early books: The Tin Can Tree; A Slipping Down Life; and Earthly Possessions. I can't remember if I've read Searching for Caleb. It does sound familiar but I've read a lot of books, lol.
The only one I didn't enjoy was her latest, Noah's Compass. I thought it was very claustrophobic because it deals with an elderly man holed up in his apartment. A friend made a wise observation about her books--she said something to the effect that as Tyler grows older, so do her characters and the situations she places them in are less family-oriented and more self-oriented. She was spot on with Noah's Compass. I am 46 and not 66 and still have a young son to deal with. Maybe I just couldn't connect to the man in this story. But it's very rare for her novels not to resonate with me.

I was watching a great little documentary called "The Horror of It All" ( from the 90's) which featured Mr. Bloch and if you watched closely enough you could see that devilish little glimmer in Mr. Bloch's eyes. (It's kind of like having a great old uncle, who knows just about everything, telling you a great story before bed and then "zinging" you with a shocking conclusion.)

And yeah, Lonesome Dove is fantastic so far and much more complex (with all of the entertwined journeys of th characters) that I know it will be excellent. I love books tht have several stories going at once for the most part.

There are some brutal scenes in Lonesome Dove, too. There's one character I hate with a passion. The scenes at Clara's ranch are my favorite. I love Clara!




Yes, he is consistent. At least for me. Every one is good and readable, some yea, are better than others, but they all are good books to me, almost comfort reads of a sort. I love his way of writing characters, the way I can picture 'em real easy in my head, hear their accents, etc. I'm never disappointed and re-read them more than once, more than any other author really I've found so far. :)


For Ray Bradbury, it is how he takes his Norman Rockwell settings and turns them on their heads using brilliant metaphors and poetic styles.
For Robert R. McCammon it is his highly detailed plots and well thought out characters. Not to mention his wonderful imagination.


However, I was disappointed with some of his later novels where he moves away from the horror-fantasy genres a bit.
I have to agree with Adam, Gatorman and Kit's assertion that Stephen King is wonderfully consistent. He is the only writer that doesn't (or very rarely) lets me down and yet his best novels do not compare, in my opinion, to Barker's best earlier work.

I am rereading Boy's Life, and what I love about it is McCammon's ability to make you feel like a child again. There is a sense of childlike wonder that he communicates so well...the sense of freedom you got when you were riding your bike as a child, the fear you felt when you were SURE there were monsters under your bed...things like that. In your head, YOU ARE THERE!
King, of course, is also very good at this (in It, for example) but in this particular book at least, I think McCammon has him beat.
Books mentioned in this topic
Boy's Life (other topics)It (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Dean Koontz (other topics)Thomas Ligotti (other topics)
Michael McDowell (other topics)