July 18, 2005
On Writing
By Stephen King
I haven't read a lot of Stephen King�s work, primarily because the things that interest him (ie, scary things that go bump in the night) don�t really interest me. But I have always recognized him as an excellent writer: His novella �The Body,� for instance, (made into the movie "Stand by Me") totally slayed me.
So when my 15-year-old son urged me to read this book, saying he was sure I would appreciate it, I took his suggestion. I do a lot of driving back and forth to Maine, where I am working on a documentary on the building of a replica ship, and since Mr. King famously resides in Maine, I thought it would be appropriate to listen to him tell me about writing as I drove between Lexington MA and Rockport ME.
King says his book is short because he didn't put a lot of bullshit in it, and I'll try to return the favor in this capsule review. Listening to him read this book made the four hour drives very short indeed. It is funny and fascinating and not a little inspiring. I found myself wishing that I was driving farther, so I could listen a little longer. He offers a dollop of biography (from a peripatetic childhood to a chilling account of the 1999 car accident that almost cost him his life) along with a few spadefuls of pithy and useful observations about the craft of putting one word after another.
I especially liked his characterization of writing/reading as telepathy, with the written word being the medium by which the author sends his or her thoughts into the minds of readers. By this way of thinking, the author�s main job is to accomplish this thought transmission with as little signal loss as possible, to make sure the thought that image that forms in the reader�s head is as close as possible to what the author wanted to describe. Obvious as that might seem, I found it a powerful way to think about writing.
My reading (listening) was interrupted when my wife traded cars with me for a trip to New Hampshire. She started listening, and then she swiped the disks and I had to wait for her to finish. She is a writer too, a good one, although unpublished,and she liked it so much she wants to buy a copy of the written version so we can use it as a reference.
There's lots more I could say, but I'll limit it to this: I loved listening to King. After a while, I felt like the two of us were in the car together, and my old buddy Steve was just telling me a thing or two about writing and his life that he thought I might like to know. And that, Mr. King, is high praise.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:27 PM | Comments (1)
Da Vinci in America
by Greg Taylor
Intriguing, but could have used better researching, editing, and proofreading. Sloppy errors of fact and typography cast doubt on the credibility of the author. (Note to Greg Taylor: when you compare Wickipedia to Britannica, you suggest that you are unable to discern between well well ressearched, well sourced information, and a site where people can post what they like. Wickepdia has proved very useful to me...but it's not Britannica.)
Still, this is a readable book that introduces the uninitiated to some of the myths and stories surrounding the Freemasons, and how Dan Brown might make use of these in his upcoming book. I'm not sure it is the best place to discern fact from myth, but it does seem at least as if the author is trying to do that, whcih is more than you can see for the authors of many books in the Templar/Freemason/Mystery genre.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:58 PM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2005
The Secret Man
Bob Woodward's book on Deep Throat.
I showed up at the bookstore yesterday at opening and bought their first copy. It is a short book and I finished it this morning.
It offers a fascinating peek into the relationship between Woodward and Mark Felt, the high-ranking FBI official who was Woodward's "deep background" source during the Watergate years.
One unexpected element was the anguish Woodward feels at never really having gotten closure with Felt, a chance to talk to him in later years and reflect on why he did what he did. Their relationship began with a chance meeting in the White House in 1970 when Woodward was still in the Navy, and came to a screeching halt in 1974 after "All the President's Men" came out. Woodward called Felt to see what he thought, and Felt, perhaps irritated at being referred to as "Deep Throat", hung up the phone. After that they had mimimal contact. After many years of silence, Woodward contacted Felt in 2000, and went out to California to meet with him. But by then Felt, suffering from demntia, had few memories of the Watergate years. The book makes it quite clear how frustrated Woodward is that he can only guess at Felt's motivation, or how he managed the logistics of their secret relationship from his end. Even after the revalations of Deep Throat's identity, and an account in which Woodward says he has held back nothing, some parts of the story are likely to remain a mystery forever.
A must read for Watergate addicts, but it definitely left me wanting more. I imgagine Woodward feels the same way.
Posted by rickbeyer at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
A Tale of Two Cities
I just finished the audio-book version of this. Really excellent. Dickens makes me laugh out loud sometimes.
Since it is public domain, there are a million audio versions of this book. The one I listened to was narrated by Frank Muller. I picked it up at the library.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2005
Adams vs. Jefferson
I listened to the audio version. It was good.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:39 AM | Comments (0)