Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Book, Movie & Podcast Reviews my own book page

My position on most "How to" books is that they make the author money and probably contain a few good points about craft. A classic in the area is Characters Make Your Story. I've read it a couple times.

Proposal: you buy the one Carolyn recommends, read it, then we'll swap and compare.

Except for To Kill a Mockingbird, movies usually sell the books on which they're based short.

Towns smaller than the Pentagon parking lot...in population? Sure. In size? Probably. I grew up in a village (legally not a town) which covers something less than a square mile (rough guess.) And I'm aware of towns that were smaller - two or three blocks, four or five houses.

And I'm sure that at rush hour the population far outnumbers the 140 people who still live in that village!

Nah.

Martha, I have the Hard Copy of "World Without End." I'm saving it to read on my cruise/tour of Alaska the last of July. If you haven't gotten a copy by the time I return, I'll bring it over. Siannan says it is as good or better than "Pillars." Why don't you just put a place marker on your shelf, so when I bring it over, it doesn't have to go at the bottom of the pile?

The Pentagon: Yes, it is that huge. I got lost in the parking lot of the Pentagon. I think it is the only time I was stopped by a traffic cop in a parking lot.

I have read all of Follett's books. I am sorry you didn't choose as your second Follet, The Key to Rebecca. It is a WWII suspense novel and riviting. It launched his career into the stratisphere. He has also written some other books I enjoyed just for the factual information. For instance, he has one called ".....Over Water." (Maybe the first word was "Night." It is a clever mystery but what I enjoyed was the telling of the days of the huge planes that flew passengers in accommodations that were more like cruise ships, with compartments, than the sort of crunching we have today on airships. He even, if I recall, had diagrams I found interesting. Very historically accurate also.

Follett, it seems, turns out books periodically whether they are any good or not. From the personal experience of my friend Jacque Reeves (wife of Grady Reeves for Martha only), Follett has a team of people who constantly canvass to find topics which he can choose to slosh out words. Jacque had written a story in "The Old Huntsville Magazine" which came to Follett's attention. He contacted Jacque and made a trip to Huntsville to interview her. The book that resulted was his absolute worst -- "Code to Zero." I have kept the book because it is signed, Jacque gets her name in the credits -- Then it was Jacque Gray ---, and because it is about Huntsville.

He makes some terrible factual errors. (see a review above)

I don't know if I kept "Key to Rebecca." I've already made two trips down the stairs to the library today and that's all my knees and ankle can stand in one 24-hour period so I'll check tomorrow and if I have it I'll bring it over.....no rush, it can go at the bottom of the stack. I guarantee a better read than "Into the Woods."

Respectfully,


Kathy Albers

Deal, I'll order the book today.

Follett's book {"Pillars of the Earth") is listed on some lists as one of the best ten books ever written --- google Follett + Newsweek. That is where I got the information.

Kathy

Does one lasting book make a writer great? Personally I'll vote for writers who churn out good/excellent books over a sustained period of time.

D J Salinger? I'll wait and see what he's been writing and not publishing before I'll label him great based solely on Catcher.

Harper Lee wrote a great book. That doesn't in my mind make her a great writer.

Like I said, Pillers really impressed me. But The Third Twin sure isn't a book that makes me want to read Follett.

My husband and I just finshed "Compulsion" by Jonathan Kellerman. My husband really liked this "who done 'them.'"

The crisp comments that I once enjoyed are now growing on me to be almost sarcastic:

"Do bites man is no story at all."

"To the north, the Santa Ynez range showed a lot of skin but kept its distance, like an ambivilent starlet."

I did find this interesting:


Now I have an excuse!

Grade: C, with a B for holding my attention

Respectfully,

Kathy Albers

I have just finished reading my book club selection, The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer. I highly recommend it but really can't say too much about it without spoiling some of the surprises within.

The setting is post- WWII in the "Sunset" district of San Francisco. There is draft-dodging, marital complications and some of the finest writing I have experienced in a while.

At less than 200 pages it is a comfortable read in which the main characters are nicely developed and some unusual social issues are explored in novel ways.

Less than 200 pages? Funny? It's on my list.