Reading Great Writers – James Lee Burke for Setting

I’ve just finished James Lee Burke’s Feast Day of Fools.  It’s not a short read and it’s a violence one (no surprise, right?) but here’s the thing: you can learn so much from this guy.

I’m re-reading it now, marking things up, because he’s just so darn good at describing things.  Like the bleak horizons down on the Texas border with Mexico.  The colors, the sounds, you get the idea. 

There’s one scene, where a sociopath has taken his victim (I’m trying to avoid a spoiler here) out to his personal killing field and as the evildoer parks his “gas guzzler” and exits the car to walk back and open the truck where his victim has been tossed … well.  Not much word count, and I can still hear those boots moving, the sound of the truck opening, the barren surroundings, the breathing of the bound man.  Creeps me out. 

I’m not using his vocabulary. 

You need to read it for yourself.  Feast Day of Fools.

Amazingly good stuff. 

I'm Reading Anna Karenina and Remembering the Timeliness of Great Books

I started reading Anna Karenina (see previous post) on Kindle and learned something right off:  there are certain things I want to read on Kindle (or any screen) and things that I most certainly don't.  Call me Old School, call me picky.

This week, I stopped by the Half Price books and got a great copy of Anna Karenina that is the right size and weight.  It's a big book and I don't want one that is cumbersome; I want one that is easy to flip back and forth when I want to go back and re-read something, and I need quality paper that can withstanding my highlights and note taking (yes, I'm one of those).  Usually, college-targeted versions serve me well, and that's what I got this time.  It's an oversized, quality paperback meant for students and I love it.

The eerie thing about reading Anna Karenina right now - and there are some eerie things - include it's opening sentence:

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Wow.  Love it, and it's so topical what with the daily news blast of Casey Anthony's trial, especially since the defense has just begun putting on their case.

The first few chapters delve into a man who has had an affair with the children's governess and now the wife has found out and is packing to leave (though we know she's really not going anywhere).  Suddenly there's a news break about Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver - and the news that he's the father of their former maid's son. 

No, I'm not far enough into the book yet for Anna to appear on the scene.  She should be here any minute; Vronsky's just been revealed as Levin's rival for the hand of Kitty.

It's true, I know it already: this is a great read.  Is it the best book ever written?  I don't know that I can agree with that accolade yet ... but I know one thing: one of the keys of great books, in my opinion, is how they span the ages with truths that are as applicable today as the day they were written.  A great writer's wisdom is timeless and rare, I think.

Anna Karenina in the first few chapters is already resonating with the world I'm living in today.  That's a good sign.

Here's Why I'm Reading Anna Karenina

Roaming around the web this week, I stumbled upon a list of books that famous authors considered to their favorite books, which corresponds with an actual book on these lists-- The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books.

It's only $9.76 for a Kindle edition.  There's a blog, too. 


Anyway, I had discovered the Top Ten list from all their collective selections -- and there was Tolstoy's Anna Karenina at the top.  Number One.  Anna Karenina, really? 

All these different, successful writers had chosen this book as the best of the best, the creme of the creme.  Ever read it? 

No, me neither, I'm not ashamed to admit.  (I did see Vivien Leigh in the 1948 movie version, but I hated the ending and after all, Anna was no Scarlett. I like survivors, I am one.)

Still, here I was - wanting a good book, one of those that keep you up at night, and here this was: this list.  So, I went over to Amazon and guess what?  Right now, Anna Karenina, Kindle version, is FREE. 

It was a sign.  So, right now I'm reading Anna Karenina.  I hope they're all right. 

Elmore Leonard Interview - How He Writes, and "Freaky Deaky" Comes to the Screen

Deadline Hollywood has a great interview with Elmore Leonard that's a must read. Most of the talk is about screenwriting, his books that went to film (and his thoughts on them), but at the end there's a great tidbit on how he writes.

10 to 6, every day.
Output is 3-4 handwritten pages. No word processor.
He takes his handwritten pages and types them up on his typewriter to get his draft.
Wow.

YouTube Interview - Lisa Scottoline

Mario Puzo Godfather Lessons: Comparing the Book to the Screenplay

I love the Godfather movies, even III, even The Saga (you know, the one where they cut and pasted I and II together, chronologically), and sure, of course, the Director's Cut.

But I'd never read Mario Puzo's original work, The Godfather, thinking it would make me like the movies less or that I wouldn't like the book, having seen the movie. Hey, I already knew that Sonny had dark hair in the book -- and James Caan is Sonny to me. I didn't want my head messed with, if you know what I mean.

Then, last weekend, I was at the library roaming thru the AudioBooks, and there was a brand new green box, filled with the unabridged version of Puzo's The Godfather. I'm not sure why I picked it up.

But, boy howdy, am I glad I did. Before I had finished the first CD, I was at the bookstore buying a copy. I could only find paperback, and I'm still not satisfied: I gotta have the hardback. I need it! The highlighting soaks thru the paperback version.

And, for a writer, there is so much to learn here. Plot, character, voice, setting. Amazing stuff.

Like what, you ask?

Well, first ... the book gets you hooked right off the bat, but it doesn't start off like the film. On paper, you're down at the NYC Criminal Courts, with Bonasera the undertaker. Remember him? Next, you're over in Hollywood with Johnny Fontane and his second wife, a beautiful movie star with violet eyes. (I'm still thinking she's an homage to Ava Gardner even if she does have Liz Taylor eyes.) Enzo the baker shows up, another locale, another thread drawing you in. Bang, bang, bang.

So different from the movie. But Mario Puzo wrote both the book and the screenplay and there is master storytelling here. Puzo Lessons begin on the first page: he's got Bonasera's story down in less than 1000 words and then he flips coasts to take us into drunk Johnny Fontane's Beverly Hills mansion. Puzo Lesson on get-er-done: edit down that word count.

I understand the characters more - and I'm barely into the book. I get Tom Hagen more than I ever did, same thing for Kay. Heck, same for Enzo. Puzo Lesson on people: have them all fully dimensional, no matter how secondary they may ultimately be to the plot. Don't skimp on your prep.

Puzo also takes the time to insert wisdom in these pages. Nice little zingers are scattered here, things that are in the Quotation books now. Puzo Lesson: good writing involves a level of wisdom, as well as that old adage "write what you know." Puzo knew NYC because he was from NYC. And, Puzo had learned a number of life lessons during his career as a reporter before this book ever came to fruition. This all shows.

Puzo built a world that so many loved to enter - and still do. How that was built, how those characters were developed, what he thought was important and why, reveal themselves in a fascinating way through this process.

The Puzo Lessons

Maybe part of all this is listening to his words, and then reading them. That does give nuance.

But another part of it is comparing what Puzo built in the book and how he revisited it for the movie. Especially for the first film.

Another nugget: Puzo's interview by Larry King. (He saw The Godfather as a family story, not a crime story. Interesting, right?)

Who Writes the Best Dialogue?

I wanted to know which fiction writers were known for writing the best dialogue, and here's what I found - from all sorts of sources (literary agents, critics, readers, etc.) - these names were mentioned much more than once:

Elmore Leonard
Ed McBain
Robert B. Parker
Nora Roberts

Great Interview with Janet Evonovich

Click on the title to jump over to a nice, and not too long, interview with Janet Evonovich -- where she discusses writing with humor and promises that "good people do not die in this series!" Whew.

Reading Great Writing-2 (Apple)

Johnny Apple died recently. While most will recall his work as war correspondent for the New York Times, for me, it's his work as a travel writer that first comes to mind.

Apple's Europe and Apple's America are great reads -- beautiful and eloquent without being elitist. You can read excerpts of America at Amazon.com; Apple's Europe is rather hard to find -- if you stumble upon a copy, grab it.

First sentence, Apple's America:
Boston is one of the oldest American cities, a repository of our national past, yet it has shown an extraordinary capacity to look to the future and reinvent itself when needed.

The Razor's Edge and Truman Capote

Somerset Maugham's famous work The Razor's Edge has been made into a movie twice: first, with Tyrone Power in the lead; and later, with Bill Murray portraying the seeker, Larry Darrell. It's hard to say which version I prefer at this point.

Both made me think - and Bill Murray's version introduced me to the work of Maugham, for which I'm very grateful. Edge was one of those books of which I bought multiple copies to share with friends. I was seeking truth, my way of moving forward after a divorce left me lost and brokenhearted - and this book helped me. I wanted to share that.

A movie brought me to the book, to the author.
And, a movie has done that again, with Capote.

Not that I haven't read Truman Capote before now - I have. I think I own copies of most all his work - Other Voices, Other Rooms through Unanswered Prayers. (Why is it that Dominick Dunne always come to mind here?)

But the movie Capote introduced me to the writer - and his process - that I hadn't understood before now. I don't know that I like the man. Take for example that snide aside he makes at the bar about sweet, kind, patient Harper Lee -- well, yes, it's scripted - but when you recall all the Capote interviews, it's accurate.

This was not a nice man. This was, however, a great writer.

Either you are a writer, or you're not. And I think many writers waste away in jobs that miss the mark for them -- stymied by a lack of confidence, or maybe a fear of money - and the lack of it. Doesn't matter. Writers just are. They are humans given charge over words, and only some take up that responsibility.

Capote, the movie, explained to me that writers aren't perfect. They may not be kind or meek or subtle. They come in all shapes and sizes, and some can be quite disheartening in their failings.

Capote took writers off the pedestal for me -- and left the writing there.