Comments on: Start Me Up https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/ A Blog On Writing Mon, 13 Jan 2025 00:52:59 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 By: jamesr403 https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135993 Sat, 11 Aug 2018 23:53:42 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135993 In reply to jayjhicks.

Wow, jayjhicks -- excellent! I read Travels with Charley in High School -- man, I wanted to do that! Take my Daschund, go on the road. And Sweet Thursday is one of my all-time favorites. i do not know the Berg or Hood collections. Sigh. More books . . .
All kidding aside, thank you for some good suggestions.

]]> By: jayjhicks https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135982 Sat, 11 Aug 2018 08:51:24 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135982 Thank you for an inspirational reference list. I’d add John Steinbeck for good old fashioned characterisation, and F Scott Fitzgerald’s Benjamin Button (forget the movie). Elizabeth Berg’s collection of Stories of Life took me on a Masterclass-like ride. I’d also recommend anthologies by well-known authors - topical short stories such as Ann Hood’s The Knitting Diaries, and Birds in the Hand with dozens of poems and shorts by brilliant writers. Have fun. Jay.

]]> By: jamesr403 https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135968 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 17:48:58 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135968 Thank you, Jenny. WITS is important to all kinds of writers and I am proud to contribute. (I have an idea for the next one, heh heh heh.) My Dad read lots of westerns, particularly by a writer known as "B. M. Bower," who was a lady, writing early in the last century. He said she was the best. I am now custodian of his collection of hardbacks. Anybody out there want to try some old westerns? I'll pay shipping!
Meanwhile, Interview with the Vampire remains not only one of my favorites but one of the most amazing ends ever penned. I got to see her house (well, the outside) the last time I was in New Orleans. There are stories that she would host a Halloween party open to one and all. I can't image how cool that would be! What I would give to have attended one!
I have not read Cry to Heaven, but now it's on the list, and it's your fault.

]]> By: Laura Drake https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135949 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 08:44:17 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135949 In reply to Jenny Hansen.

Jenny, Atlas Shrugged is the best of all! Probably my #1 book of all time. You HAVE to read it!

]]> By: Jenny Hansen https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135948 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 03:17:45 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135948 James, one reason we all stay so devoted to keeping WITS alive is the comment section. We have so much fun learning from all the amazing readers and writers who hang out here. Plus, we learn new cool things from our contributors (I am so reading the 3-4 books here I hadn't read yet.)

The books that have stood out to me?

Elizabeth Wein has written two books that manage to combine friendship and humor with World War II tragedy and devastation. CODE NAME VERITY is one of the best books I've ever read. Ever. And it's one of the few books where I got to the end and flipped it over to start again because I couldn't bear to leave the characters. The companion book, ROSE UNDER FIRE is good too, but it took me a few chapters before I was sucked in the way I was with Verity.

My dad read Louis L'lamour and John Jakes so I did too. And the best Louis L'lamour book I ever read was not a Western, and had no one named Sackett. LAST OF THE BREED. Amazing story and history. I've never forgotten that book.

Those and the ones I've mentioned throughout the comments have all stood out to me. As did THE HANDMAID'S TALE, which is getting a nice resurgence thanks to the show on Hulu. Margaret Atwood never disappoints.

Anne Rice's books are always great, but CRY TO HEAVEN stuck with me all these year. It was a wonderful book and she showed the tragedy and betrayal between the brothers so deftly.

Okay, I'll stop before I get to the other 45 books that have stood out....

]]> By: Jenny Hansen https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135947 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 03:06:44 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135947 In reply to Bob Maddamma.

I didn't read that one, but I did read LeGuin's DISPOSSESSED in junior high and it completely resonated.

]]> By: Jenny Hansen https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135946 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 03:05:30 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135946 In reply to jamesr403.

Great point, James!

]]> By: Jenny Hansen https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135945 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 03:03:53 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135945 In reply to Laura Drake.

I loved Ayn Rand's books. We The Living and The Fountainhead particularly stood out. And I've always meant to read "Atlas Shrugged" and just never did.

]]> By: Jenny Hansen https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135944 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 03:02:25 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135944 In reply to Laura Drake.

OMG, I loved that book. That and John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" are two of the best books I ever read.

]]> By: Jenny Hansen https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/08/start-me-up/#comment-135943 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 03:01:04 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=34443#comment-135943 In reply to Justine.

I've never read Sylvester! I'll have to see if there is a Kindle version.

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