Day 40: Book Haul!

I got a new book haul recently and there's some great books in this one that I'm really looking forward to reading. My mom and dad sent me all of these books in the mail, so I hope I've received all of them by now for this post. Thank you so much for books!

Two of the books are on the writing craft from a collection called 'Elements of Fiction Writing' by various authors. One is 'Beginnings, Middles, and Ends' by Nancy Kress and the other is 'Characters and Viewpoint' by Orson Scott Card. Based on the blurb, I'm hoping that I already know most of the information from 'Beginnings, Middles, and Ends' but it will be helpful in shoring any gaps in my foundation as a writer. 'Characters and Viewpoint' on the other hand should help me a lot when it comes to characterization, something I struggle to do as effectively as I would like. I love Orson Scott Card's novels because his characters are always so complex, but at the same time those complexities are very clear to the reader. I'll definitely learn something from these two books.

As for the fiction I received, there are two novels and a collection of short stories by Anton Chekhov. The first novel is 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' by Ernest Hemingway, an author who I've read in short form but not his longer books. Hemingway wrote this book after travelling to Spain to cover the civil war for the North American Newspaper Alliance. From the blurb, the novel focuses on a young man, Robert Jordan, who is assigned to an antifacist guerilla unit. I know very little about the Spanish Civil War, so this book will be an eye opener on at least one front for certain. I'm also hoping to learn about Hemingway's style beyond what I got in class from reading 'Hills Like White Elephants.' Hemingway has a gift for conveying subtle undertones, subtext that seems to miraculously germinate from his sparse writing style. If I can figure out how he does it I'll have another powerful tool for my own writing.

The collection of Chekhov's short stories should be an interesting read, especially because I've read a few of his short stories before. Thing is, I can't remember which. I'm hoping I'll get halfway through some of these and go 'HEY I KNOW THIS ONE' and finally remember what the stories were called. This is what happens when you throw your notes away after you pass the class.

Last but not least is '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' and this version is fully illustrated. I wasn't expecting that, but hey, it looks really cool. And when I say fully illustrated, I mean fully. Every single page is covered in more art than words. It feels like reading a graphic novel and I'll have to throw up some pictures when I get to this one because they are extensive. Just flipping through the book has shown its powerful atmosphere. It should be very interesting, and maybe I'll be more tempted to buy graphic novels in the future if I like this one.

Also, here's quick update on the first book haul I'm still working my way through. So far I've read 'Frankenstein' and 'Brave New World,' and I'm currently reading 'A Tale of Two Cities' and a collection of Mark Twain short stories. I keep saying I want to cover more of the Twain stories, but every time I write a post about one it seems another more pressing post gets in the way. Next week I'll take at least a day to cover my favorite stories so far, it's just there's so many good ones that the list grows daily. 'A Tale of Two Cities' is great so far but Dickens' style is not very straightforward at times. It has been very slow going because I get totally lost sometimes and have to stop and translate his sentences into something I can understand. It isn't nearly as easy to read as Shelley's writing for some reason, even though it was written later. Maybe there's a good explanation as to why that is, or maybe it's subjective, I'm not sure. I'll be sure to cover this issue when I finally finish it and get to write a post about it.

That's about it for the book haul. I'm sorry I keep teasing on these Twain stories over and over, I'll try not to do that in the future. Next week for sure though! First thing on Monday! I only need a little more time. Are you sure I can't get an extension on that paper? I really need a good grade this time. My day job depends on it.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley