How (Not) to Start a Book

[valancy_s]

Disclaimer: For what I am about to do, tinuviellen, I apologize. You loaned me a book; I read four pages; now I'm about to tear it to shreds. But I promise, I'll keep reading and give it a fair chance!

The book is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. My sister loaned it to me, describing it as "Possession meets Twilight." I was doubly intrigued;

Comments

[litlover12]

That's an excellent point about the Salem non-witches. I wish more people would make it.

And *snork* at the number 782. :-)

[tinuviellen]

Oh, don't apologize to me. I told you the issues I had with the book before I gave it to you, and that's one of them. I think the comparison to Possession is an unfortunate one; few people can write like Byatt. Heck, Byatt's not as good as the bits you've quoted most of the time. I quite agree with you, though, about the intimidation factor of writing and the Wiccan/Salem issue.

Harumph

[ext_98258]

Ok, roomie. You're right about the Bishop/Proctor thing, but it's fun to pretend. I don't agree with you about Byatt, though - I keep trying to read her books (I finished The Children's Book, barely, and started Possession but gave up 50 pages in). Maybe I'm reading it wrong? And I LOVED Discovery of Witches.

Sigh.

Re: Harumph

[valancy_s]

Fair enough. I mean, I fully admit it's problematic to compare the first four pages of two books. Discovery just seemed to be asking for it, by being so overtly similar. But taste is also a big factor here.

[chelseagirl]

What a lovely bit of close reading! I, too, adore Possession. I'd heard reservedly good things about A Discovery of Witches, but you've convinced me that there's no reason to be in any hurry. I'll be interested in what you think of the rest of it.

I think being trained to read so thoughfully can really choke us off in our writing. That's something I struggle with every time I sit down and try to work on a story.