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Abandoning an author after one book

Started by Pingers, February 02, 2019, 10:41:26 AM

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Pingers

I saw mention of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle elsewhere. I thought it was blindingly good, it caught me up in its magic and left me bereft and adrift when it finished. I promptly decided with characteristic lazy laxity that he couldn't possibly have bettered it, so read nothing more of him. I did the same with Russell Hoban - if he's improved on Riddley Walker then I'm a sylvan nymph, not read another word by him. Obviously these may have been misguided decisions. I think they are driven by fear of disappointment.

Feel free to correct me on Murukami, any other author, or any other regrettable resolutions in my sorry life to date.

grassbath

I've never read anything else by him, but I quite liked Hoban's Turtle Diary.

Pingers

Quote from: grassbath on February 02, 2019, 11:12:58 AM
I've never read anything else by him, but I quite liked Hoban's Turtle Diary.

This is kind of my problem I think. You quite liked Turtle Diary, but Riddley Walker is vital and vivid, it stays with you, bends your use of language while you read it. It is a Great Book. Unreasonable though it doubtless is, I would ideally like to hop from great to great.

ToneLa

I enjoyed Catcher in the Rye, but for whatever reason, I've never read any other novels by JD Salinger

BlodwynPig

I haven't enjoyed Murakami's recent output half as much as his magical earlier works, but you should at least read Wild Sheep Chase and Dance, Dance, Dance

Small Man Big Horse

I sort of did this with Glen David Gold, I loved Carter Beats The Devil a ridiculous amount and did try to read his next novel, but struggled after about 40 pages and haven't read anything by him since.

Pingers

Quote from: BlodwynPig on February 02, 2019, 07:33:42 PM
I haven't enjoyed Murakami's recent output half as much as his magical earlier works, but you should at least read Wild Sheep Chase and Dance, Dance, Dance

Also mentioned by Purlieu - duly noted.

My main exception to the rule has been Ishiguro. I think that's because although his books are great, they have that quiet grace that avoids them shouting out to you that they are great, and it's over time that you come to realise just how good they are.

Keebleman

I read the first of the Red Riding books, and resolved never again to read anything by David Peace.  Quite apart from the incomprehensible narrative and all-pervading ugliness, the sub-Ellroy hard-man prose bordered throughout on being unintentionally funny.  A shame, as I had been looking forward to reading The Damned United.

Funcrusher

Quote from: Keebleman on February 05, 2019, 09:24:34 AM
I read the first of the Red Riding books, and resolved never again to read anything by David Peace.  Quite apart from the incomprehensible narrative and all-pervading ugliness, the sub-Ellroy hard-man prose bordered throughout on being unintentionally funny.  A shame, as I had been looking forward to reading The Damned United.

The other Red Riding books are better than the first one - his writing's still a bit rough around the edges at that point.

ASFTSN

Funnily enough, I gave up on him after reading just the Wind Up Bird Chronicle because I hated it so much. But then I'm a bit of a cunt so there you go.

imitationleather

Quote from: Keebleman on February 05, 2019, 09:24:34 AM
I read the first of the Red Riding books, and resolved never again to read anything by David Peace.  Quite apart from the incomprehensible narrative and all-pervading ugliness, the sub-Ellroy hard-man prose bordered throughout on being unintentionally funny.  A shame, as I had been looking forward to reading The Damned United.

I was hoping for an actually interesting exploration of the era around the time of the Yorkshire Ripper as there's tonnes of potentially fascinating material there, but instead it came across like a novelisation of Life on Mars written by Charles Bukowski.

Never bothered with it after the first book either.

iamcoop

Quote from: imitationleather on February 06, 2019, 08:11:04 PM
I was hoping for an actually interesting exploration of the era around the time of the Yorkshire Ripper as there's tonnes of potentially fascinating material there, but instead it came across like a novelisation of Life on Mars written by Charles Bukowski.

Never bothered with it after the first book either.

Well I love the quartet, 1977 being my favourite. And it's definitely the most Ripper-focussed of the four, if that's what you want. Might be worth giving it a go. Although maybe you should just read Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son by Gordon Burn which is an excellent read, will make you want to take a massive shower to get all the grime off you afterwards and never set foot in South Yorkshire again.

Keebleman

Quote from: iamcoop on February 10, 2019, 03:00:15 PM
Well I love the quartet, 1977 being my favourite. And it's definitely the most Ripper-focussed of the four, if that's what you want. Might be worth giving it a go. Although maybe you should just read Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son by Gordon Burn which is an excellent read, will make you want to take a massive shower to get all the grime off you afterwards and never set foot in South Yorkshire again.

Yep, I have read that and did so in one evening, so one for the 'Reading a book in one go' thread.

flotemysost

As soon as I saw this thread title I thought of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Except unlike the other posters to have mentioned it, I neither adored nor hated it - I just got impatient and never actually finished it, or returned to it (or any other of his works).

I know plenty of people who hero-worship Murakami and I feel like I should reassess my stance here, but that one just didn't blow me away as I'd been led to believe it would. I was a bit younger when I started reading it though, maybe my tastes have sufficiently matured in the intervening years. But probably not.

Never had any desire to read anything else by Truman Capote after Breakfast at Tiffany's. Again, I didn't hate it, just found it a bit overly stylised and cold/charmless overall. To be honest I've got no idea if his other works are similar at all.

Although, a Google of his name (to remind myself what else he actually has written) yielded this blog: http://fscenglishblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Famous%20Writers%20Shirtless They're all, erm, having breakfast by the time etc. etc.

(Sorry, I know this isn't the sexy thread, but it made me laugh anyway.)