What's Your Favourite Type of Writing?

Off Topic
1

“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.” - Sir Francis Bacon (English author, courtier, & philosopher)"

When I first thought of this thread, i was wondering what kind of writers and writing T-Nation posters liked to read and why.
But as I typed the subject heading it occurred to me also - what kind of writing that you do is your favourite?
For instance my taste is eclectic - I’ll read a cornflakes packet if there’s nothing else around and make some observations. I love well-crafted prose, wild comedy writing, certain things I’ll read because it’s blandly written, others because of the variety or vigour of the language. I love the double “ff” for “s” in the 1700s etc, and the thoughts they express.

I enjoy writing thoughts, letters, instructions, poetry, the latter especially when it comes our fresh from the emotions and the words just come. posting on blogs and forums has become a fun extension of this too, and has helped to clarify some of my thoughts abotu issues.
(Some mposts have resulted in poorly-constructed sentences, but…)

I started reading Tnation because of one of the most bizarre written conversations I have ever witnessed in my life, and i got caught! :slight_smile: But some of the participants’ writing there was very strong (as indeed was their subject matter), and of course, TC and Shugart and their editorial compatriots have strong articulate writing styles etc.

I have found some amazing writing on the Web, poetry, essays - actually a favourite style -, short jokes, thoughtful answers to questions, etc, as well as the books I’ve read as I grew up.
I cannot NOT read, even though i need to exercise too! :slight_smile:

What do people here like to read - and write?

2

I like to read older literature, 1700 to late 1800s.
Currently I’m reading The Picture of Dorian Gray… again. One of my favorite books.
I also like to read poetry; mainly Sylvia Plath and Dorothy Parker.
And Shel Silverstein :stuck_out_tongue:

And I like to write poetry. Nothing serious, just when I’m overwhelmed with emotions. Main reason I like to write poetry is because I like to use metaphors and allusions; feels like I’m being secretive openly.

3

Lately I’ve taken to long-form journalism found on the web - to read at least. I can’t write with that depth, breadth, quality or complexity quite yet. At the risk of disqualifying myself by mentioning twitter, I like to follow @longreads. That twitter feed posts long form journalism from a broad-spanning and eclectic array of websites and magazines (e.g. The New Yorker, GQ, WSJ, Vanity Fair, tech sites, etc.) I’d say 90% of the content they post is rock solid, and the other 10% is pure gold.

4

Cursive

5

I tend to gravitate toward Political and History books more than anything else. In my youth I read sci-fi and fantasy and in College it was the whatever the classes required.

6

I like a lot of stuff that revolves around totally off-the-wall subject matter, like a lot of Chuck Pahlaniuk’s or Irvine Welsh’s stuff. I also tend to gravitate toward a lot of the classic writers from the first half of the twentieth century (Orwell, Conrad, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner). Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Thompson are also personal favorites.

But I find that I also really like books about people who have very “extreme” personalities, whether they are extremely psychotic, eccentric, etc. A few favorites in this vein are Mailer’s “An American Dream”, Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho”, “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “The Curse of Lono” by Hunter S. Thompson or “Libra” by Don DeLillo.

I also really like historical stuff, since I have a degree in history. Anything about 20th American and/or world history, specifically anything about the CIA or Vietnam or Watergate. Although it’s fictional, I highly recommend “Harlot’s Ghost” by Norman Mailer. I’m also somewhat of an expert on the JFK assassination. I like historical biographies from this era as well. Howard Hughes is one of the most fascinating, intriguing people I’ve read about lately.

The Dulles Brothers are way up there too, along with Nixon, LBJ, E. Howard Hunt, James Jesus Angleton, Frank Abignale, Miles Davis, and the two books by Nicholas Spilleggi that “Casino” and “Goodfellas” were based on. Also, anything by Michael B. Oren, one of the leading experts on the history of the Arab/Israeli conflict.

7

Religion and horror.

8

For reading, the authors Hayek, Lord Acton, and Faulkner are some of my favorites. Hayek’s writing is not always liked because of the content, however his writing style is very easy for me to read, which sometimes in Economics the authors are too much worried about sounding smart instead of writing about the message. Faulkner for some reason always has a thousand editorial mistakes in his books, but beside that I like his writing.

9

I like H.P. Lovecraft for that ethereal sense of dreary hopelessness.

There are a ton of others I enjoy too. My wife has most of her books from college and I’ve worked my way through them over the years. She was an English lit. major with theater minor. Lots of classics, from ancient Greek to modern screenwriters.

It’s hard to pin down really. I guess I like just about anything that is well written. Can’t stand stuff that is sloppy or overly verbose without a point. Anne Rice and some of her flowery 3000+ page volumes come to mind for that.

10

Ernest Hemingway, Hunter S. Thompson, Pete Hamill, Herman Melville, Dave Eggers, W.B. Yeats, Bill Bryson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Roddy Doyle, and a host of others.

And I like anything that I write, because I’m one of the best out there.

11

Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Thoreau, Khalil Gibran…

…I can’t stand Shakespeare though.

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[quote]postholedigger wrote:
…I can’t stand Shakespeare though.[/quote]

Heathen!

13

[quote]Nikki9591 wrote:

Currently I’m reading The Picture of Dorian Gray… again. One of my favorite books.
[/quote]

is he the suprise vilian in league of extrodinary gentleman??? if so I always wondered where he came from… dont spose you know the book where the vampire chick came from?

14

[quote]roybot wrote:

[quote]postholedigger wrote:
…I can’t stand Shakespeare though.[/quote]

Heathen![/quote]

…I know I’m probably a douche for not liking his stuff. But I think he’s a douche so we’re even :slight_smile:

15

[quote]postholedigger wrote:

[quote]roybot wrote:

[quote]postholedigger wrote:
…I can’t stand Shakespeare though.[/quote]

Heathen![/quote]

…I know I’m probably a douche for not liking his stuff. But I think he’s a douche so we’re even :)[/quote]

LOL - no you’re not a douche. I just think that people generally hate on Willy S. for the wrong reasons -namely, looking at people reciting his dialogue to show how intelligent and well read they are and judging the material through them.

I used to despise Shakepeare, but got a handle on the language through Kenneth Branagh’s movies and Lawrence Fishburne as Othello. From there, I read about Shakepeare’s education which was totally insane.

If you know what you’re reading, his plays have far more to offer than any other writer in history.

16

[quote]roybot wrote:

[quote]postholedigger wrote:

[quote]roybot wrote:

[quote]postholedigger wrote:
…I can’t stand Shakespeare though.[/quote]

Heathen![/quote]

…I know I’m probably a douche for not liking his stuff. But I think he’s a douche so we’re even :)[/quote]

LOL - no you’re not a douche. I just think that people generally hate on Willy S. for the wrong reasons -namely, looking at people reciting his dialogue to show how intelligent and well read they are and judging the material through them.

I used to despise Shakepeare, but got a handle on the language through Kenneth Branagh’s movies and Lawrence Fishburne as Othello. From there, I read about Shakepeare’s education which was totally insane.

If you know what you’re reading, his plays have far more to offer than any other writer in history. [/quote]
Ive read Macbeth(and I think Hamlet also), can you give an example?

17

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:
For reading, the authors Hayek, Lord Acton, and Faulkner are some of my favorites. Hayek’s writing is not always liked because of the content, however his writing style is very easy for me to read, which sometimes in Economics the authors are too much worried about sounding smart instead of writing about the message. Faulkner for some reason always has a thousand editorial mistakes in his books, but beside that I like his writing.[/quote]

You might be confusing Faulkner’s editorial mistakes with his stream-of-consciousness writing style that he utilizes sometimes. In this style, grammatical accuracy is not important and is mostly cast aside in order to add to the impression that the words are a direct representation of the mind’s thought patterns.

18

[quote]JoabSonOfZeruiah wrote:

[quote]roybot wrote:

[quote]postholedigger wrote:

[quote]roybot wrote:

[quote]postholedigger wrote:
…I can’t stand Shakespeare though.[/quote]

Heathen![/quote]

…I know I’m probably a douche for not liking his stuff. But I think he’s a douche so we’re even :)[/quote]

LOL - no you’re not a douche. I just think that people generally hate on Willy S. for the wrong reasons -namely, looking at people reciting his dialogue to show how intelligent and well read they are and judging the material through them.

I used to despise Shakepeare, but got a handle on the language through Kenneth Branagh’s movies and Lawrence Fishburne as Othello. From there, I read about Shakepeare’s education which was totally insane.

If you know what you’re reading, his plays have far more to offer than any other writer in history. [/quote]
Ive read Macbeth(and I think Hamlet also), can you give an example? [/quote]

Willy contributed more phrases and sayings to the English language than any other individual.

Random quote “As dead as a door nail” was used in King Henry VI. It later appeared in a little-known novel called A Christmas Carol, written by some dude called Charles Dickens.

Shakepeare also used the rules of ancient Greek rhetoric (a major part of his education) to shape his dramatic scenes: the same rules that internet warriors use to win arguments, but rarely apply them properly.

19

[quote]Ratchet wrote:

[quote]Nikki9591 wrote:

Currently I’m reading The Picture of Dorian Gray… again. One of my favorite books.
[/quote]

is he the suprise vilian in league of extrodinary gentleman??? if so I always wondered where he came from… dont spose you know the book where the vampire chick came from?[/quote]

Yeah that’s him, but his story is actually a lot more interesting than the movie. Well, to me anyway.
The female vampire was Mina Harker, from Dracula. But she never turned into a vampire.

20

[quote]Nikki9591 wrote:

Yeah that’s him, but his story is actually a lot more interesting than the movie. [/quote]

QFT.