Welcome to the Book Nook! The weekly thread for all book nerds on The Avocado. This is the place to talk about books you’re currently reading, discuss genres, ask for recommendations, and post serious literary criticism.
This week’s (recycled) prompt: Some books are crammed to the gills with plot, characters, theme, style, etc., and some of these try to do way too much. What are some of you favorite (or least favorite) examples of an overstuffed narrative? (Thanks to group therapy for coming up with this one back in 2018!)
Ideas for prompts are always welcome!
Today’s literary birthdays: (all info courtesy of Wikipedia)
Francisco de Sá de Miranda (1481), Portuguese poet and playwright, (RIP 1558)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749), German poet, playwright and novelist (RIP 1832)
Sheridan Le Fanu (1814), Irish short story writer and novelist of horror, gothic and mystery stories (RIP 1873)
Vance Palmer (1885), Australian novelist, dramatist, essayist and critic (RIP 1959)
Firaq Gorakhpuri (1896), Indian poet and critic (RIP 1982)
Andrei Platonov (1899), Russian novelist, short story writer, philosopher, playwright, and poet
John Betjeman (1906), English poet and writer about architecture and preservation, Poet Laureate from 1972-1984 (RIP 1984)
Roger Tory Peterson (1908) American writer and illustrator, known for his works on birds and ecology (RIP 1996)
Robertson Davies (1913), Canadian novelist, playwright and critic (RIP 1995)
Terence Reese (1913), English championship bridge player, author of books on bridge and other games (RIP 1996)
Max Robertson (1915), author of books on sports and antiques (RIP 2009)
Tasha Tudor (1915), American illustrator and writer of children’s books (RIP 2008)
Jack Vance (1916), American science fiction, fantasy and mystery writer (RIP 2013)
Jack Kirby (1917), American comic book artist and writer, co-creator of Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Black Panther, Iron Man, and many other characters (RIP 1994)
L. B. Cole (1918), American comic book artist and publisher (RIP 1995)
Fernando Fernán Gómez (1921), Spanish novelist and playwright (RIP 2007)
Janet Frame (1924), New Zealand poet, short story writer and novelist, her autobiography was the source for the 1990 film, An Angel at My Table (RIP 2004)
Vonda N. McIntyre (1948), American science fiction writer (RIP 2019)
Rita Dove (1952), American poet and essayist, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for poetry
Feel free to comment about any of these folks, and/or let us know if I missed somebody.
Posting pictures is fine as long as they are book related, but I would like this thread to continue to be a NO GIF/YouTube/social media embed zone as much as possible. Thanks, and happy commenting!