Daily writing prompt
If you had to switch lives with a fictional character for a week, who would you choose?
Sun Wu Kong. Unmitigated mischief might make a nice change. It’s obviously not for the immortality.
PROMPT: Fictional Character
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Category Archives: fiction
PROMPT: Villain
Have you ever liked a villain more than the hero? Who and why?
The more kleptocratic billionaires take control of the world, the more sympathetic The Joker (as played by Heath Ledger in Dark Knight) is over billionaire Bruce Wayne, with the latter’s willingness to abandon principles and listen in on everyone’s cellphone to win.
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PROMPT: Longest Book
I’m not sure. I’ve read a few north of 1,000 pages. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand leap to mind. I don’t read too many very long books as I generally find they are badly in need of editing. [That is certainly the case for Atlas Shrugged.] And, you know, they take a long time to read.
The fattest book on my physical bookshelf at the moment is Stephen Wolfram’s A New Kind of Science, but I’m pretty sure I never got through that one.
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PROMPT: Regretted Reading
Have you ever regretted reading a book — which one and why?
“Hostage” by Robert Crais. The ending was terrible. The protagonist had zero agency in his own survival. They made a movie with Bruce Willis which improved the defect. While the movie may not have been good, per se, it’s my go-to refutation whenever someone squawks that pretentious cliche, “The book is always better than the movie.”
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PROMPT: Fictional World
The world of H2G2 would at least be amusing in its absurdity. That said, I don’t know that I want to read much that’s set in a place that’s fun, and I know writers disdain them. Literary utopias always have a dark side. Story tension and interest do not build from a place where everyone is having fun.
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BOOK: “The Rum Diary” by Hunter S. Thompson
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. ThompsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Simon & Schuster
Thompson wrote this novel in the early 60’s but did nothing with it until the late 90’s when — apparently — he needed the money. That doesn’t sound like it would bode well for a work of literature, but it grew on me. The story follows a roughly six-month period from the time a journalist, Paul Kemp, arrives in Puerto Rico to start work at an English language newspaper in San Juan to the time he departs in the wake of the paper’s demise.
The plot is loose and late — by that I mean the most emotionally resonant events are clustered toward the book’s end. This doesn’t mean that it’s a slow-burn through the beginning and middle, per se. There is a lot of decadence and merriment going on among the protagonist and his colleagues that makes for an amusing read. Also, there is a bit of sexual tension as Kemp arrives on the island on the same plane as a pretty blonde who turns out to be the girlfriend of one of his co-workers (and thus verboten,) a girl who’s bad news, yet still the object of simmering obsession.
I found this to be a fun read and would recommend it for those curious about the hedonistic lifestyles of tropically based journalists in the 1950’s. Thompson apparently did spend some time in San Juan in 1960’s and the book is said to be loosely influenced by journalists he met and events that happened there.
Note: There is a movie. I have not seen it. Judging by the trailer, however, I would say it’s a quite loose adaptation beyond the setting and some of the characters in broad strokes.
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PROMPT: Fictional Character
Capt. John Yossarian of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. The only sane response to an insane world is to be insane.
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PROMPT: Inspired
I would say it’s much more common for travel to inspire me to read a particular book than the other way about. I can’t think of a case in which reading a book was the prime mover in a decision to travel to a given place. But I do try to read some literature from every country or literarily active city that I visit.
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PROMPT: Sequel
I think sequelization is a pox upon the literary world. I would hazard to say that anything good I’ve ever read was a standalone work. Seldom does the “resolution-to-hook” ratio lead to a satisfying, let alone illuminating, reading experience. A popular book series is far more likely to end like the television series Lost than to pull all its outstanding narrative strings together coherently.
Unless you’re talking nonfiction, in which case I would be open to another volume of The Complete History of the World at some point.
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PROMPT: Nominate
Daily writing prompt
Emperor Palpatine has announced open elections for a new Emperor — and he’s nominated Darth Vader. You get to nominate one challenger.
Let’s see. Someone fictional and from the future. I nominate Arthur Dent. #ArthurDentforEmperor
Tiger Riding for Beginners 