After a writers’ conference, I want to rush off and write everything before I lose the lessons and momentum. But I also want to consume the books I’ve purchased and heard attendees and instructors refer to in conference sessions.
With that in mind, we spin through lists of books in a range of different genres. And as the last link illuminates, it takes a clever writer to create a story well told, regardless of the genre.
- For all the unrequited love junkies out there (I count myself in this group): 25 Painfully Unrequited Love Stories From Literature.
- Sometimes, love can feel like a horror show, perhaps that’s why Katherine Dunn’s brilliant Geek Love is on this list of The 10 Best Horror Books You’ve Never Read
- 2014 was a great year for Science Fiction and Fantasy. Here’s io9’s picks of the best of them, including my recent fave, Station Eleven.
- Maybe you crave a mash-up of unrequited love and horror? Literary and Fantasy? Check out these 50 Great Genre-Bending Books.
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What makes some of these books so to-hell-with-the-rest-of-you-I’m-reading good? “The writing, which was usually crisp and unflashy, occasionally revealed glimpses of how much talent was held in check. Instead of showing off, Christie wanted to succeed. And what was success? Eliciting the reaction “What a good book!” rather than: “What a clever writer!” More about how clever novelists know how to write a story. It’s the clever-clever ones who don’t.
