The Much Delayed Book Meme
Nov. 1st, 2011 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99Day 13 - My Favourite Writer
Alexandre Dumas, père - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas,_p%C3%A8re
Which, you know, is going some for a writer I've only ever read in translation. One day my French will be good enough to read them in the original.
He's such a fantastic writer, in every sense of the word. He makes long-changed corners of the world come to life, and you're placed so much there that you can feel the wind and smell the air.
And his characters, they're real, damn it, they live and feel and breathe (when I read 'The Dumas Club' I felt what can only be described as a terrible sense of recognition when faced wit the volume and passion of the arguments about certain characters). It's all of them, from the glorious main characters, to their servants to randoms. For instance, in 'The Three Musketeers' there's a chapter called, rather gloriously 'Chapter 16 - In Which M. Seguier, Keeper Of The Seals, Looks More Than Once For The Bell, In Order To Ring It, As He Did Before'. This character never appears again as far as I'm aware but we get his backstory, how he became a penitent who was advised to ring a bell every time his demons attacked (his demons being wicked, carnal thoughts) and how he drove the monks batty by ringing excessively frequently, and how having to search the Queen for a letter only brings out the worst in him. Now mostly, the chapter is used to show that the Queen is beset by enemies, that the King is a dunce and that the Cardinal is a glorious viper, but this one of character gets more backstory than several sidekicks in far too many books I have read.
While there are good guys and bad guys in his books, it does tend to be more 'no-one is entirely good or evil, particularly our heroes', because when the author frequently makes asides that boil down to 'our heroes live in dangerous times and are doing their best, and their version of right is probably not ours', it's a sign that they might well not be glorious heroes of gloriousness.
His books go forwards, determinedly, even through the bits that I assume were written as padding because he was broke and being paid by the line.
He combines plot and character/world building better than any other author I can think of, and does it with wit, verve and panache.
Somehow, he even managed to get Jacques Chirac to wax poetic, as he did when Dumas was interred in the Pantheon. I leave you with his words - "With you, we were D'Artagnan, Monte Cristo, or Balsamo, riding along the roads of France, touring battlefields, visiting palaces and castles — with you, we dream."
Day 1 - The best book you read last year
Day 2 - A book that you've read more than 3 times
Day 3 - Favourite series of books
Day 4 - Favourite book in your favourite series
Day 5 - A book that makes you happy
Day 6 - A book that makes you sad
Day 7 - Most under-rated book
Day 8 - Most over-rated book
Day 9 - A book you never expected to love
Day 10 - Favourite classic book
Day 11 - A book you hate
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don't any more
Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 - Favorite male character
Day 16 - Favorite female character
Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Favorite romance book
Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 - Favorite book you own
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't
Day 24 - A book that you wish more people would've read
Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 - Favorite title
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time
Alexandre Dumas, père - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas,_p%C3%A8re
Which, you know, is going some for a writer I've only ever read in translation. One day my French will be good enough to read them in the original.
He's such a fantastic writer, in every sense of the word. He makes long-changed corners of the world come to life, and you're placed so much there that you can feel the wind and smell the air.
And his characters, they're real, damn it, they live and feel and breathe (when I read 'The Dumas Club' I felt what can only be described as a terrible sense of recognition when faced wit the volume and passion of the arguments about certain characters). It's all of them, from the glorious main characters, to their servants to randoms. For instance, in 'The Three Musketeers' there's a chapter called, rather gloriously 'Chapter 16 - In Which M. Seguier, Keeper Of The Seals, Looks More Than Once For The Bell, In Order To Ring It, As He Did Before'. This character never appears again as far as I'm aware but we get his backstory, how he became a penitent who was advised to ring a bell every time his demons attacked (his demons being wicked, carnal thoughts) and how he drove the monks batty by ringing excessively frequently, and how having to search the Queen for a letter only brings out the worst in him. Now mostly, the chapter is used to show that the Queen is beset by enemies, that the King is a dunce and that the Cardinal is a glorious viper, but this one of character gets more backstory than several sidekicks in far too many books I have read.
While there are good guys and bad guys in his books, it does tend to be more 'no-one is entirely good or evil, particularly our heroes', because when the author frequently makes asides that boil down to 'our heroes live in dangerous times and are doing their best, and their version of right is probably not ours', it's a sign that they might well not be glorious heroes of gloriousness.
His books go forwards, determinedly, even through the bits that I assume were written as padding because he was broke and being paid by the line.
He combines plot and character/world building better than any other author I can think of, and does it with wit, verve and panache.
Somehow, he even managed to get Jacques Chirac to wax poetic, as he did when Dumas was interred in the Pantheon. I leave you with his words - "With you, we were D'Artagnan, Monte Cristo, or Balsamo, riding along the roads of France, touring battlefields, visiting palaces and castles — with you, we dream."
Day 1 - The best book you read last year
Day 2 - A book that you've read more than 3 times
Day 3 - Favourite series of books
Day 4 - Favourite book in your favourite series
Day 5 - A book that makes you happy
Day 6 - A book that makes you sad
Day 7 - Most under-rated book
Day 8 - Most over-rated book
Day 9 - A book you never expected to love
Day 10 - Favourite classic book
Day 11 - A book you hate
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don't any more
Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 - Favorite male character
Day 16 - Favorite female character
Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Favorite romance book
Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 - Favorite book you own
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't
Day 24 - A book that you wish more people would've read
Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 - Favorite title
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time
