I can write a book

Happy said:

But beware of Internet reincarnation.

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Well, my partner has written a book - actually four published so far, and one was even translated into Japanese. They are business books, yet he never considered himself an author until his latest foray, which reads more like a novel with a twist than his previous works.

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I know how much work goes into each book, and I suspect others would say they could write a book like that, but the fact is, they havent, so until they do it doesnt count!

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JK Rawlings (Harry Potter) submitted her manuscript to several publishing houses and was refused, as was, I believe, Dan Brown with Da Vinci code. Now look where they are!

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Julia said:

It's really difficult to know what makes a book acceptable to a publisher.

I'm frequently astonished at the rubbish which gets published, e.g. Dan Brown's novels. I tried to read one of his books, given all the fuss and hoopla, but tossed it aside after about 50 pages because the writing was simply bad. Perhaps his plots make up for the lack of literary quality.
I guess popular fiction like Dan Brown, Jackie Collins, et al are aimed at a readership who are less than discriminating about what they read.

Did any of you hear about the recent experiment where an extract from one of Patrick White's lesser known novels was sent to several well known publishing houses. Bar one, they all rejected it as having no merit.
(For anyone who doesn't know, Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature)!!

Julia

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Snake Pliskin said:

The literary novel is almost dead.

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I wouldn't say that: there are lots of novels that would be considered "literary" rather than "genre". Literary doesn't have to mean barely readable.

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A few I've read over the last year or two would include Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go", Yann Martel's "The Life of Pi", Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible", Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin", DBC Pierre's "Vernon God Little", and Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay". I don't think any of them would be considered genre fiction.

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Snake Pliskin said:

What did you think of "Vernon God Little"?

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GreatPig said:

I really liked it.

You kinda wonder what's going on at the start when you get hit up front with all the heavy language, and that tends to make you think the main character is rather obnoxious (which to some extent he is), but as you read on, your impression changes.

Wouldn't say it's the best book I've ever read, but still pretty good.

Cheers,
GP

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