Overrated/Underrated Writers

[Incarnate]

Need some suggestions for good authors to read (and also some to avoid). Been working my way through the detective genre lately. The Dashiel Hammet stories were pretty dry. Mike Hammer was better. Just read Chandler's The Big Sleep, and wow, does it make the film look bad. Talented Mr. Ripley was great too. But i'm kind of sick of them.

Anyone know a good history novel?

I keep hearing how great Hillary Mantel is, but literally the second sentence of her magnum opus is a bloated, redundant mess. In arguably the most important sentence of the entire work she tells us three times a dude is on the ground. Does not bode well for a 500-page book when you question the writer's competence and economy in the first six seconds. Apparently this sentence is good enough to win the Man Booker:

"Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the yard."

[Holografix]

It's a pretty good sentence. Concise, rhythmic & visual; almost as though the sentence itself is miming the act of falling on cobblestones. I'm not one for historical novels, however bold their claim to truth, as I believe most history is an exercise in exquisite craft.

But if you prefer book writers with pedigree, I heartily recommend Paul Beatty, a Man Booker winner, and his novel "The Sellout."

As for history, the last historically fictional or fictionally historical book I read was "Sudden Death" by Alvaro Enrique which among other exaggerations includes a tennis match with a ball made of Anne Bolelyn's hair.

[Pigeon Pecking Keyboard]

I read James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential many many years ago without knowing what I was getting into. Couldn't get used to the style initially, but as I got into it, it left me breathless literally when the action picked up. Left an impression till today. Try Ian Rankin as well, it's a long series but with interesting characters. They are available in omnibuses as well.

If you are alright with historical fiction, try Valerio Massimo Manfredi's Alexander trilogy. Bernard Cornwell is a good writer as well. And I liked Robert Harris' Imperium. Bear in mind I enjoyed them all as fiction in a historical settings, rather than accurate depictions.

[gugnihr]

Stephen King is overrated in my opinion.

H.P. Lovecraft and Italo Calvino are the only authors who have written many different things that I like. Often when I like a book and I try other ones of the same author I'm disappointed.
I like The neverending story so I tried Momo and it sucked.
I like Ring so I tried Spiral and Loop too and they sucked.

Lovecraft is quite famous so I'm not sure if one can say that he is underrated, probably not, but Lovecraft and Calvino are the only authors that I would recommend in general.

[Holografix]

引用自 gugnihr：

Stephen King is overrated in my opinion.

H.P. Lovecraft and Italo Calvino are the only authors who have written many different things that I like. Often when I like a book and I try other ones of the same author I'm disappointed.
I like The neverending story so I tried Momo and it sucked.
I like Ring so I tried Spiral and Loop too and they sucked.

Lovecraft is quite famous so I'm not sure if one can say that he is underrated, probably not, but Lovecraft and Calvino are the only authors that I would recommend in general.

Although I wouldn't recommend HP Lovecraft (too dated, too prejudiced), Stephen King was greatly influenced by him. There's even a book where the 2 writers somewhat converge.

The book?
H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life written by Michel Houellebecq. Stephen King writes the Foreword.

[Albemouff]

If you want a good history novel, see if you can find "Au Revoir Là Haut" by Pierre Lemaitre.

[Incarnate]

引用自 Not Nice：

Uh I hate what I call filler writing ↓

引用自 Incarnate：

"Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the yard."

He busted his ass.


Keep it simple stupid- bethesda

It's not the pointless verbosity to achieve a desired wordcount as much as it's that she needed to repeat the same basic thing (he was flat on his ass) three times in one sentence. How did an editor not catch this? I get yelled at on Off Topic for rambling.

[Electric Cupcake]

Vonnegut: Overrated
Tolkien: Underrated (he's on a total other level from everyone else)
Longfellow: Painfully overrated. I love the Song of Hiawatha as much as any other Minnesotan, but what he did to the Divine Comedy makes my head hurt. And school reading lists call it the "standard."
Karl Marx: Overrated. There are some good points made, but buried pretty deep in layers of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and non sequiturs.
Douglas Hofstadter: Underrated. His works should be required for finishing highschool/starting college.
Thomas Paine: Underrated. The "Federalist Papers" are very overrated compared to his pamphlets.

[Holografix]

引用自 Incarnate：

引用自 Not Nice：

Uh I hate what I call filler writing ↓




He busted his ass.


Keep it simple stupid- bethesda

It's not the pointless verbosity to achieve a desired wordcount as much as it's that she needed to repeat the same basic thing (he was flat on his ass) three times in one sentence. How did an editor not catch this? I get yelled at on Off Topic for rambling.

The sentence seems good to me, but of course, you'd rather engage with Skeletor. Clearly an individual with a keen eye for prose styling and literature.

How's that phrase go again? Birds of a feather...and whatnot?
Enjoy complaining.

[Incarnate]

引用自 ZootsIdenticalTwinSisterDingo：

Vonnegut: Overrated
Tolkien: Underrated (he's on a total other level from everyone else)
Longfellow: Painfully overrated. I love the Song of Hiawatha as much as any other Minnesotan, but what he did to the Divine Comedy makes my head hurt. And school reading lists call it the "standard."
Karl Marx: Overrated. There are some good points made, but buried pretty deep in layers of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and non sequiturs.
Douglas Hofstadter: Underrated. His works should be required for finishing highschool/starting college.
Thomas Paine: Underrated. The "Federalist Papers" are very overrated compared to his pamphlets.

I like Marx's Manifesto, but Das Capital is unreadable. I guess it is an economics textbook in its defense. It's not really supposed to be interesting. (That's what Eric Hoffer is for.)

Never understood the hoopla around Vonnegut either.

[Electric Cupcake]

Aristotle: Very Overrated. His insights on the foundations of rhetoric are brilliant, but he was full of crap on most other subjects. Including logic.
Plato and Socrates: Overrated. A couple smug smartasses more than anything else.
Zeno and Diogenes: ditto.
Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Siddhartha Gautama: Very underrated.
Sun Tzu: Very overrated. Most of what he wrote is just common sense, or should be.
Miyamoto Musashi and Yagyu Munenori: Underrated.

[Incarnate]

引用自 ZootsIdenticalTwinSisterDingo：

Aristotle: Very Overrated. His insights on the foundations of rhetoric are brilliant, but he was full of crap on most other subjects. Including logic.

Love the parts on ethics, politics,and drama.

But, yeah, his writings on science are comically bad.

[Holografix]

引用自 ZootsIdenticalTwinSisterDingo：

Aristotle: Very Overrated. His insights on the foundations of rhetoric are brilliant, but he was full of crap on most other subjects. Including logic.
Plato and Socrates: Overrated. A couple smug smartasses more than anything else.
Zeno and Diogenes: ditto.
Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Siddhartha Gautama: Very underrated.
Sun Tzu: Very overrated. Most of what he wrote is just common sense, or should be.
Miyamoto Musashi and Yagyu Munenori: Underrated.

These lists are like what "Good Will Hunting's" Matt Damon would share to shame and outgun Harvard students.

[gugnihr]

引用自 Holografix：

引用自 gugnihr：

Stephen King is overrated in my opinion.

H.P. Lovecraft and Italo Calvino are the only authors who have written many different things that I like. Often when I like a book and I try other ones of the same author I'm disappointed.
I like The neverending story so I tried Momo and it sucked.
I like Ring so I tried Spiral and Loop too and they sucked.

Lovecraft is quite famous so I'm not sure if one can say that he is underrated, probably not, but Lovecraft and Calvino are the only authors that I would recommend in general.

Although I wouldn't recommend HP Lovecraft (too dated, too prejudiced), Stephen King was greatly influenced by him. There's even a book where the 2 writers somewhat converge.

The book?
H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life written by Michel Houellebecq. Stephen King writes the Foreword.

Stephen King compared to Lovecraft is like Giana Sister compared to Super Mario Galaxy.

[Chimp Factory [M04]]

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Criminally under-rated and hilarious.

Comedy books are always good and I put it up there with the following

Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek; Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

[OGNocturnal]

Raymond E Fiest is quite similar to Tolkien. Quite an enjoyable read his books, if you are into that genre.