After hearing last year about Boris Johnson’s thriller, then about Saddam Hussein’s romance novels, I got thinking about why people from all sorts of backgrounds are drawn to writing fiction. Reading them, I’m struck by two thoughts, firstly by how easy lots of professional writers make writing fiction look, and secondly by how much you can come to understand a person by the way they write.
Are there any novels you know of from unexpected authors? Have you found any that are decent as books apart from their creators? What is it about novels that draws non-writers that’s missing from, say, pottery or interpretive dance?
by OwlCriticism
2 Comments
Quite a few actors have written novels. Richard Belzer’s are pretty good.
For me it would be David Eagleman, he’s an acclaimed, accredited, inspiring, and “famous” neuroscientist, and his books on that alone are well worth the read, literally mind-opening and life-changing.
He also has a novella called “Sum: Tales from the Afterlives”.
(David Eagleman entertains 40 fictional possibilities of life beyond death. With wit and humanity, he asks the key questions about existence, hope, technology, and love.)
It’s an incredible piece of work, even if you aren’t familiar with his profession.
On a side note, the audiobook is narrated by: Gillian Anderson, Emily Blunt, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Jack Davenport, Lisa Dwan, David Eagleman, Noel Fielding, Kerry Fox, Stephen Fry, Clarke Peters, Lemn Sissay and Harriet Walter.