I just finished reading Musashi (it was fine. I enjoyed it even though the writing wasn’t anything spectacular) and now I need a new book (hopefully a series) to keep me going for runs and long sessions in the pool during triathlon season. I thought about Shogun as it is in the same vein and I tend to read books with the same subject matter in chunks- but, I read a few pages and I don’t think I care for the writing.
I’m not someone who can power through a book that I don’t care for. My tastes are at the same time highly specific in some areas and very broad in others, which can make it difficult to narrow things down. I am generally a huge snob when it comes to writing – I can’t stand amateurish or dull writing no matter how good the story is (Michael Crichton falls into this category – I’ve never been able to make it more than a chapter into his books. Same with Hemmingway- I just can’t get past how bland and lifeless his style is.)
I tend to favor historical fiction and sweeping epics with lots of characters (anything set in Britain, France, or Russia during the Napoleonic wars, the Soviet Cold War, and also the Japanese Edo period). I can also sometimes enjoy what I call “junk food books” in the vein of sci-fi and even some fantasy if it is done very well (Terry Pritchett, Patrick Rothfuss) – I like a lot of Stephen King’s work – the writing and prose must be very good for me to be interested in these genres. Huge bonus points for stories where characters and storylines come together for huge payoffs at the end (Hugo and Dickens are the masters of this).
Here are a handful of my favorites from over the years: Les Misérables, A Tale of Two Cities, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, East of Eaden, Moby Dick, The Count of Monte Cristo, Aubrey and Maturin series (Patrick O’Brian), John le Carre’s Karla trilogy (and most of his other stuff to be honest), Steven King’s Dark Tower series (I also loved The Stand) – of the stupid/silly/junk food variety: I liked The Martian, most of the Discworld series (in small doses), Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle series. I’m a bit embarrassed to say I even enjoyed some of the Warhammer books, especially the Eisenhorn trilogy (which is far out in nerd territory compared to my usual tastes).
That’s probably enough – open to all suggestions.
by showturtle