Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » Noises Off
| Noises Off [message #15820] |
Thu, 07 May 2009 19:30  |
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Noises Off
Smooshes!
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15833 is a reply to message #15820 ] |
Thu, 07 May 2009 19:59  |
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When I was younger I was one of those sad compulsive people who had to finish any book I started
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Oh boy. Me too. I've had to get over that, of course, but sometimes I do wonder about the ghosts of other people's stories floating around my head. Surely there's a delete button somewhere...
Smooshes!
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15839 is a reply to message #15833 ] |
Thu, 07 May 2009 23:12 |
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 anne_d
Messages: 206
Registered: October 2008
Location: Orange County, California |
Senior Member |
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| jmeadows wrote on Thu, 07 May 2009 16:59 |
| Quote: |
When I was younger I was one of those sad compulsive people who had to finish any book I started
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Oh boy. Me too. I've had to get over that, of course, but sometimes I do wonder about the ghosts of other people's stories floating around my head. Surely there's a delete button somewhere...
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Me three. As I've gotten older and more fuzzy-brained impatient and less tolerant of bad writing, I find myself dividing new books into three categories:
1) It's wonderful, so I blast through it, resisting the temptation to read the ending first, then reread it more slowly, savoring the wonderfulness.
2) It's wonderful, so I blast through it, but I peek at the end to make sure my favorite characters will survive unscathed (or at least, I'm prepared for the worst). Then I reread it slowly. This happens very rarely, and mostly with ongoing series.
3) It sucks like a sucky thing, so I read the end to see if the book is worth finishing. Sometimes I go back and read the middle, sometimes I just put it in the donate-to-the-friends-of-the-library pile.
[Updated on: Thu, 07 May 2009 23:13]
"The creative urge can come out in any form: in embroidery, in... cooking, in painting, drawing and sculpture, in composing music, as well as in writing books and stories... the artist's inner satisfaction was probably much the same." ~ Agatha Christie
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15851 is a reply to message #15820 ] |
Fri, 08 May 2009 11:49 |
judith
Messages: 246
Registered: October 2008
Location: United States |
Senior Member |
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how did Beethoven write all those symphonies? He not only didn’t have an orchestra on his laptop, he was deaf.
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I've probably mentioned here before that somewhere in my head there's bouncing around a story, possibly apocryphal, about some composer, I think Stravinsky, to the effect that he once said there's no need to hear the music; reading the score is sufficient. Sigh. Weird person; other composers probably thought so too.
I was thinking, at the symphony last night, that it must bring incredible joy to the composer to hear the piece finally performed by a full symphony, live. There's simply no comparison to a live performance.
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This is a little like someone learning to post to the trot deciding to enter the Burghley Horse Trials.
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Speaking of which, we haven't heard a word about Connie or you riding lately. What's up with that?
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15852 is a reply to message #15820 ] |
Fri, 08 May 2009 11:57 |
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There’s a whole group of authors who fail all plot, style and character considerations, and whom I won’t even pick up in a dentist’s waiting room or off the shelf of a self-catering cottage because if I do I’ll still have to finish, cursing myself for time wasted.
Just when I had managed to master temptation in these situations-at long last and after great personal struggle-, some fiendish individual began stocking a small bookshelf at...the laundromat! The books are awful, terrible drivel, but there I'll be, hypnotized by the whir of a thousand spin cycles, bored out of my mind and feeling slightly sorry for myself (I hate laundry)and I'll give in every time. Every soggy "heroine" and caricature of masculinity is worse that the last, but I just can't seem to force myself to do work when I already have to do laundry, and the few novels that I make time for tend to be devoured long before laundry day...alas.
[Updated on: Fri, 08 May 2009 11:58] by Moderator
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15853 is a reply to message #15851 ] |
Fri, 08 May 2009 12:22 |
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AJLR
Messages: 2564
Registered: September 2008
Location: England, UK |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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| judith wrote on Fri, 08 May 2009 16:49 |
Speaking of which, we haven't heard a word about Connie or you riding lately. What's up with that?
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I suspect the ME has taken that particular joy out of Robin's life for the last couple of months, judging by the bits in the recent 'Cuckoo, Cuckoo' blog post. Blasted condition!
[Updated on: Fri, 08 May 2009 12:23]
"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15855 is a reply to message #15851 ] |
Fri, 08 May 2009 14:51 |
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eeralai
Messages: 17
Registered: November 2008
Location: Albuquerque |
Junior Member |
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| judith wrote on Fri, 08 May 2009 09:49 |
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how did Beethoven write all those symphonies? He not only didn’t have an orchestra on his laptop, he was deaf.
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I've probably mentioned here before that somewhere in my head there's bouncing around a story, possibly apocryphal, about some composer, I think Stravinsky, to the effect that he once said there's no need to hear the music; reading the score is sufficient. Sigh. Weird person; other composers probably thought so too.
I was thinking, at the symphony last night, that it must bring incredible joy to the composer to hear the piece finally performed by a full symphony, live. There's simply no comparison to a live performance.
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I believe you are right about Stravinsky. Some people can think about music the way other people think about language. They did an MRI or some type of brain scan of Wynton Marsalis and it was clear that he thought of music in a completely different way than most humans.
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15883 is a reply to message #15880 ] |
Sat, 09 May 2009 02:09 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2728
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
Senior Member |
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| kfoster2047 wrote on Fri, 08 May 2009 22:47 |
With the exception of mysteries, I have always read the last page or two of a book to decide if I want to buy it. I need a satisfactory ending - not necessarily happy, but satisfactory. For some reason  , this appalls many people. But I don't read to find out what happens as much as how it happens and to immerse myself in the world where it is happening
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I am bad, too, and do this when skimming an unknown book in a bookstore so see if I want it. I think that if you are the kind of person who re-reads fiction, this is not an unnatural thing to do, because it's the characters and story that matter more than the element of suspense. And I agree with you that endings need not be "happy" if they are satisfactory; the ending just has to be right for the book.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15893 is a reply to message #15887 ] |
Sat, 09 May 2009 18:58 |
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Robin
Messages: 5999
Registered: September 2008
Location: England |
Senior Member
[Hellgoddess] |
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Yes, I'm in this camp, more or less, but I don't *automatically* read the ending. I read the first few pages, yes, and then I hit one or two random pages in the middle. Reading the ending is sometimes a kind of tie-breaker: do I want this or don't I?
But surely some of the rest of you have developed the ability to read the ending without, uh, reading the ending? :) It's like being able to look up just the ONE crossword answer you want without seeing any of the other ones in the same grid. I am quite capable of reading the ending--oh, even of a murder mystery--and finding out, for example if x or y is still alive and/or happy and managing to miss who the murderer is. My other trick which I admit has got easier as I get older and crumblier is reading the ending and ticking the mental 'yes' box . . . AND THEN FORGETTING WHAT I READ so I can read the book from the beginning without a clue, beyond that it's been vetted and it's okay.
Of course I make mistakes. But not so many. :)
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15928 is a reply to message #15833 ] |
Sun, 10 May 2009 19:37 |
EMoon
Messages: 662
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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I became a fast reader, and therefore ran out of reading material--which made me a re-reader of things I liked. It wasn't until I started writing enough to cut into my reading time that I quit finishing stuff I hated. And it wasn't until I was writing a lot more (and seeing some of it in print) that I became hyper-critical about other writers' work.
This is not good (for me) because--as a fast reader--I have vast libraries of stuff I now abhor firmly glued to my mental shelves. Whenever I'm stuck or depressed, these things twinkle at me from their places, reminding me that I once read them avidly and hinting that my own writing will be permanently informed by the literary quality of, for instance, The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore.
At the same time, I'm fiercely resistant (to the point of bared teeth) to those who try to pry me away from a book I still love, no matter its faults. I have a friend, a much better writer than I am, who years ago told me I must never read any more inferior works. "Life is too short to read bad books," she said. I promptly went home and wallowed in a Doc Savage, in the same way that programs on weight loss and dieting send me straight to the freezer (or store, if necessary) for Blue Bell ice cream.
E
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15935 is a reply to message #15928 ] |
Sun, 10 May 2009 20:42 |
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Melissa Mead
Messages: 989
Registered: October 2008
Location: Albany, NY, USA |
Senior Member |
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I find that after I read something longer than a short story, the "voice" lingers in my head for about half an hour, and I have to wait for the effect to fade.
[Updated on: Sun, 10 May 2009 20:43]
Member of Carpe Libris: http://carpelibris.wordpress.com/
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15938 is a reply to message #15935 ] |
Sun, 10 May 2009 21:07 |
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| Melissa Mead wrote on Sun, 10 May 2009 20:42 |
I find that after I read something longer than a short story, the "voice" lingers in my head for about half an hour, and I have to wait for the effect to fade.
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me too,if it is a really good book i can hear it for month.it pops up at the oddest times.lol
Bonnie Holmes the faster ahead I go, the more behind I get
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15970 is a reply to message #15820 ] |
Mon, 11 May 2009 19:39 |
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Bratsche
Messages: 269
Registered: October 2008
Location: Washington State, USA |
Senior Member |
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I drive my husband absolutely bonkers with the way I re-read some of my very favorite books (definitely including yours, Robin!!). I often start at the beginning for a bit, then skip to the last few chapters, then go back to where I was toward the beginning and read from there to the end again. When he grumbles (good-naturedly) about it, I tell him it's like telling a favorite story -- you don't always start at the same point, so sometimes you backtrack to fill in details.
I, too, skip to the ends of new books that I somehow started reading but don't think are worth finishing. However, when I'm reading something that either grabs me immediately or that is by a favorite author (<waves at Robin>), I won't skip to the end so that I'll be able to savor the story the whole way through the first time. Thereafter, of course, my regular re-reading skipping comes into play.
At any rate, I enjoy seeing that I'm not the only one who reads in hopscotch fashion sometimes.
Wendy
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| Re: Noises Off [message #15974 is a reply to message #15970 ] |
Mon, 11 May 2009 20:23 |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1066
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
Senior Member |
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| Bratsche wrote on Mon, 11 May 2009 19:39 |
At any rate, I enjoy seeing that I'm not the only one who reads in hopscotch fashion sometimes.
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About half the time I'm rereading The Two Towers, I'll read the first half and skip all of the second half except the parts with Faramir, and the very last bit after Shelob's attack.
The first four or five times I read C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength, I skipped all the parts with Mark Studdock, because I though he was a boring prig.
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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Only somehow I don't think that's quite the usual approach. 
Re: Noises Off
