Since nobody buys more books than writers, and we especially love to read about ourselves, I've put together a list of novels about writers.Included are what I've read and loved, and what I will read (once the semester-from-hell is over - 12/7 - mark your calendar!).
If anyone else has read any good novels about writers (I know I must have missed several, if not dozens!), please mention the book and author in the comments section on this post and I'll add it to the list. Much thanks!
Novels about writers I’ve read and loved:
A Widow for One Year – John Irving
Under the Net – Iris Murdoch (my all-time second favorite novel)
Loitering with Intent – Murial Spark
The Wife: A Novel – Meg Wolitzer
Turn, Magic Wheel – Dawn Powell (see this blog for review)
Distinguished Guest - Sue Miller
Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon
Scary novels about writers I’ve read and loved:
The List – Steve Martini
Night Woman – Nancy Price
The Circle – Peter Lovesey
Bag of Bones – Stephen King
Tragic novels about writers (and so much more):
Atonement – Ian McEwan (my all-time favorite novel)
Sophie’s Choice – William Styron
Novels about writers on my TBR list:
Matrimony – Joshua Henkin
Love Me – Garrison Keillor
Novels about writers recommended by friends of Josie's blog:
Ello recommends (and reminds me how much I loved) Misery - Stephen King
Karen Duvall recommends (and reminds me how much I loved) Bestseller - Olivia Goldsmith
14 comments:
i really liked atonement. that's the only one of these i've read (yet).
Holy crap! I just blogged about A Widow for One Year! I finished it last night. I swear I wasn't swiping your post, LOL ...
Bestseller by Olivia Goldsmith is FABULOUS! And very funny. It pokes fun at the publishing industry, and you can recognize the real authors and books that are disguised in the story. It's got agents, authors, editors, publishers, the whole gamut, and it's a hoot. I've read this book twice, something I rarely ever do, and I highly recommend it. Here's a link to it at amazon
http://tinyurl.com/3ydj7a
Goldsmith is the author of The First Wives Club and Switcheroo (among others), and she's a very tongue-in-cheek sort of writer or liked writing "revenge fantasies." Or I should say she was. She passed away in 2004 while in the hospital having plastic surgery.
Hi Josephine - John Irving is one of my favorites, glad you mentioned him. I'm also glad to give my first comment even though I've been reading your blog since I found you on absolutewrite.com :) (I'm michelle25 on there).
WHat about Misery for scary story about writers?
Oooooh, Moonrat, "Loitering with Intent" and "Under the Net" are comic delights, and "Turn, Magic Wheel" has biting satire about the book biz, stuff you especially would get a kick out of.
Spyscribbler, I've been planning this post ever since I had the reading advice book post idea. My question was: which book do I feature in the picture?
When I saw on your blog you were reading and loving, "Widow," it reminded me of the scenes that have stayed with me all these years.... the scene where the writer is hiding in the closet from the serial killer... the funeral for the husband and the line about the Yeats poem (it was Yeats, wasn't it?) about what a writer feels and thinks when hearing those lines read...
that made me decide to feature that book instead of the others.
So it was I who stealing, or at least prompted, by the book from you, not the other way around. :-)
Did you know when I was a young punk writer wanna-be (as opposed to the old punk wanna-be I am now) that I met John Irving at a book signing/reading? It was right after "Garp" became a sensation, and he was working on (and read passages from his WIP), "Ciderhouse Rules." He just looked at me with those bedroom eyes, and I was speechless...... *sigh*
Karen, OMG, I had no idea she died let alone having plastic surgery.
Makes me think twice about having "work" done once I'm a rich, bestselling author (as if).
Yes, I read "Bestseller" ages ago and knew there were lots more I'd forgotten. That one was terrific too, definitely worth a re-read for me. Thanks for prompting my memory for the list.
Marianne, lurk or comment, it's all fine. Thanks much for stopping by either way.
School has kept me away from Absolute Write, but you'll be seeing me there more often once school is over (7 more days!).
I wish I felt as strongly about the Irving books that came after "Widow" as opposed to the ones he wrote before. He seems to have lost his way, at least he has for me. What about you? Did you read/like any of the books he wrote after that one?
Ello, can you tell my brain is totally fried from school since I forgot that one? Thanks for the thump on the head.
King taps every writer's nightmmare with that one - no, not being held captive and disabled by a lunatic, but having your one and only copy of a manuscript destroyed.
Which reminds me, I better put "Wonder Boys" on the list.
He just looked at me with those bedroom eyes, and I was speechless......
And then what happened?
:-)
These past two posts have been really informative! Thanks for putting them together!!
CL, I love the Santa hat you're wearing.
We'll I was a dewy 22-yr-old kid and we were at reading/Q&A session/book signing at the Scarsdale High School auditorium, so after standing there staring dreamily at each other I finally said, Hi, and handed him my copy of "Garp." He said, Hi, signed it, and handed it back. Our fingers touched. I said, Thanks, he said, Thanks and that was it.
I was way too shy and intimidated by writers back then.
Once I started actively writing, I realized that even the literary greats have to face down that blank page, the same as me, (kind of the equivalent that they put their pants on one leg at a time, same as me), and I lost my shyness and awe around the big name writers to the point where I'd have downright disasterous encounters with the two big Johns: Grisham and Updike.
People have asked me to blog about those two infamous run-ins, and I will after the first of the year; they fall under the category: Open mouth: Insert foot.
And I think most people have heard about my being in an elevator with a half-naked Donald Maass since I've mentioned that episode in comments on other people's blogs.
Oh gosh, Josephine! That's awesome! Remember when they put King, Irving, and Rowling at Carnegie Hall a year or two ago online?
His reading was fantastic. He would have made a phenomenal actor.
Oooooh, SS, they broadcast that event over the internet? I remember the announcement about the event, but not that we'd all get to see it. Damn.
Oh well. Since I live in a technological black hole where the only internet available is dial-up, so I doubt I could have watched it anyway. But lucky you for getting to see that famous Irving charasma in action. 20+ years after my face-to-face encounter, and I still *sigh.*
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