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Isn't that almost a contradiction of terms there? Larry Send a noteboard - 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM
There are a few writers who really wow me with the use of their writing--people who make me take notice of how they're saying something, not just what they're saying.

Dostoevsky. Tolkien. Vergil. Borges (and I expect this would be magnified exponentially were I able to read it in Spanish). Wolfe. I could come up with several others if I were to think for more than half a minute.

Mieville's prose is on par with Jordan's, in my opinion. His ideas are exceptional, but his writing is just... perfectly normal.

ADDENDUM: Faulkner, Hemingway, and Eco are three more.


His prose is fine, but I never have praised it for being the (or even a) reason to consider his stories. Then again, his short fiction reads better than his novels to me. John Crowley, on the other hand, now his prose is very good. VanderMeer's is better on re-reads than it seems at first, since he changes styles so often to fit his stories. Ballard's is great.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
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Six best fantasy novels? - 04/12/2009 05:54:54 AM 1648 Views
Best fantasy authors - 04/12/2009 07:01:48 AM 1345 Views
Have you read Robin Hobb? *NM* - 04/12/2009 04:01:23 PM 664 Views
I have, and wasn't really impressed - 04/12/2009 10:08:25 PM 1156 Views
You definitely read the wrong stuff first - 05/12/2009 12:12:07 AM 1260 Views
Agreed. - 09/12/2009 09:55:12 PM 1160 Views
Only read two. Book of the New Sun definitely deserves that spot. Mieville, not so much. - 04/12/2009 08:06:45 AM 1330 Views
Interesting. - 04/12/2009 05:21:04 PM 1196 Views
Why Mieville, if I may ask? *NM* - 04/12/2009 08:33:43 PM 683 Views
I didn't mean that to be a reply to you, but still - 05/12/2009 03:15:36 AM 1310 Views
No worries. - 05/12/2009 03:52:11 AM 1218 Views
But the list was for favorite books, not favorite or most important authors - 05/12/2009 10:25:13 AM 1148 Views
It was for "best" books. I realize that has a lot of meanings, though. *NM* - 05/12/2009 08:37:01 PM 524 Views
Hm... good point - 06/12/2009 02:19:13 AM 945 Views
Glen Cook is radically overrated. - 05/12/2009 04:09:07 PM 1306 Views
Well, he's at least part of the wave that humanized fantasy. - 05/12/2009 08:36:29 PM 1039 Views
In the US, yes. Elsewhere, no, because they didn't know about him. - 06/12/2009 04:36:31 PM 1189 Views
Interesting. - 07/12/2009 02:15:37 AM 1120 Views
Two years? It was published in 2000... *NM* - 05/12/2009 09:03:33 PM 434 Views
Nine years is like two. *NM* - 06/12/2009 12:25:49 AM 609 Views
I've yet to read a Gene Wolfe. - 06/12/2009 02:26:54 AM 1095 Views
Yes, yes, yes. - 06/12/2009 02:35:45 AM 1032 Views
You know I directly added almost all of those Wolfe quotes there, right? - 06/12/2009 05:26:40 AM 1165 Views
I just find Mieville's prose exceptionally standard. - 06/12/2009 07:25:05 AM 1157 Views
Isn't that almost a contradiction of terms there? - 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM 1094 Views
It's remarkable for its normalcy because so many people praise it? - 06/12/2009 09:11:18 AM 1048 Views
Who the heck are these people? *NM* - 04/12/2009 12:46:48 PM 660 Views
I've never heard of any of them either.... *NM* - 05/12/2009 02:58:11 AM 860 Views
Literati - 06/12/2009 05:27:28 AM 1016 Views
Yeah you're so much better than us *NM* - 06/12/2009 12:00:27 PM 595 Views
I'm very ambivalent about A Wizard of Earthsea - 04/12/2009 05:18:00 PM 1105 Views
Possibly has to do with the times in which it was written/read - 06/12/2009 05:29:27 AM 1061 Views
My Best Six best fantasy novels - 04/12/2009 07:44:12 PM 842 Views
Re: My Best Six best fantasy novels *NM* - 04/12/2009 07:45:25 PM 494 Views
oops! *NM* - 04/12/2009 07:46:34 PM 547 Views
Re: Six best fantasy novels? - 04/12/2009 09:06:18 PM 1207 Views
I really need to get around to reading Mists of Avalon. - 04/12/2009 09:50:54 PM 990 Views
Calenture - 05/12/2009 12:44:14 AM 956 Views
Ooh, I need to get my hands on Calenture. *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:27:34 AM 586 Views
And ha! I thought it might be you. *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:29:13 AM 553 Views
I'll eventually get to those in the near future - 06/12/2009 05:31:29 AM 1091 Views
I don't read or buy books anymore. - 06/12/2009 11:45:33 PM 1093 Views
I understand that - 07/12/2009 12:55:46 AM 1141 Views
Okay, I'll give it a shot - 04/12/2009 10:12:47 PM 1173 Views
You might more mythopoeic material in your fantasies, don't you? *NM* - 04/12/2009 11:22:33 PM 616 Views
Mythopoeic? Who...me? - 05/12/2009 02:19:03 AM 979 Views
Yes, you - 05/12/2009 03:51:25 AM 1114 Views
The Blogger Seems to Agree With You. - 05/12/2009 10:10:07 PM 1120 Views
Book of the New Sun is very early 80's and is almost inarguably a classic of the genre. - 06/12/2009 12:26:55 AM 1142 Views
Never Read It, But All Accounts Support That View. - 06/12/2009 02:44:17 PM 1265 Views
Bending the terms a bit... - 04/12/2009 11:21:33 PM 1214 Views
n/a *NM* - 05/12/2009 12:46:45 AM 518 Views
I like Grossman's list a lot more than Henry's. *NM* - 04/12/2009 11:41:36 PM 558 Views
Here are mine, but I probably haven't really read enough fantasy to have a top 5 - 05/12/2009 12:16:13 AM 1004 Views
Have you tried any standalones recently? - 06/12/2009 05:33:41 AM 1076 Views
I always end up wanting more - 06/12/2009 05:53:11 AM 1073 Views
The only one on his list I would think about agreeing with is Meiville. - 05/12/2009 03:11:25 AM 1101 Views
Have you tried Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves yet? - 06/12/2009 05:34:48 AM 1016 Views
No list is complete without Goodkind *NM* - 05/12/2009 07:59:22 AM 629 Views
Sorry, I can't help it- no *porn* list is complete without Goodkind... *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:21:22 AM 474 Views
For me....: - 05/12/2009 10:36:42 AM 1156 Views
He certainly has a specific kind of taste. - 06/12/2009 02:20:30 AM 1015 Views
Pfft! - 06/12/2009 06:54:24 AM 924 Views
Who are you asking?? - 07/12/2009 08:09:25 PM 1036 Views
Might give this a go myself... - 06/12/2009 02:24:52 AM 1069 Views

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