Someone recommended a book to me by saying it was fresh? How would you define fresh in a book and what have you read lately that felt fresh.
If I were to choose, the last book I read that seemed fresh was THE SISTER BROTHERS, Patrick Dewitt.
Don't forget--Drabble Day is Saturday.
21 comments:
Patti - To me anyway fresh means innovative. An approach, a character, etc.. that is unique or a new spin on something. Jill Edmondson's Sasha Jackson mysteries have a freshness about them although I can't exactly identify what it is that makes them feel that way.
Nothing dates like today's "fresh" tomorrow.
Jeff M.
Will have to look for them, Margot.
Except I hate reading a book that is supposedly contemporary but feels like it could have been written fifty years ago in terms of its style and attitude. For instance, the Gemma Hardy book, which purports to take place in the 1950s felt like it took place a century earlier as Jane Eyre did.
To me "fresh" is the first time I read Ken Bruen, Louise Penny, Michael Stanley, or Kwei Quartey.
Sometimes I wonder why I am reading so many older books now. My guess--I'm having trouble finding my definition of "fresh" in most modern writers. For what it's worth, I have found the couple of books I've read by your daughter Meagan to be fresh. I've hesitated to say it for fear of sounding sexist, but the two books I've read have seemed to be what I would call women's noir, deep looks into a struggling, troubled female psyche. They weren't exactly written for me, but I found them to be fresh.
Ken Bruen is a great example-but original even better sums him up for me. You can't mistake him for anyone else.
Penny brings an classic style to life again with her great characters and plots. I need to read Stanley. His names comes up all the time.
Yes, Ken Bruen is an original. Open any of his books anywhere and you know who wrote it almost immediately. Excellent point.
FYI: Michael Stanley is the writing team of Johannesburg natives Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Sears lives in Johannesburg and teaches part-time at the University of Witwatersrand. Trollip was on the faculty at the universities of Illinois, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and at Capella University.
I haven't read him either. Another South African writer I would recommend is Deon Meyer.
Jeff M.
I dunno, timely subject matter?
Honestly, I always thought "fresh" sounded like a marketing gimmick.
When MAD MEN first started, it was fresh. When Regina Spektor released her first CD, it was fresh. The first episodes of STORAGE WARS were fresh. The first couple Alexander McCall Smith books were fresh. But freshness fades quickly. Nothing stays fresh.
Amen.
American Idol
Lady Gaga
Glee
Jeff M.
If we extend this to a tv show, there is basically no limit to what was fresh once and now isn't. GLEE is such a perfect example. Any show with a gimmick runs that risk.
Fresh is sweeter than stale, and stale is more palatable than rotten.
Rotten seems to be 90+% of all major movie releases upon delivery.
Books are all over the kitchen; some are best left in a pantry or freezer until a rainy day, others best consumed raw and now. And everything in between. Some "cure" exceptionally well, even for hundreds of years ;->
I'd have to get past a wince I have every time someone describes something as "fresh." that word has been ruined for me by TV shows being called "fresh."
Because I read very few recently-published books, to me "fresh" means new to me. I'm always finding writers and books that are new to me--so in my eyes they're "fresh" even though they may have lost their freshnes for people who've been reading them awhile. My newest "fresh find" is Ann Cleeves. I started with her Shetland series featuring Inspector Jimmy Perez and then branched out to other books she's written. I love it when I find a new-to-me author who has a huge back catalog.
I'd say, freshness may fade, but good writing wins the day.
This looks really good, fresh & organic:
Wm J. Cobb, The Bird Saviors, just released yesterday (Unbridled Books). . .
Amelia Gray's THREATS was a stumble down the rabbit hole.
http://www.amazon.com/Threats-Novel-Amelia-Gray/dp/0374533075/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339444128&sr=1-1&keywords=threats#
Just reserved it at the library. Thanks Kieran.
First book that comes to mind is Gishcler's GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE.
Roger Smith's first two crime novels as well. Probably Smith's third novel as well but I have not read it yet.
Gischler seems to fit well. have Smith's first book on my TBR. Need to move it into the top one hundred.
Huh? What is Drabble Day? We're all supposed to read the comic strip? I repeat: Huh?
Fresh? Probably the last thing I read that was really fresh was William Gibson's Neuromancer.
Drabbles are one hundred word stories.
Post a Comment