On seeing that generation a by Douglas Coupland had made the green carnation longlist it set me thinking why I not read any of his book since 2003 I brought all his books til then ,missed getting Eleanor Rigby and like a boat that has lost its mooring he was set adrift ,after reading his previous 8 novels .I wonder why I loved ,loved ,loved his earlier books so what happened ? He isn’t the only one Anthony Burgess was a favourite in my early twenties I read a number of his books but have read one in last five years ,so why do we let some writers drift off our radar so to speak ? has this happened to you ,or is it like a waiter juggling glasses you can only have so many writers in your plate at one time ? I love finding wonderful new voice but wish to re embrace some of my old friends again let them back into my heart
Is there a writer you loved and have left to drift away ?
do we out grow some writers maybe ?
I’m secretly terrified of no longer loving Coupland myself. Eleanor Rigby is actually one of my favourites, but last year I read Girlfriend in a Coma and…no. Hopefully that was an exception and not the new rule, though. But I guess time will tell. I suppose these things are inevitable – time passes, we change, and we read our old favourites with new eyes. It’s always a bit of a let down, though.
I should maybe try one of his recent novels I have enjoyed his others ,all the best stu
Hi Stu,
This is a great question. Writers I adore are always drifting in and out of my life and I guess it’s because we get bombarded with so many other things, from so many other authors, that the love and affection that we have shared for other authors is quickly lost in the mist of times.
Even thinking about it now Stu, I can think of a number of ‘very dear to me authors’ who have temporarily slipped off my radar: Shusaku Endo, Haruki Murakami, and, even at this time, the most precious of all to me, John Steinbeck.
I guess it all comes down to just making a conscious decision to revisit them, and as you say, to ‘let them back into your heart’. For I don’t believe any of one’s favourite authors are gone forever – unless, like Nymeth says, you change and read your favourites with new [less affectionate] eyes – they are merely waiting in the wings awaiting our affectionate recall.
With warmest regards
Rob
true rob ,they will always be there to revisit ,all the best stu
Maybe it’s just a question of growing older!
In my early 20’s I was crazy about the German author Hermann Hesse, but he, like Tolkien, was just something of a 70’s fashion( until the film).
Truth is few read what they really want, but what they imagine they ought to be read to appear well-read, that’s probably why Cervantes continues to be read 400 years later, though he is a big root of the western lit. imaginative novel.
It ‘s nice when old friends/books return to your life ten, twenty years later. If it’s true friendship then you pick up from where you left off and love begins again, others you realise were just part of the same scene or academic institution and you moved on and grew!
yes I also read hesse in my twenties ,steppenwolf and glass bead game ,then he has drifted away ,agree with cervantes as I move through Don quixote it is so vibrant ,all the best stu
Great question Stu. Its a hard one to respond to for me though as really my re-love of reading has really only restarted in the last five years and so I find authors I love accumulated everything I could of that specific author (before my book buying ban) and play catch up every now and again. I am currently aware I havent read any Du Maurier for ages and am feeling quite shameful of that. Thats just me having too much choice rather than Daphers having done anything.
yes loads of books can make it hard to return to a writer time and time again ,with a lot of choice I have that problem at times simon ,all the best stu
I seemed to go through phases, will devour an authors complete resume, then books influenced or liked by him/her & by the time I’m finished I’m about a 100 times removed from her /him & need to make a conscious decision to go back (or at least remember) to where I started. Athough there are some that stay & like a favourite album you keep coming back to, but thats another post.
phases seems to be right way to describe it and like music taste do change ,all the best stu
I do that a lot Stu, love a writer and then somehow lose track that new books have come out. I hope you enjoy his new books.
me too amy 🙂 ,all the best stu
Thanks for your comments and your visit to my blog!
Writers do seem to come and go for me, but, you know, the best ones come back! I’m getting ready to reread Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago, which I first read after my 15th birthday.
I think that the largest obstacles to staying connected to great writers is the fact that we are all bombarded with new writers each day, each week, each month. Not only that, but we are also concussed with our blogger friends digging up great writers from the past that we’ve missed. How does a person find time to do laundry and prepare meals in the midst of all this?
Anyway, I hope you find your way through, as I will continue to do so.
Happy Long Weekend,
Judith (Reader in the Wilderness)
I agree with Kevin above. I tore through most of Herman Hesse’s novels before I was 20. In the 21 years since I haven’t been too keen to finish the rest of his books or revisit Narcissus and Goldmund which I really loved when I read it.
yes think it is a rites of passage thing hesse ,all the best stu