Interesting comments with an article on short novels

Carol

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/mar/17/short-fiction

at the bottom of this article are some interesting comments both on good short books and the experience of a few writers who have been submitting work to agents.
Worth reading.

dorothyd

again, interesting. I already know my fifth book is not long enough at 72,000 words, my editor already said so, because the market demands longer books in this genre. We should be dispensing with such things, a book is a book. The author decided she had said enough. I agreed, but it will have to be expanded. Henry's is 89,000 words. Big man, big book. The only really big books I can read and welcome reading are Stephen King or my old RF Delderfield's, he who needed three books to tell one story and held it all the way through, too.

Lolli

OH, I LOVE Delderfield's novels. Pity one can't get them now except in 2nd hand shops/charity shops or jumble sale stalls.

Mary22

How lovely to find more readers of Delderfield. I thought I was out of fashion. I've just re-read them all courtesy of Ebay. I first read them in the 70s and think I enjoy them more than ever -my favourite? Can't say love em all

Rosalie

My latest novel for adults is only 44000 words! I don't think I can make it longer - it tells its story and that's it. I'm not hopeful about getting it published, but it had to be written.

Haven't read Delderfield - must look him out.

dorothyd

Mary, I've been a Delderfield fan for years. Currently re-reading all my Howard Spring novels, he was writing at the same time. There is a mention in his autobiography that he used to pass Mr Delderfield out walking when he was out walking!
My favourite, without doubt, A Horseman Riding By, all three. The saddest, Diana. My daughter cried for five hours after finishing that one. She complained I didn't warn her ... !!!
Rosalie,
A Horseman Riding By, country saga
God Is An Englishman, great saga of industry/transport, covering years and years.
To Serve Them All My Days - great stuff
Diana - incredible love story
just for starters, that is!

Mary22

Thank you Dorothy for the reminder I haven't re-read Diane -It's in my drawer and I'd forgotten and also I used to love Howard Spring too so I'll put him back on my writing list. At the moment I'm engrossed in Lesley Pearce.

Two of Delderfield's I have read for that short read we often need are Cheap Day Return and The Spring Madness of Mr Sermon. Lovely to talk, Mary

Mary22

sorry meant reading list -silly me!

dorothyd

I also have every book Nevil Shute wrote, too.
Story here ... I was collecting Nevil Shute books. My daughter went to spend five days with her father in his holiday caravan near Lyme Regis, which is a town with very good second hand bookshops. When she came back she handed me one Nevil Shute, said that was my holiday gift. She then produced a carrier bag with every other book in it I had not got, before she went she had noted all the titles I did have and went and collected the rest! Such an amazing thing to do.

My shelves have all the Nevil Shutes, Howard Springs, RF Delderfield and every book by Ray Bradbury on them, along with other favourites, Three Men In A Boat (which I never get tired of) Blue Lagoon by H De Vere Stacpoole (and if there is a better name for a novelist I would be pleased to read it) Lorna Doone, all the Dickens books, The Sojourner by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (which i love better than The Yearling) a book of short stories by an award winning South African writer (signed, he's a friend) crammed in with my daughter's favourite books, Don Quixote, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, among others. Quite a diverse collection of favourites there.

Mary22

Wow [as they say nowadays] another one I read years ago and enjoyed very much Neville Shute. I'm sure I read recently that his books were to be republished.. I'll take a note of these other books -we obviously have similar tastes. How refreshing it is to find this.