I have trouble writing about books, as I’ve discovered, and I am not really sure why. I can pan a real piece of tripe, but most efforts don’t fall under the category of trash or classic — most writing is in between, and more difficult to write about.

And, as a screenwriter (okay director like Lynch or Burton who write the films they direct typically), I can totally relate. Though in all the writing courses I have taken, novels are simple in comparison, in that it is a more open and unrestricted written medium. All I can say is the advice I was given. Writing is about re-writing. I’ve done better by shutting off the judgemental side when I write, and then do the analytical phase just reading, and then adjusting again and again until I’m sick to my stomach. Then usually somebody likes it.

Usually. Mind you, in a visual medium, if I can start to draw the action in storyboards, and I like the dialogue, I will run with it. But enough rambling. Must try to write.

You’re very right, Emily, that it is in discussing different points of view that you find yourself actually figuring out what you do really think about someting.

Hello Charlotte — I also really like my book group and have found that we have the best discussions when a book really forces us out of the places we like to be.

Mandarine — The infinite shades of gray between black and white take longer to express? Aren’t what people are looking for? I don’t know, actually, but I think you’ve asked a very good question.

Dear Litlove — That’s such an interesting point you make, about literary criticism not being about making judgments. That certainly makes sense if you’ve chosen the work you’re writing about. Goodness knows you’d better pick somebody you like if you’re going to be living with them for a long time!

Ann — I am going to remember that “Tell Me” template. It’s something I wish I’d known when I began writing essays, and I’ll bet my own children will be putting it to good use soon enough!

Dorothy — A spectacularly flawed book can be a very interesting thing to write about, I’ve just realized. Books like that can show you a trend that’s been pushed in the wrong direction, or too far, for example. I love what you posted about this subject, by the way — what really matters is that you write interestingly and energetically about your chosen subject.

Well there you go, W — I’m glad Boyd had that to take his mind off my blog post.

Carl — I’m with you — I’d rather go on about something I think is wonderful than slog along describing some insipid book or film.

Kate — One of the hardest characters to write is the character who’s a pale imitation of someone! The trouble of course is that the writer has to make that not very energetic character someone you want to hear more about. And that’s the challenge that Boyd didn’t quite meet, I think.

Hello HMH — I know exactlywhat you’re describing — most of us do, I think. I love disappearing into the world someone’s created on the page. I just wish I had time to do it more. But that’s what makes reading so wonderful.

I love books. I used reading as an escape from reality during a less than ideal childhood, and my criteria were not critical in the least. What I wanted most was something interesting enough that it would take me away from the place I did not wish to be, something I could immerse myself in deeply enough I could not hear my parents fighting. To this day I am so good at escaping into books that my husband has learned not to assume I will hear him if he begins a conversation with me when my nose is in a book.

Needless to say, adventure romances, science fiction, and mysteries were very good at getting me away. It as taken me a very long time to grow away from that psychological imperative and become able to enjoy slower, more deep writing. I suppose this might explain why I have resisted non-fiction for so long.

Anyway, actually reviewing a book seems too much like work for me. I can generally say why I liked it in an intelligent way if I am pressed. This is not to say I do not like to read reviews, especially thoughtful ones like I have been finding here and on other commenters sites.

Thank you for your blog.

And note that Restless just picked up the Costa Novel Award (formerly the Whitbread Prize). You can read about it here.