Author wrote it after he read tens of books
348142
I read the Arabic version.  The discussions are so honest.  The researcher has not written the ideas and his comments until he read tens of books, so that he could write precise ideas of others.  He has tracked even the development of Marx thought.

It is so objective.
661277
Bill was a friend of the family, so we'd go to his house in the summer around the time this book was written, maybe even while it was being written. I also remember being given a copy of it by Bill. If memory serves, he had a second fawn some years later, which is the one I believe I met. It's been probably been 20 years since I cracked the book, so I can't remember the book, but I remember my experiences, which were pretty cool, especially being around 10. Anyway, check it out!
3381503
I bought this as a gift for my nephew, but read it myself when it was first published (years ago). If you're considering buying this because George R. R. Martin's name is attached to it, keep in mind that he didn't write it. It's an anthology of short stories which he edited. He's written at least one shorty story in at least one of the books in this long series, and maybe more; I can't recall. The book itself is excellent if you like the genre which is essentially adult comic-book (prose, no drawings). Due to the success of this series there are currently a number of similar works out there, but, if I'm not mistake, Wild Cards is the first of its kind. A number of the authors who write the stories are quite accomplished and there isn't a poorly written story in the bunch. It's a great idea for a series and the authors run pretty wild with it. Most of them stick with the characters they've created, but there is sharing of a lot of the secondary characters and some main ones as well. Times passes with each book in the Wild Cards world, so the characters in the early books are old men or dead in recent releases. The plots are usually tied to the culture and news of the time period covered which enhances the read. Highly recommend this one and the whole series.
4250011
It isn't the individual stories I enjoyed in Updike's book, so much as the cumulative effect in seeing them together and reading them one after another. This collection of short stories is ordered chronologically to show how a common, everyman set out of accomplish his own dream of becoming a paid, published writer. That's the entire hook of the book. Naturally, the set ends with the story that was published in the print realm (and for which he was paid, though for an undisclosed amount). Oddly, I found it to be the least engaging story of them all.

What we have here are 15 stories in raw form. That is, stories untouched, unpolished by "professional" editors. The stories here weren't molded to fit the demands of any particular editors or agents. They are here to reflect the most honest impression of the writer who created them. That's something you don't see in the published world anymore. That's what separates POD publishing from "traditional" publishing.

This is a book which other authors will enjoy if for no other reason than it showcases those short stories we all wrote when we were young, when we became adults, and so on. Each of these 15 tales represents us each at a different time in our creative lives, when we believed in each story so much that editors had to be "insane" to pass them up, only to think afterwards that the next story was even better. I've been there. Every writer has been there. Sometimes we look back and cringe a little at what we thought was once good. Sometimes we look back and think: "Damn. Wasn't too bad. Editor must have been insane to pass it up." Either way, Realm of Dreams was an enjoyable read because it brought me back to the seeds of writing: to tell a fun story.

Among the stories, my favorites were "Wanna Trade" and "Would it Make a Noise?" The preface to "Benjamin Franklinstein" set up the story wonderfully and it paid off because of it.

I wouldn't blindly recommend the book to everyone, but will say that it's nice to spend a Sunday morning reading through, just because it will remind you as a reader what it is like to simply read a few fun stories.
4747556
This man writes well and judging by his prolific output of wild and woolly books with even wilder and woollier plots, a very scary brain and over (well-over) imaginatative.<Is that a word? If not it had to be invented for my purposes here. Not really a bedtime story. Let's leave it at that.
1923496
The author could have made his point in one paragraph but decided he needed to repeat it a few hundred times and call it a book.
3706054
On Writing by Stephen King starts out as a slight autobiography but then slowly leads up to all the details about writing and becoming a writer. He goes into detail about childhood instances, plagiarizing as a kid, going to high school, getting in trouble with the school newspaper, working terrible jobs while trying to make it as a writer, marrying his wife, having children, and finally becoming a successful fiction writer. All the while, he shows how certain things in his lifetime have helped him to become the writer he is today. On Writing can be seen as two books in one. He, at first, writes about himself, and then writes on the basics of writing. He slowly, but surely eases from one to the other with grace. He sets the reader up for a quick, fast-paced lesson on the basics of writing and how to become a writer, not a great writer, or a good writer, but just a writer. If a person wanted to know strictly how to write and what Stephen King had to say about writing they could pretty much skip the entire first half of the book without missing much. The first half is for those who have the extra time and want to read about things that went on in Stephen King's life that influenced his writing and wanting to be a writer. The second half is written in a clever manner that makes it easier to actually learn about writing rather than get bored with it and throw the book out the window (which is something I felt like doing many a time because I don't find books on writing interesting, but that's just me) King's use of crude language and funny stories helps to keep the reader involved and awake. The language kept the book real and made it believable that it was from him, about his actual life and wasn't written by another person, in a nice, nobody will be offended way.
I overall didn't enjoy the book. The first half of it was quite entertaining I will admit. Reading about experiences of a person's childhood is always entertaining. But once King got into the fundamentals of writing, it started to dull out. I never found books on writing to be that particularly interesting, so this was no exception. The basics of writing don't throw me into frenzy. So I wouldn't recommend this book to a person who wants to read a random book by Stephen King. I would recommend this book to a person who is trying to learn the basics of writing though. This book is definitely a must for a person wanting to become a writer or at least add to their writing. Stephen King hasn't written just a step-by-step handout for people to become bored with. He goes into detail about parts of writing: narration, description, and dialogue. He sights what makes a writer. He makes it clear that it is impossible for a bad writer to become a good one, and that it is also impossible for a good writer to become a great writer. But he states that a mediocre writer can become a good one with the right discipline and the will power. If you want to become a writer, and want to do what it takes to become a writer, than you will succeed. In order to be a writer, King states that you must read a lot, and write a lot. Whenever you get the chance, read. Whether it is at home in your free time, or in a line at the grocery store, or at the gym while you're on the treadmill, you should read. Reading, he believes, is one of the best things a person can do. The more you read, the more you know; and you know what they say, knowledge is power! Stephen King gives it to the reader straight; he gives his opinion and fact, which is the best combination for a book. The second half on writing is split up into sections that makes it even easier to follow and continue with. The book really works as a learning tool for the reader and isn't tedious and boring. For any aspiring writer, this is a must for their collection. The greatness in Stephen King's horror and mystery books has crossed over into an articulate and humorous book on helping the average man or woman to become the best writer they can.
4232944
Are all his books written like this? This reminds me of the story telling ability of someone in Middle School.
1378742
It was a very comprehensive book and I only managed to read some from the collection. It is very interesting to read but gets really reductive halfway through since it's all the same topic over and over. This would be a great collection if it consisted of only at least 10 books which are of the best of the collection although I had fun reading them.
4875958
The  book  was  very  good . ..he is  a great  writer . .
2711933
The books were written by Stieg Larsson, who died at 50 from a massive heart-attack.  If you are a fan of the books, you most likely read about Mr. Larsson desire to write nine books about these character we have come to love (or at least that is what people close to him have said).  The women who he was living with has an unifinished manuscript for a fourth book and a couple of outlines for future books.  What I am hinting at is my fear going into the third book.

If you read the second book, then you know Mr. Larsson left us with at a bit of a cliff-hanger.  Many story lines were left unsolved and most fans in the US like myself, couldn't wait for the next book to come out.  As I stated above about his desire to write more books, I was afraid the third would end with a ton of loose ends that would never get answered.  Luckily for us, this is not the case.  I will not go into what the book is about since if you read the second, you have an idea what will happen in this book.  I will say I enjoyed the third and hopefully final book.  I felt very content on how the books ended.  There were a couple of interesting questions left, but nothing that made me depressed about knowing that they would never get answered.

It is sad to know that Mr. Larsson will never comprehend what wonderful books he has written and how the world cherished the novels he wrote.  All there is left to say; bravo Mr. Larsson.
4633088
This is the 2nd book in a trilogy (Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen).  It appears to be out of print.  I got it from a book seller in the UK.  Barry Hughart is an excellent writer and is obviously well versed in ancient Chinese language, customs, cultures, folk lore, poetry and art.  The last book of the trilogy (Eight Skilled Gentlemen) was published in 1991 and is still in print.  As far as I can tell, Hughart stopped writing after the last book of the trilogy.  He has a lot to offer, if he was tired of Number 10 Ox and Master Li he could have started anew--anybody know why he stopped?  According to the last page of the book "He now lives and works in Tucson, Arizona," (this circa 1991).  If anyone in Tucson reads this I hope you will look Barry up and ask him to start writing again.  If he has other books out there and I've missed them I'd appreciate the info.  Thanks.
3007612
I've been reading Lawrence Block for 30+ years, starting with his column in Writer's Digest and moving on to his novels and short stories.  I thought I'd read almost all of them, but as is clear from Afterthoughts, I've still got a ways to go.

That's because in the early days of his writing career, Block turned out a ton of material, often several novels in a year.  Many of these were sex novels and I get the impression he may not even have a precise count of what he churned out in those days.  "Churn" seems an appropriate term; he wrote these books quickly and strictly for the money.  I haven't read these books, but based on his early short stories - also churned out quickly - even Block at his most mercenary still had quality that evaded many more well-known writers.

The book Afterthoughts is, as the title implies, a collection of Afterwords from his various books, many written after they were released in electronic form.  On the plus side, this provides something of an autobiography of Block, particularly regarding his early career (from the late 1950s to the early 1970s).  On the minus side, since these were originally written for separate books, there is a lot of redundancy.

This redundancy is a little wearing after a while, but this is still a good book.  There is a caveat, however:  you should be familiar with Lawrence Block and his writing to really get an appreciation of this book; if you don't know his writing, this isn't the place to start.
3382406
Excellent writer who made an interesting read about a not-so interesting individual - If a book was written for every committed and knowlegable naturalist who has ever lived and worked in the field for several decades, we would have thousands of books.  Morganson goes missing for a couple years and all of a sudden he warrants a book written about himself.  The book makes clear that he was arrogant, intolerant of those who did not agree with his philosophies, and he was an unloyal husband (which suggests he was unloyal to all of those who considered him a friend).  Of course he knew the scientific names of some plants so this mitigated his flawed characteristics and thus a book was written.  I look forward to reading future titles from this gifted writer.  I just hope he can pick more compelling subjects.  What about a book on Dana Morganson?
1936353
It is amusing to look through the lists of individual writers and see their favorite works, and see if they connect with the writer's own kind of writing. Two examples. Norman Mailer had the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky on the top of his list, and one can see where his ambition to write the Great American Novel came from. Joyce Carol Oates whose love for the dark and the criminal pervades her work puts 'Crime and Punishment' on the top of her list and has a place for Kafka also.
So that is one interesting way of reading the work. And this when one might question the list of one- hundred and twenty- five noted authors also. As could be expected there are top writers with one's far lower down on the totempole. And there are many absences. I would have loved to have seen Philip Roth's favorites but he apparently did not respond.
As for the top of the top list I was surprised to see 'Anna Karenina' there. If one were to choose Tolstoy as one's greatest novelist one should certainly choose the far greater book 'War and Peace'. ( As I understand it by the way this was meant to be a list of Novels. Otherwise how explain the absence of the 'Book of Books' certainly the greatest book of all times.
I also was surprised that 'Don Quixote' was not in the top ten. If the question was asked of Literary Critics my suspicion is it would be the first.
In any case there is a lot of room in this work for pleasurable speculation and conjecture.
Very good and enjoyable if not taken too seriously.
2146080
I really appreciate an author that puts out a book over 500 pages. With the cost of books these days it is the only way to get your money's worth. Although I found half of the book to be an enjoyable quick read the other half tended to drag down the momentum. I didn't mind this initially because the book is supposed to be the opening of a 10 part series.  Now 3 years after initially reading it, Sanderson may have the second book out before the end of the year.  At this rate I will be hanging out with Robert Jordan discussing how the wheel of time spins on before Sanderson completes the final book.
395198
I do not know that there are even words to say how divine of a book series and how talented a writer. I can only aspire to write half as well. Anyone who has not read his books, they're all wonderful. Pick a book and start your journey.