#1 [url]

Jul 5 07 5:09 AM

QUOTE
is it just me, or were authors so much better back then?),

I agree with you. I read Waverly a year ago, and it was hard to "shift gears" and read English written in its full complexity and beauty. After I had adjusted to reading that style of writing, I found a deep satisfaction in reading Sir Walter Scott's prose that I don't find in today's authors. Today's authors write for today's readers -- and that means a simplified, "MTV-generation"-type construction that takes little thought from the reader.

I like mysteries (Rex Stout), suspense (Dean Koontz) and some westerns (Elmer Kelton, Louis L'Amour and some Elmore Leonard). I once liked historical fiction, but find many of today's historical novels have an artificial feel that is distancing, so I don't read historical fiction any more.