One Reader's Ramblings

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a modern book, published in 2004, but masterfully written in the style of Jane Austen.   As anyone who has read this blog for long knows, I absolutely LOVE to read Austen.   She is one of my favorite authors.   So how is this book different?   It may have been set in Regency England and written with the same style as Austen, but it still falls into the category I typically read… Paranormal.  

My best friend has her Master’s Degree in Creative Writing.   Let me tell you, that’s a lot of class hours spent on how to write!   And according to her, every single professor she had talked at length about the importance of “tension” in a story.   She said they all emphasized the importance of something in the story to “make the reader want to turn the page.”   SO, here’s my question (and one she can’t remember ever discussing in school) – is there such a thing as TOO much tension?

Confession:   I write a blog that centers around YA Paranormal/Fantasy books (obviously), but there are times, between chapters of vampire gore and werewolf myth, that I get tired of it all.   Sometimes I even question my love of reading.   When I tire of the suspense and the mayhem, the petty high school dramas, I question… what if I’m just tired of reading?   What if my life turns upside down and I end up like everyone else and turn only to mindless TV instead of a good book (I’m not knocking TV… it’s just not “me” to want that when I need an escape).    

The ton (pronounced tōne, for those Americans who might wonder, like I did, why they would name the High Society of England after a large measurement of weight).   Seldom has a set of people so inspired the literary world.   From Jane Austen, who actually lived during the period of George IV's reign and knew firsthand about them, to all sorts of modern romance writers who only pretend to know the finer details of the time.

As you may have noticed in some of my previous posts: I have been fascinated lately with Point of View:   particularly when the POV is in direct contrast with the author’s gender and/or age.   This fascination is the reason I was originally attracted to Forever Silent .   Not because it is in contrast, but rather it is exactly the opposite of those I have been reading lately.   It was written from the POV of a High School boy, and the author was actually a 15-year-old boy himself.   How exciting!  Here I've been reading all these books about teenage boys and wondering if the author is getting it right... this is my chance to find out!