Ep. 5. Inside Job: Writers Writing Writers
A common advice given to authors is to write about what they know. Well, writers know about writers and writing; therefore, it is no surprise that some very worthy titles have writers as main characters. We have compiled a list of books, and the writer characters in each.
π Vida Winter and Margaret Lea
Vida, the author of twelve very famous and fantastic tales and a thirteenth missing one, arrives at old age and feels the need to reveal the story of her tragic past. For the job, she call on Margaret Lea, whose past is also pervaded by secrets.
For a gothic novel like this, there is a perfect gothic cover that we have selected for our Cover Gallery. The old book smell can almost be scented when looking at the pile of vintage books with fabric bookmarks in the 2006 hardcover edition by Atria Books.
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| 2006 Hardcover edition by Atria Books |
π The Information by Martin Amis
π Richard Tull and Gwyn Barry
π Misery by Stephen King
π Paul Sheldon
π The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
π Richard Tull and Gwyn Barry
If you have been feeling lately like you want to take some revenge, but at the core you are just a lighthearted individual, then use this book for bibliotherapy. This is the story of two novelists: one successful and another one a failure. One of them (I bet you can guess which one), plots the literary and literal demise of the other.
π Paul Sheldon
If your mood is a bit darker, you know Stephen King is not going to disappoint. In Misery, a bestselling novelist has a car accident and ends up being tended by a woman who claims to be his number one fan. The fan/caretaker becomes Sheldon's captor demanding him to rewrite a book in which her favorite character, Misery, dies.
There is a 1990 movie adaptation of the book with Kathy Bates and James Caan. You can watch the trailer here.
π David Martin
π The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
π Juliet Ashton
π Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
π Grady Tripp
π William Shakespeare
π The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper
This novel is a sequel to the Shadow of the Wind in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. Living in an abandoned mansion in Barcelona, a young writer pens sensationalists novels about the city's underground. One day, in one of the rooms of the house, David finds documents indicating there might have been foul play involved in the death of the previous owner.
Barcelona is almost another character in Zafon's novel. You can follow on David Martin's footsteps with the aid of this travel guide in TheBookTrail.com. Visit the Raval Quarter and the Sagrada Familia, a must-see even if you do not read the book. The guide even includes the location of David's apartment in Calle Princesa.
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| Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Alfons Taekema |
Basilica de La Sagrada Familia, Picture by ThomΓ‘Ε‘ NoΕΎina
π Juliet Ashton
Sigh! This epistolary novel is so well done that even reluctant readers will devour it. Juliet, a writer in post WWII London, receives a letter from a man in Guernsey that found her name written inside a book. This starts a correspondence between them that reveals details of Guernsey under the recent German occupation.
If the novel captivates you, wait until you see pictures of Guernsey; you would like to book a trip immediately. If you do so, visit the Guernsey Harbor and La Valette Underground Military Museum to relieve some of the story in the book.
If you would like to enjoy a potato peel pie yourself, we found two tasty recipes at Novelicious.com and Culinary Adventures with Camilla.
π Grady Tripp
The novel revolves around two friends, one of which is prone to dissipation and the other one is a writer stuck in page 2,611 of his book.
There's a movie adaptation from 2000, with the same title, starring Michael Douglas, Toby Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., and Frances McDormand.
π Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay
A couple of Jewish cousins, one of whom is a fan of Houdini and smuggled himself from Prague to New York City escaping the Nazis, create a comic book series whose hero is called The Escapist.
Read the book while drinking a beer cocktail combining pilsner, apple juice and lemon juice served in a Collins glass. You can find the recipe in Tim Federle's Are You There God? It's Me Margarita.
Both of Chabon's novels are an example of his mastery of language, and they are both the contenders in this week's Book vs. Book.
This is a nonfiction book about the ultimate writer: Will himself, and how he became the literary figure we know. If reading about Shakespeare inspires you to read the works of the bard, there is an infographic from Goodreads to help you decide which of his works to read next:
π Joe Goffman
Approaching the end on a lighter note, this book is our selection for the Six Words Book Review of the week: Contemporary and Humorous Prodigal Son Parable. You can write your own six-word review version in our page.
There is a book with two writers as characters, a poet and his editor that we have selected for GuessWork. Do you know the title?
If you know of any other books about writers and their dilemmas, please let us know in the comments, we want to know.
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