Just wanted to 'Word" every single word in Katerina's post.
Whoa. Good myth.
Wash ,'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Nilly - Mar 11, 2004 3:57:56 am PST #1237 of 10002
Swouncing
erikaj - Mar 11, 2004 4:50:15 am PST #1238 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
Wrod, with Hec, on O'Connor. I'm ashamed to admit how few of these works I've either read or retained the endings of...sigh. Guess I should read something not Leonard, yeah? But he's a good choice for a Dialogue's Bitch like me. Good books are often ruined by too-happy, too-perfect endings. Portnoy's Complaint had a good ending...he finally hears from the shrink he's been spilling to. "Now we begin, yes?"
Betsy HP - Mar 11, 2004 5:18:32 am PST #1239 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
Part of the problem is that most of the time I don't think of a book as having a good ending -- I think of it as a good book, with the ending a seamless part. The ending stands out only if it's a trick in some way, or if it's as lyrical as The Dead or Gatsby. Like, for instance, Being Dead is a wonderful book, one of the best I've read in years, but I can't remember the ending specifically.
Micole - Mar 11, 2004 5:32:42 am PST #1240 of 10002
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.
Seconding The Great Gatsby. Also suggesting John Crowley's Little, Big. A.S. Byatt's Possession.
I had more, but they've flown out of my head.
flea - Mar 11, 2004 5:54:03 am PST #1241 of 10002
information libertarian
I love the ending of Possession. It makes me cry and cry. But I am a sap like that.
Steph L. - Mar 11, 2004 6:11:05 am PST #1242 of 10002
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
Are we talking about Molly Bloom now?
Speaking of great endings....
I thought the greatness of that ending was a given.
Steph L. - Mar 11, 2004 6:13:30 am PST #1243 of 10002
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
Oh! The ending of Charlotte's Web, of course:
"It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
Which I quite seriously want as my epitaph. Well, with my name instead of Charlotte.
Nilly - Mar 11, 2004 6:25:37 am PST #1244 of 10002
Swouncing
Part of the problem is that most of the time I don't think of a book as having a good ending -- I think of it as a good book, with the ending a seamless part.
Exactly.
What do you mean by "ending"? The last sentence or paragraph, like the one Teppy quoted above? Or the last twist of the plot, like what I'm guessing makes flea cry?
Susan W. - Mar 11, 2004 6:37:02 am PST #1245 of 10002
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
I'm having a hard time thinking of a specific favorite ending. Really, any ending where the climax flows naturally from what led into it, and there's enough denouement (sp?) that I don't feel as if I was left hanging makes me happy.
Well, there's The Shawshank Redemption, but since it's the movie rather than the book that makes my desert island list, I'm not sure it's germane to this discussion.
Dana - Mar 11, 2004 6:40:17 am PST #1246 of 10002
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Oh, yeah, Possession. Makes me cry too.
(As opposed to Joyce, who just gives me hives. Not the good kind. To clear that right up.)