Carrie wrote:
"I commented a while ago that I'm not overwhelmed with Ian
Rankin's writing though I like his books. I guess what I mean
is that I don't ever recall stopping to savor a specific
phrase or bit of dialogue in his books the way I do with my
favorite writers . . . there just haven't been those passages
that absolutely blow me away."
I know what you're talking about. And there are authors whose
sentences I stop and reread because they get something so
right or state it so eloquently. However, is this necessarily
a good thing? Isn't there something to be said for
transparent prose, writing that calls no attention to itself,
so it never gets between you and the story? Obviously, bad
writing gets between you and the story in another way.
Mark
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