by Bill Wren on August 25, 2011
(Review of Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.) When I first read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Memories of My Melancholy Whores (translated by Edith Grossman), a novella published in English in 2005, I did not like it. I’ve recently re-read it and found it much more rewarding. I believe my first reading was [...]
by Bill Wren on December 20, 2010
I wrote and posted the review below about six years ago when I first read this book. I liked it so much, I’m reading it again. And so, I’m posting this again … I just finished reading one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a while. It’s called The Dutch Wife and it’s [...]
by Bill Wren on December 11, 2010
While it is helpful to think of stories as equations there is one very important caveat. Unlike a mathematical equation where the result is absolute (1 plus 2 can only be 3), results are never absolute with stories. There are any number of possible results – some more credible than others, but none an absolute. [...]
by Bill Wren on November 2, 2010
Yesterday I wrote that, “A story is people involved in events told by people to people.” I then asked why some stories are interesting and others dull. I suspect the answer to that has to do with that word “people.” We’re obsessed with ourselves, each other, and what happens to us. That is what news [...]
by Bill Wren on October 16, 2010
If you want someone to model yourself after as a storyteller, go to Robert Louis Stevenson. Now that guy could tell stories. Many writers, like myself, make the mistake of writing. I’ve done that and still find myself doing it. We need to stop writing and get on with telling the story. It’s the story [...]
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