It's Good to Be Back

I know I said that I'd be reading my own work — and I did, for a couple days on the train. I should have continued with my work, because it's clearly better than what I've been reading lately. Well, I enjoyed the Christopher Moore book, so I shouldn't lump it in with the others.

I completely hated one nonfiction book that I'd read with the intention of reviewing. It should never have been published, at least not in the appalling condition in which I found it. I won't review it. And I struggled to finish another book, Cooperstown, which was tangentially about baseball. Perhaps I needed to see the problems that arise out of bad structural choices in a novel.

But this morning I began something new on the train, Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts. I'm only in the first story, "Buttonboy," and already I'm enjoying it more than anything I've read in the past two weeks — including my book, including Chris Moore. Earlier this year, I read Hill's novel, Heart-Shaped Box, which I found entertaining and enjoyable.

While Hill is the son of writers (Stephen and Tabitha King), he hasn't relied on his father's fame to get noticed. He's done quite well for himself already, and I expect he'll provide many enjoyable works of fiction in the future. While he may never write Pulitzer Prize winning literature, if nothing else, he's provided me with a welcome respite from poor and mediocre writing.

Thanks, Joe.