“We are all of us frauds, and we are all of us doing the best we can to hold up a tower of illusions and ill-placed hopes.”
I’m reading – and enjoying – The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks and this great line jumped out at me.
Obviously I’m not as important as the character who said it in the story, but somehow it resonated. Does that mean I’m insecure?
It struck me recently as I was deciding what to read next, that it was like deciding what music to listen to next.
Should I read / listen to something new and modern, or go for a well-known classic? Something to relax into or feel stimulated by?
For example, if Tolkien is to Mozart as David Gemmell is to Led Zeppelin, what music fits Brandon Sanderson?
Similarities abound, I love comparisons, how about the joy of reading and the joy of listening to music?
Helped in this example of some brilliant music (Dear Mr Fantasy performed by Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood) by the overlap of the word fantasy – my favourite reading and writing genre (possibly my favourite word).
And what about the lyrics (below) – it’s a short story in its own right…
Dear Mister Fantasy play us a tune
Something to make us all happy
Do anything take us out of this gloom
Sing a song, play guitar, make it snappyYou are the one who can make us all laugh
But doing that you break out in tears
Please don’t be sad if it was a straight mind you had
We wouldn’t have known you all these years
Written by Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
It’s all the great writers out there that make me want to read.
It’s all the bad writers out there that make me want to write.
CLIVE ANTHONY 