Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness? Which would you rather read?Hands down plots or at least writings that at least have some structure to them, even if there isn't necessarily any real plot.
I tried reading stream-of-consciousness once and I swear, it's not only hard to get anything out of it but I actually for the first and last time ever dreaded picking up a book to read it. I had to write a thesis for my Bachelor's Degree and for some ungodly reason I picked James Joyce to work on. I did fine with Dubliners and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man but when it came to Ulysses
, I began to doubt my sanity. In the end, I did read the whole book but if you ask me anything about it, I would be drawing a blank.The thing of it is, I hate chaos and stream-of-consciousness is chaos for me.
I didn't even do well with Portrait of an Artist! That's the one that made me decide the style is not for me. And chaos is a perfect word for it.
ReplyDeleteChaos. I never thought of it like that, but I can certainly see it. Nice.
ReplyDeleteMe, I don't mind a little chaos...makes things interesting...but too much might drive me a little crazy too.
My own BTT is up and I'm actually looking for good stream of consciousness books or writing in general: BTT: Straight Shot or Winding Road...
I don´t mind a bit of stream-of-consciousness for work, but in my spare time I choose the (crime) plot any time :D
ReplyDeleteStream of consciousness is ok once in awhile but not all the time...
ReplyDeleteI also heard that Ulysses was an absolute difficult nightmare.
I like order too!
That's funny that you mentioned Ulysses as an example. I still have yet to finish this behemoth of a book. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only who thought she was going mad while reading this book.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess, reading something that hardly gets into my focal suspense point is thrown away as fast as I can get another.
ReplyDeleteHmm. For me, I don't mind stream-of-consciousness if it is done well. I especially like character driven books and so sometimes that type of writing is most effective. I do think that a book has to have some sort of plot though, even if a subtle one. Otherwise I might find myself asking what the point of the book was.
ReplyDelete