I remember reading Shibumi years ago at the insistence of a friend who swore by it. Even though I make it a point of reading to completion every novel I begin, I had to put Shibumi down after about 50 or 60 pages. It is just a comic book without pictures. If Shibumi was the last novel you read, then it is understandable why you haven't read fiction in over 20 years.
> Favorite authors FICTION ONLY PLEASE Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich On a serious note... James Michener
Sorry bro, I can't respect you and your choices. I want good literature... I've read Wilbur Smith before, and that is beach reading only, ala James Patterson... sorry, but the list does not actually go on and on... have you read anything that made you do more than just turn the page??? just because something is historical fiction does not mean it's actually smart btw...
Your comparison of Smith to Patterson isn't particularly inspired. Patterson is a hack. I read one of James Patterson's books and vowed never to read another. Wilbur Smith writes good fiction. I've read perhaps close to 20 of his books thus far. Some are better than others but on balance I believe they are above average. And what are your choices, bro?
Okay, rereading my previous post I realize that was extremely rude of me! You definitely had every right to call me names, and you didn't. I might delete that post and just leave your quote as the record of it. Three guys that I've read recently and really enjoyed are Chuck Palahniuk, Charles Bukowski, and Hemingway. I count Catch 22 as one of my favorite novels, but Heller never wrote anything else that compared. I also really enjoyed Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson, but he is also a one hit wonder. Some more recent reading: I read John Irving until i find you it was decent, but I'll probably never read him again. The novel was mostly about the distorted sexual life of the protagonist, like 700 pages of it! Also read the tender bar by j. r. moerenger (sp) which was solid in it's own right. I read Wilbur Smith's Warlock seven years ago, and I have to admit that I really enjoyed it, and that yes, you are right it was much better than James Patterson. I read Kiss the Girls back a few years before they made the movie, and even enjoyed that a bit.
Don't worry about it. It appears that your tastes run higher brow than mine for the most part. I like well-written fiction, period. Beaching reading makes it only that much more enjoyable. (In the shade, of course.) As for Smith's Warlock, that was perhaps the weakest of his books that I have read. In fact, if that were the first of his books that I had read, it would likely have ended there. You may wish to read its predecessor, River God, which is far superior by comparison and perhaps his best novel. Also related is The Seventh Scroll, which I did not enjoy all that much. However, most of his other novels were written in grouped series of 3 or 4 books. The first of his books that I read was Birds of Prey about 10 or so years ago, and I became hooked. I've read most of what he has written before and since. If you have not yet done so, read River God and Birds of Prey (at the beach, of course), and then tell me what you think. P.S. Lately, I've been bingeing (binging?) on Harlan Coben. If you have not yet discovered this writer, you may wish to consider doing so.