What Book Did You Wish You Wrote

[caitysdad]

I was talking with this with someone and the subject came up, "Did you ever read a book that you wished you wrote?"

Now aside from the obvious answers like Harry Potter and the DaVinci code is there a book(s) that you wish you had written and if so why? For the me the hands down obvious answer is "Salem's Lot" because I thought it was brilliant on so many levels, and has influenced me in so many ways, that I feel like it's a apart of me.

[IdiotsRUs]

Now aside from the obvious answers like Harry Potter and the DaVinci code I do not wish to have written them. Why would I? Apart from maybe the money, but I don't write because I want to get rich.


is there a book(s) that you wish you had written and if so why?
Depends when you ask me

Um, The Great Gatsby. *sigh*. And I wish I could write an action romance hero like CJ Cherryh.

Or something that could scare the poop out of someone like It scared the poop out of me. I still won't go in the Pennywise shop.

[dempsey]

http://a3.vox.com/6a00c2251e73cff21900c2251e8193f219-200pi (http://www.amazon.com/Shrine-at-Altamira-John-LHeureux/dp/0802136559)

[AnonymousWriter]

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. Such an inspiring story with realisic, heart-warming characters. Superbly written too.

If only it was me who wrote it...

[mekolo_diesne]

Gosh, almost any book that I've read, since I haven't written a single book, but I'd say The Tale of Despereaux.

[firedrake]

'Zemindar', by Valerie Fitzgerald. Brilliant Historical novel.

[Quossum]

The Giver -- chills, brilliant

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature -- I am thoroughly in lurve with this book!

--Q

[brokenfingers]

Hmmm, while there are tons of books I love and admire, I can't say there's any book I wish I'd wrote.

I just want to write the stories within me, that's what gives me pleasure. I want people to love MY world and characters.

To me, saying I wish I'd written someone else's book would be like saying I wish someone else's kids were mine when I have my own. My kids may not be perfect, but dammit, they're mine and I'm gonna raise them the best I can and love them more than any other.

There are, of course, other writers whose skill with words I wish I could emulate (and I still hope to one day do so.) But there are no other writer's books I wish I'd written.

[scarletpeaches]

Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True is the only book I've ever finished in tears, saying, "I wish I'd written that."

[cubed]

The list of books I wish I hadn't wrote, but did, is smaller...

[ChristineR]

Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now. I couldn't have written it because he died long before I was born, but the way he juggles the characters and story lines and pulls it all together in such an incredible way really made me drool.

[BlueLucario]

Orson Scott card's Ender's game

And The Harry Potter series.

[Charlie Horse]

American Gods. I'll admit it, I've got a man crush on Gaiman.

[eveningstar]

I think this is a difficult question to answer. As tempting as it is to say I wish I'd written some of my favorite books, like Einstein's Dreams or I Capture the Castle or The Princess Bride, if I had written any of them I'd be robbed of the experience of reading them, fresh and unbiased. That's not something I'd want to give up with my best beloveds.

So with that in mind I might have to cheat a bit and go with Tuesday (http://www.amazon.com/Tuesday-David-Wiesner/dp/0395551137) by David Wiesner. No words. Flying frogs. I'd love to have come up with that.

[witchunter88]

I wish I'd written "To Kill a Mockingbird." Truly a masterpiece I can always hope to strive for.

[LAWolf]

All of my absolute favorites. Probably Little Women most.

[Kaylee]

Christy - by Cathrine Marshall It made me cry, which I don't do easy. I wished I could write something that good that people get into it and get emotinal, and yet come away from it with a good feeling.

Life is what happens, while you're busy making other plans. -- John Lennon

[cubed]

I wish I'd written "To Kill a Mockingbird." Truly a masterpiece I can always hope to strive for.

I love that book!

[BravoYankee]

Turtledove's newest book about the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, "Give Me Back My Legions!". I had an outline, research, and a prologue all ready!!! lol

GAH!

I'm reading it now, and all I say to myself is, "DAMN YOU TURTLEDOVE!! DAMN YOU TO H E DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS!"

That one was mine! Stupid published, popular, respected, credited authors! lol.

[ccv707]

I don't like to think about being like another writer, because I like the kind of writer I've become, but it would have been awesome to haven written Shogun and Great Expectations. Beautiful stories, both of them. Another book series that would have been incredible to have thought of first is the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel series from Japan. It was written by Yoshiki Tanaka, spans ten books, and was adapted into a critically acclaimed anime series (never licensed in North America). The sheer scope of these books just about takes my breath away.

[Noah Body]

Lucifer's Hammer and L.A. Requiem are two that I wished I had the skill and derring-do to have pulled off.

[backslashbaby]

Catch-22

Oh, really so many, including many written by folks here :)

But Catch-22 is one of those Why didn't I think of that? obvious/brilliant works. I am too young to have thought of it, and surely wouldn't have, but it has that sort of feel.

[EFCollins]

For me, there's only one and I don't know why I wish I'd written it. It was a required reading piece in middle school. A little short novel called Island of the Blue Dolphins. I read that bugger and still to this day wish I'd written it. Love that story. And for some reason, I don't even own a copy of it.

[Renee Collins]

Hands down, The Great Gatsby.

[CDaniel]

First and for most, The Virginian. The Children of Hurin by JRRT would be the second.

[TerzaRima]

Marley and Me. Not because it's any good, of course--that book blows dead bears--but if I had written it, I would be mad rich what with the movie rights and I could close up my medical whore's cubicle and write/travel/wrangle animals full time.

[RainbowDragon]

Dickens' A Christmas Carol is as near-perfection as it gets, I think. But for me to write it would require a time machine, a chance meeting with Dr. Who or a much deeper understanding of the universe than I think I'm destined for in this life. . .:)

[bettielee]

Hmmm... how about I wish I'd written my own darn book, as I haven't finished it yet. However, I do have mad jealous pangs over "The Dark Tower Series".

Obviously.

[jimpickens]

Point Of Impact if it were my book and somebody wanted to bastardize it and put Mark Wahlburg in the role of Bob Swagger I would tell him to get bent. The mack Bolan franchise that would be like hitting the lottery.

[Beware_of_Italics]

Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne and Emily series.... The Princess Bride by William Goldman... The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (I'm madly IN LOVE with Jamie Fraser!!!!!) .... Karen Marie Moning's Highlander novels (I LOVE them too!!!!!)

[BlueLucario]

The book I wish I wrote right now is Twi---. Can't mention it.

The book was so badly written I had to wonder how it got on the shelves. If I still wanted the hype, I'd probably write it in 2nd person. I'd take out all of the adjectives and adverbs, and the annoying repetitive description. And also, add some conflict and plot.

[SarahMacManus]

I wish I had written "Skinny Legs and All" - instead Tom Robbins wrote it, the bugger.

[fringle]

Anna Karenina. Of course I'd have to be Russian, a guy and 181 years old.

I live about 5 minutes from Tolstoy's Moscow house, but I'm not just rooting for the local. I swear.

[SarahMacManus]

Anna Karenina. Of course I'd have to be Russian, a guy and 181 years old.

I live about 5 minutes from Tolstoy's Moscow house, but I'm not just rooting for the local. I swear.

I LOVE TOLSTOY!!!

[sunandshadow]

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Jean M. Auel's The Clan Of the Cavebear. Only two novels I've read more than 3 times each.

[mscelina]

The one I'll write tomorrow. Or next week. Or next year. I always want to see where I end up next. :)

[willietheshakes]

The one that was due at my publisher's office last September...

[som1luvsmi]

Anything written by C.S. Lewis. That man was infinitely quotable and had something witty for almost every occasion. I want to be witty like that.

[colealpaugh]

Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography "My Experiments with Truth". Or any autobiography by an astronaut who walked around on the moon.

[Diane Elle]

Where to begin? Pete Dexter's Paris Trout, Mary McGarry Morris's Songs in Ordinary Time or The Lost Mother, Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities, McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. . . any novel in which the author and subject matter seem perfectly and brilliantly matched. When I think of those works and then of my own second novel, 30 pages from completion . . . well, I just shouldn't be thinking of those right now. Must finish my own, paltry in comparison.

[choppersmom]

Anything by Mary Balogh. Or everything by Mary Balogh.

[Mr. Anonymous]

The Grapes of Wrath. I love Steinbeck.

[Norton]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through The Looking-Glass
Harry Potter books
Percy Jackson books
The Neverending Story

[misa101]

Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne and Emily series.... The Princess Bride by William Goldman... The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (I'm madly IN LOVE with Jamie Fraser!!!!!) .... Karen Marie Moning's Highlander novels (I LOVE them too!!!!!)

I am completely in love with all those books. You back off Jamie Frasier though he's MINE.

So I am going to ditto what you said and add The mirror of her dreams/A Man Rides Through by Stephen R Donaldson

[Adelaide]

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. If I was a genius like good ol' Scott, it's the kind of book I think I would write.

[Little Earthquake]

The book I wish I wrote right now is Twi---. Can't mention it.

The book was so badly written I had to wonder how it got on the shelves. If I still wanted the hype, I'd probably write it in 2nd person. I'd take out all of the adjectives and adverbs, and the annoying repetitive description. And also, add some conflict and plot.

THANK YOU. I gave it a fair shake (and read New Moon as well) and was thoroughly unimpressed. The movie sucked, too. Pretty, but badly written/acted/directed.

I wish I could write something like White Oleander. That book is mesmerizing and heartrendingly beautiful. I died a little inside when I read it because I knew I could never write like Janet Fitch. (Not to say that I'm a bad writer, but my style/voice is COMPLETELY different from hers.)

[KikiteNeko]

First of all, I don't wish I'd written Harry Potter or the DaVinci Code.

I wish I wrote The Virgin Suicides because the prose was beautiful and it had my heart racing.

[BooksAndChocolate]

I wish I'd written "To Kill a Mockingbird." Truly a masterpiece I can always hope to strive for.


My all time favorite book!

[skywriter16]

I really like Lord of the Flies or Heart of Darkness....
On a softer less confusing note I love Dean Koontz

[FOTSGreg]

Dean Koontz's Twilight Eyes, Lightning, Watchers, and Phantoms.

Stephen King's From A Buick 8

Any of Glen Cook's Garrett, PI series (though I've now got a story track that I think comes really darned close though the genre is somewhat different)

Raymond Chandler's The Big Chill

Charles Forte's The Book of the Damned (and succeeding volumes)

John Keel's Strange Creatures From Time & Space

T.S. Elliot's The Once & Future King

H. Rider Haggard's Ayesha (She)

Talbot Mundy's The Nine Unknown

Rudyard Kipling's Gunga Din

H.P. Lovecraft's The Whisperers In Darkness

A. Merritt's The Moon Pool

Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination

David Weber's Starfire or Mutineer's Moon series

Eric Flint's 1632

Anything by Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Arthur Clarke, or Isaac Asimov - pick one.

There's a list for ya'. And, yes, I've read them all.

[ChrisKelly331]

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

[Horserider]

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I LOVE that series. The voice is great; I love everything about it. I hope I can write that well someday.