In Defense of a Good Story

I just saw a piece by a 30-something blogger describing her 10 must-reads. With the exception of Anton Chekhov, I'd never heard of a single writer. Her friends have, though, because she buys books and literally (pun intended) forces them to read them. The Chekhov work she mentioned? He was prolific, and it was one of his lesser known short stories.

In the speech "Building Bridges" (2003) Stephen King points out the hypocrisy of the book snob who refuses to read popular writers like John Grisham, Clive Barker, and, of course, Mr. King himself. That's a willful ignorance of one's own culture, King argues, and nothing to be proud of. I agree and I'll go further: refusing to read a few pages, or listen to a few minutes of a book in a popular genre, is a self imposed book ban.

And let's compare King to Chekhov. King's published a lot more than Chekhov, but to be fair, Chekhov was a physician and he died of tuberculosis at 44. Both men explored different forms of writing, from short stories to novellas to full on novels. Chekhov was a gifted playwright with an eye for social criticism and an ear for dialect in plays like "The Cherry Orchard" (1904). King's written television scripts, like "Kingdom Hospital" (2004) and the truly horrifying-for a-parent "Storm of the Century" (1999). There are so many differences between the two writers, but there's one the literati might find surprising: Chekhov became a writer for the money, and King became a writer out of love.

"Building Bridges" is a neat, short listen.

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A Great View Into A Great Writer's Mind.

What made the experience of listening to Building Bridges the most enjoyable?

While not as in depth as "Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" that is my favorite King book, this award speech is a quick and great peek into King's life and writings.

What did you like best about this story?

His telling of how his writing has changed his and his family's lives.

Which scene was your favorite?

His crediting his wife for their success.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"The Man Who Would Be KING".

Loved it.

Had a smile on my face during most of his talk. Stephen’s speech is less than thirty minutes. He talks of literary vs. popular writing. He also talks about his early years writing and his wife Tabitha.