On Writing - Stephen King

Second time I've read it. It's lit a creative fire in my brain. Finished a first draft of a story a few days ago, just had a new idea today. I believe King will one day be recognised as the greatest writer of his generation, and will be studied on literature courses.

Tom Brown's Schooldays - Thomas Hughes

(This one contains a serious spoiler for 1984 by George Orwell - you're warned).

Currently halfway through an essay on it and have read some interesting lit. crit. stuff about it. It certainly is a didactic, Bible-thumping, Empire-endorsing, cricket-loving toff of a book, and the sentence near the end about how Tom had finally been won over by the headmaster is gut-punchingly reminiscent of the very end of 1984 where Winston has finally been won over by B.B. (this observation went down very well with the Children's Lit. class and lecturer). But there's something about the hopelessly nostalgic portrayal of rural England and the insistence on strong, good principles and all that, that I actually really like.