Thursday, March 18, 2010

Booking Through Thursday - Sensual


Today's Booking through Thursday question:

Which do you prefer? Lurid, fruity prose, awash in imagery and sensuous textures and colors? Or straight-forward, clean, simple prose?

I don't know if lurid and fruity is as appealing to me as much as writing that is awash in imagery. I love when I'm reading a passage and I just have to stop because the imagery is so strong that I have to pause and let it wash over me. When I read Sandra Cisneros' vignette from House on Mango Street, she says something like the house is so small that it feels as if it's holding its breath, and I feel the windows sucking in just as I'm sucking in my breath. 

If passages were not sensual, we would be doomed to read instruction manuals for the rest of time.

What's your preference?

2 comments:

beastmomma said...

My preference depends on my mood. I do love when writing transports me to someplace new. Here is my response: http://beastmomma.squarespace.com/from-shelf-to-hand/2010/3/18/booking-through-thursday-sensual.html

MissMeliss said...

Wonderful descriptions, yes. Lurid writing, no. That seems to be the trend this week.

I enjoyed The House on Mango Street