reading list

She Reads

She reads stories about relationships and about strong woman.  She reads a lot, and is comfortable reading a wide range of literary fiction, women’s fiction and even young adult, but she draws the line with romance novels, and only likes murder mystery with a strong relationship twist or plot, and only in the summer.  She regularly peruses The New York Times bestseller list for recommendations.  She read all of the The Hunger Games, and The Secret Life of Bees, anything by Anne Patchett.  She reads Jody Picoult, but only in between something she considers more intellectually demanding, unless, of course, it's summer.  She read The Girls, but didn’t recommend it to anyone. Late at night, she watches romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle, where a child helps bring adults who need love together.  She is in a book group or wants to be, and also takes children to book hour at a local bookstore or the local library.   Other books on her shelf include Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, and The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  When pushed, she will select A Light Between Two Oceans as a favorite, or Rules of Civility, but her friends recommended Nine Woman, One Dress, and she can’t wait to dig in. 

On Reading

"Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.

Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window."  -William Faulkner

 

If you write, or study writing, you know of this quote.  I love the intent of these words, so simple an instruction from Faulkner, even the part about throwing writing out the window.   The more I read, the more I know what belongs there.  The more I read, the more I notice sentences, and those verbs.  What a good writer does with verbs can amaze.  Sometimes the most unusual combination of words will jump from the page, and make me smile.  I'm not sure of the recent notion of right brain and left brain, and all the spirit and science of that argument, but I know this.  There is a center of delight and creativity that awakes and deepens as I now read not just for amusement and entertainment, but as a writer.  My wish for you - find that place, and explore it.  Poise your fingers over the keyboard and write, write, write.  Then read, read, read.  You'll feel it.