I go through reading bursts in my life. Sometimes it comes when I have naturally more time built into the fabric of my day (summer vacation, plane trips, weekends away without kids).
Or sometimes it is just hunger.
Not for food (although a bowl of ice cream and a good novel on a summer evening do taste quite well together). But hunger for the written word.
My reading bursts seem to come when I am just famished for a good, well-crafted novel.
I’ve read more books this year than I think I might have in the past three years put together. Don’t judge me based on my reading list (this is just what has interested me this year in particular) but I’ve read Wiliam Zinsser, Phillippa Gregory (6 books), Alice Hoffman (3 books), Sue Monk Kidd, Anne Lamott (2 books), Kate DiCamillo, Danielle Steele (the one and only Danielle Steele book I have ever read), Brad Huebert’s new book, and I am currently working myself through Elizabeth Berg’s novels (3 so far). There was the Anne Rice memoir that I got from the libray, and the contemporary female Iranian literature I read for a time (including Azar Nafisi). I read The Shack and Cold Tangerines and others that I can’t seem to remember.
And I haven’t had more time than normal. In fact, I’ve had less. I’ve just been really hungry.
Perhaps the best thing that all of this reading has done for me has been to help me become a better writer. “Read as a writer, not a reader,” a wise writer told me once. Although I did speed through the Steele book (it was the only book available to me one weekend away) gathering up pieces of the story, most books I read add layers to me as a writer. I’m learning to study structure and characterization without even trying because I love to read.
I really believe that a person cannot become a good writer without being a wide and voracious reader first.
The cadence and flow of good words, grammar and punctuation, story lines that make sense, well-written descriptors, environments that are helpful to plot – all of these in good books stand alongside me and help my writing.
Read hungry. I’m learning to devour books.
What is the best book you have read in 2008?
I do the same with songs…
Best of 2008 for me?? I’m stuck on Laurie Notaro’s stuff right now. She’s just so dang funny…
what did you think of the Shack? I haven’t read it…but heard a lot of talk about it.
Definitely read ALL Berg. I own them all and treasure each one. I read Talk Before Sleep when it was first published, and I was still in college–more than 10 years ago. My childhood friend, Angie, is battling breast cancer at 36, and I reread it this year with a completely different understanding of friendship and life. Also Kelly Corrigan’s book The Middle Place is a must read. LOVE this post and all your alphabet.
Thanks Mandy – haven’t read any notaro yet.
Shannon – you should read it. its really hard to get someone else’s opinion about the book. its better experienced for oneself. it is definitely interesting. not the best writer i’ve ever read but certainly the ideas are unique.
monica – thank you for the nice words. haven’t read corrigan either. thanks for the tip.
Ive read so many . . . but I couldn't stop thinking about "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. In fact, I'm about to read it again.
I also loved and want to marry "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. I'd never read it before.
Those are the two that come to mind immediately. OH! And "Freddy & Frederick" made me laugh out loud which is rare–it just took forever to read, though. (It's by Mark Helprin.)
my best book of 2008 so far would be a tie between “Tell It Slant” by eugene peterson and “The Word Became Flesh” by e. stanley jones…
“the shack” was up there too…but that may hve been in 2007…can’t remember
love,
dad
In 2008 I forced Eat,Love,Pray on every friend I have; even the nonreaders.
What caught my eye in your post was the cover of “Dream – - – Blue”.
Elizabeth Berg is my all time author-crush. I’m in awe of her writing + get completely caught up in each of hers.
Be sure to read each one of hers; you’ll wonder how you lived without them. Seriously.
Have a wonderful Christmas.
I’m going to sign my e-mail here because Blogger hates me + I don’t *want* to be anonymous!
Debra
at
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Today Matters by John Maxwell. Great book, recommend it for sure!
Merry Christmas!!!
i don’t know if i have a best for 2008… i read the shack and cold tangerines as well. i spent most of the year trying to get through anna karenina and now i am trying to catch up with other reading.
i find that i go through droughts and spurts of reading as well. right now i am hungry for time to read.
i’m adding berg’s books to my amazon wish list.
i love reading novels way more than non-fiction (which always makes me go “hmph” because i only want to write non-fiction…). i love a book, though, that doesn’t just tell a captivating story, but that pulls you in with incredible writing.
have you read jodi picoult? powerful. but i think my favorite read of the year was a thousand splendid suns. i was ruined for books for a while after that because nothing else quite compared.