Two Books
I don't usually go into WHY I enjoy the books I do, but when I set out to write this entry, I found myself brimming over with ideas.
I've been reading Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer for inspiration and guidance lately. I really really like this book. Not only do I find solid and fun observations (as well as useful reminders of what to be aware of), she references and excerpts a lot of books that I'm getting excited about reading. What I really enjoy about this book is that she starts from the ground up. She takes a Close Reading approach, starting with a chapter solely focused on words, building slowly to sentences, paragraphs, and ultimately larger concepts, like character and dialogue. I'm less than halfway through, but I'm just too happy about this book to not mention it.
For my Jane Austen book club, I've been reading 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel. While I find Smiley's observations equally interesting and her own recommendations exciting (she throws the red cape of challenge in my face with her analyses of 100 novels, from Tale of Genji to White Teeth) I find her writing denser, her writing harder to focus on (Not a surprise, I don't think I liked A Thousand Acres very much, no matter how determined I was to love it). Funnily enough, I'm able to tell you why I find this book harder to get through, having now read chapter four of Prose's book: her paragraphs are too long! :P
In a way similar to how I grew to enjoy the taste of peppers, bananas, and coffee (separately, not together), I've acquired a taste towards nonfiction. Maybe it's simple curiosity. Maybe I'm surfing a wave of newly published nonfiction that is inherently more interesting to me. Either way, I've only read a total of maybe 10 romance novels since 2007 has begun. And while the number of nonfiction books I've read is considerably smaller than that, I've definitely spent considerable more time reading them. I love them. Not to say I walk around telling people what one can find in Chengdu, China, or whether or not Barry Bonds really is a better baseball player than Babe Ruth. And it's definitely not to say that the nonfiction I read is in any way more elevating or enriching than the romance :P It's just different. Mood swings, most likely :P
That being said, I've had these explorations before. And they're always tons of fun. I look forward to seeing what I'll find interesting next! Perhaps poetry? I've always wondered...
Well, that's it. I feel compelled to end on a familiar note, so I say, "...but you don't have to take my word for it." ;)
I've been reading Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer for inspiration and guidance lately. I really really like this book. Not only do I find solid and fun observations (as well as useful reminders of what to be aware of), she references and excerpts a lot of books that I'm getting excited about reading. What I really enjoy about this book is that she starts from the ground up. She takes a Close Reading approach, starting with a chapter solely focused on words, building slowly to sentences, paragraphs, and ultimately larger concepts, like character and dialogue. I'm less than halfway through, but I'm just too happy about this book to not mention it.
For my Jane Austen book club, I've been reading 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel. While I find Smiley's observations equally interesting and her own recommendations exciting (she throws the red cape of challenge in my face with her analyses of 100 novels, from Tale of Genji to White Teeth) I find her writing denser, her writing harder to focus on (Not a surprise, I don't think I liked A Thousand Acres very much, no matter how determined I was to love it). Funnily enough, I'm able to tell you why I find this book harder to get through, having now read chapter four of Prose's book: her paragraphs are too long! :P
In a way similar to how I grew to enjoy the taste of peppers, bananas, and coffee (separately, not together), I've acquired a taste towards nonfiction. Maybe it's simple curiosity. Maybe I'm surfing a wave of newly published nonfiction that is inherently more interesting to me. Either way, I've only read a total of maybe 10 romance novels since 2007 has begun. And while the number of nonfiction books I've read is considerably smaller than that, I've definitely spent considerable more time reading them. I love them. Not to say I walk around telling people what one can find in Chengdu, China, or whether or not Barry Bonds really is a better baseball player than Babe Ruth. And it's definitely not to say that the nonfiction I read is in any way more elevating or enriching than the romance :P It's just different. Mood swings, most likely :P
That being said, I've had these explorations before. And they're always tons of fun. I look forward to seeing what I'll find interesting next! Perhaps poetry? I've always wondered...
Well, that's it. I feel compelled to end on a familiar note, so I say, "...but you don't have to take my word for it." ;)