Blogger: Wendy Lawton
I’m just back from visiting my eldest daughter. Rebecca is a reader. I guess I should say, Rebecca is a READER. She is a college instructor but most of the reading she does is fiction, purely for pleasure. Her Kindle Fire has more books in it than any person I know. She read well over 200 books last year. She’s on pace to break that record this year. And yes, she also reads for her classes, grades papers and cares for a three-year-old. But reading is important to her– it’s her favorite form of entertainment.
Being with her made me think about my own reading. I’ve decided I am an intentional reader. I read bestsellers so I can try to figure out what makes a bestseller. I read good books recommended to me. I read everything– absolutely everything– written by my favorite authors. I read for escape. I read for edification. I read for knowledge. And I read for work, of course.
That sounds like a hodgepodge but it’s not really. Let me break it down.
First thing in the morning I gather my stack, my iPad and my fountain pen and head into my favorite “nest” in the family room. I brew my tea and put on the Irish oatmeal before I sit down to start my day. These days I read the daily reading from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. (Love this!) It’s my second year with this particular devotional but I haven’t rung every drop out of it yet. I’m also doing a Forty Day Prayer Challenge based on the book The Circle Maker (another favorite). This is called Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson. Then I always have a nonfiction book in process. I recently reread Crazy Love by Francis Chan so I’m following it up with a workbook, Living Crazy Love. I work on about half a session each day. After I’m finished with this I open my iPad to read my pre-planned portion of the Bible and then spend time writing in my prayer journal and talking and listening to God.
I always try to have a self-help, marketing or business book in process and this I may read at lunchtime. I just started Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit.
Some of my favorite authors are clients so I try to make sure I set aside time to read their new books. I sort-of call this work but feel guilty doing it on work time because it is usually pure pleasure. My fellow Books & Such agents represent some of my favorite authors as well so I make sure I read their clients’ books and sort-of call that work as well. Some of these books happen to fall into the bestseller category so I can kill two birds with one stone. 🙂
I also have potential new client work. Sometimes this is a real joy and other times it feels like I’m slogging though. I always put these manuscripts on my e-reader (usually the Kindle app on my iPad Mini) so that when I’m reading the manuscript it looks just like the wonderful traditionally published books I read on that device. I find I’m holding debut authors to a very high standard. It helps me decide how a potential client fares against the very best in the market. Reading these submissions does feel like work because I need to keep my left brain engaged the whole time, analyzing, critiquing and deciding.
And, like my daughter Rebecca, I read for pleasure. I sometimes imagine when I talk about a great new book or post another entry on our blog feature, “What We’re Reading,” that client-hopefuls must be wondering why I am taking time to read published books when they’ve been waiting to hear from me for many moons. The reason is that I need to read widely and for pleasure or I will lose touch with what makes a good book. It is every bit as important for my work as doing contracts or shopping projects.
When I’m talking to potential clients there are very few things that are outright deal-breakers for me, but when I’ve asked writers who they read a few have answered, “I’m not really a reader. I much prefer writing.” Really? Really? A switch in my brain immediately shuts off. You need to be reading on your subject or in your genre. You need to be reading business and marketing books because being a writer these days is akin to starting your own business. You need to be reading for pleasure, else how can you understand how to deliver that pleasure to your readers? And for me, I want to represent writers who don’t neglect the spiritual in their reading plan.
I’m guessing some of you can’t imagine having multiple books going at once and that’s okay. Others have devised a much more rigorous reading plan that includes the classics or educational tomes. Some read in groups. Others read to review. How about you? Are you an intentional reader? What does your reading plan look like? Tell us what you are reading now and why. Or, if you are are spontaneous and eclectic, sell us on that method.
TWEETABLES:
Are you an intentional reader? A spontaneous reader? A haphazard reader? Click Here to Tweet
Can someone be a writer even if he’s not a reader? Click Here to Tweet
How important is reading to a writer? Click Here to Tweet
FIrst, let’s talk about Irish oatmeal someday. I love oatmeal–every morning. So there’s a habit. 🙂
I’m an intentional reader. I keep a small Bible above my computer at work, and read a little every day while I’m charting over lunch with my ipod on. I read my daily fiction while I walk on the treadmill every morning. I read blogs a few days a week. I have a new goal to make every other fiction read a classic. So, far I haven’t fared too well. I’ve got Last of the Mohicans, Anna Karinina, and Jane Austen on my list.
Nonfiction? I have medical research journals strewn over my desk at work. Then there are several other nonfictions in progress that I pick up on and off.
I credit my parents for raising the bar on reading intentionally! I love to see them keeping their minds sharp and hope to follow that path.
Yep. Irish oatmeal. Love. It’s comfort food to kickstart your morning.
Don’t you love parents who taught you to read by example?
I remember my parents and I ensconced in our favorite reading chairs with the living room clock ticking in the background. A joyous way to pass the hours of the day.
I read everything from cereal boxes (Most of our labelled products are bilingual, that’s how little Canadian kids think they learn French, before they really learn French) to Latin American Spanish dictionaries.
I literally have stacks of books in every room of my house. It drives my husband nuts.
Just to my right, I have 2 Flagstaff, Arizona history books, 2 Navajo children’s books written in English and Navajo, a coffee table book called “In The Fifth World-A Portrait of the Navajo Nation”, and the one that just fell on the floor is “My One Word” by Ashcraft and Olsen. I won that one from Beth Vogt. I never win anything! I also have 2 antique books on display (we look with our EYES, kids, okay?) a prayer book and an New Testament and Psalms.
To my left is “Jesus Calling” and my battered writing notebook. That’s just *this* room.
Our bedroom looks like a bookstore blew up in it.When I buy new print books, I hide them for a while, then add them to an already dusty pile so hubby doesn’t clue in. I know, right? I could be a SPY!
Annnnd, then there’s my tablet with the Kindle app. It’s a Tamera Alexander/ Laura Frantz library all in its little self.
One book I’m itching to read is Hampton Sides’ “Blood and Thunder-The Epic Story of Kit Carson and The American West”. Although I doubt I’ll change my opinion of a person I consider to have befriended then betrayed over 10,000 people. That man’s contribution to US history may be somewhat polarizing. But if anything else, it will give me about 50 new story ideas.
Aren’t I perky this morning?
I also read cookbooks. Usually AFTER I get upset. Then I raid the chocolate chips. For the stress. 😉
I could be a spy! LOL, Jennifer.
You are cracking me up (as usual), Jennifer!
Hiding books from your husband. Ha! I’d say you have it down to an art. We just hope he isn’t looking at these comments. 🙂
Kindred spirit, Jennifer. I tell you.
By far the bulk of my intentional reading is for research. I’m sitting by three active piles of nonfiction right now, mostly on the 18th century. One pile has two books, because the manuscript it belongs to is finished and will be edited in the next few months, but there are still a few aspects of the history involved I’d like to get a better grasp of. The second pile has 8 books in it, because it’s early days and I’m just plotting this novel, getting the overview of the historical time period. The third pile is about to topple at 15 books, but I’ve started writing the story that pile belongs to so that’s normal.
I have novels on a Kindle for PC I read while riding the exercise bike, and a stack of mostly novels by the bed to read for a few minutes before I fall asleep. Novels I’ve agreed to be an influencer for stay at the top of that pile, but I always have at least one novel I’m reading for no other reason than I chose it to read.
I have my Bible reading and prayer early in the morning, usually one chapter. I’m also reading Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling, for the first time. Love it!
I squeeze in reading wherever and whenever I can. Today I’m off to the laundromat to get the week’s laundry done. It takes just over an hour. While I wait, I read. Trying to decide this morning…take the research or the novel? Research or novel…?
And… I can’t believe I forgot to mention audio books! I have a stack of those, too. I get through a disk or two or three each day, in small spurts (more if I drive somewhere). 9 times out of 10 those are novels. Which reminds me I need to click over to my library now…
I’m LOVING audio books too, Lori! I can read so many more books using this method. 🙂
Audio books don’t work for me. My four-year-old wants water or food every forty-six point three minutes (timed it).
Eventually things will get to the point where I can spend more time with my earbuds in. Because I’d probably clean the bathroom more if I could listen to a book while I’m doing it!
You clean the bathroom? I call the fire department and have them bring the “Oh wow, this 29 story house is on fire” hose and blast it through the bathroom window. Our bathroom + 4 males = EW!
Audio books! Me too. I just finished The Limpopo School of Detection. (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.) The narrator, Lisette Lecat, is the best. I’d rather hear her read those books than read them myself without that rich Botswana voice.
Wendy, Lisette is one of the best (and isn’t it lovely to hear all those Botswana names pronounced right?). Davina Porter is also a favorite–her Scottish accent is wonderful (she reads McCall Smith’s other series, with Isabel Dalhousie). And John McDonnough reading the Mitford books is wonderful too. BUT, have you ever heard Steven Crossley read To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis? Oh my goodness, what a performance.
When I used to speak at schools I would always take a four foot high stack of research books and pile it up next to one of my slim middle grade novels. The kids loved the visual of how much research is required to write one small book.
What a great visual, Wendy!
Oh, so true. I’ve never actually stacked them all together for a single book. I should for Burning Sky, just to see….
Love this comparison idea, Wendy! So true! 🙂
I can’t imagine a writer who wasn’t a reader first. It sounds like being a carpenter with poorly cared for tools.
I never used to read more than one book at a time. These days I keep a couple of books on my nightstand that I’m working my way through (one at a time) and several volumes on my Iphone and Kindle for when I find myself waiting longer than usual at the bus stop or a doctor’s office. The idea of having to wait without something to read frightens me 🙂
Waiting doesn’t bother me as much since I always have a reading device with me. Nice, huh?
Jesus Calling is one of my favorites! My friends and I laugh because when our kids were small we’d hide in the bathroom to sneak in a few more pages of the books we were reading. My kids love getting a pile of library books, that makes my heart happy. I grew up seeing my parents reading and that was such a great example. I love growing through what I read.
Jesus Calling is such a powerful book. Our 29 year old son reads parts of it every day to his dad. Cross-generational.
The love of reading is one of the most valuable gifts we pass on to our kids.
Not only can I imagine multiple books going at once, I’m a world-class lit juggler. Here’s what I’ve got: On the nightstand, Maeve Binchy’s, A Week in Winter (I adored her), on the Kindle, Fodor’s Ireland (family reunion planning), and on the kitchen table, a stack of garden books high to repel from (Dear God – please send spring!) And Rebecca is my new hero! Super Reader, get that girl a cape! 🙂
Okay, now I’m jealous. Fodors Ireland. Sigh.
And me too with the garden books. Our weather is already garden-ready. I’m planting heirloom tomato seeds in peat pots. (Janet Grant and I went to the Heirloom Tomato Festival at the Kendall Jackson winery late last summer and loaded up on new varieties.)
What a fun post. I love reading about your intentional reading habits, and I don’t see any reason not to read your favorite authors during work time. It’s “research,”…..right? 😉
I am a multi-tasking reader. I am loving my first read-through of Jesus Calling. I read from the Bible almost every day. On my kindle, I’m reading Blue Moon Bay, by Lisa Wingate, and in hard copy, I’m reading You Don’t Know Me, by Susan May Warren.
I am trying to alternate between non-fiction and fiction. I have a large, toppling TBR list, so I’m working my way through those books. And, I’m throwing craft books in as part of my non-fiction reading. I just finished Plot and Structure, by James Scott Bell, and I’ve got a few more in mind to read in the next few months.
Thanks for this glimpse into your reading life. 🙂
Plot & Structure is fantastic.
Love your description of the toppling TBR list. An indication of many happy hours ahead.
I’ve got Plot and Structure on my TBR pile. Jim Bell is a great friend and a great teacher of fiction. I’m looking forward to seeing him this week. You, too, right, Jenni?
Great reading choices. I really like Lisa Wingate. Debbie Macomber introduced me to her several years ago with Texas Cooking.
Do you read nonfiction on your Kindle? I find I need the book with nonfiction– the actual geography of the book is key to my finding things. I keep wondering if I can somehow get comfortable reading nonfiction on a device.
I agree with you, Wendy, when it comes to non-fiction on the Kindle. I get much more out of holding the actual book in my hands, and being able to mark it up. Which I tend to do with non-fiction. 🙂
I lead our adult Sunday School class, which I run like a book club, so there’s always one Christian non-fiction book underway. Right now, it’s Unleashed. Then I read in my genre–currently it’s Chasing Sunsets by Eva Marie Everson. For pleasure, I often read historical romance. I’ve got Fairer Than Morning by Rosslyn Elliott on my bedside table. Then there’s a verse of the Bible each morning (I Peter at the moment).
I used to do more back and forth between books, but I generally try to only have one fiction and one non-fiction going full speed these days. And my Kindle is overflowing with everything I WANT to get to eventually . . .
I’ve got Fairer Than Morning on my IPad. I’ve not read Rosslyn Elliott yet.
We used to have a Classic Christian Literature group at our church. We did one whole year on C.S. Lewis. The photo in the blog is just one shelf of a huge case of classics.
C.S. Lewis is how I ended up with the class! I wanted to study Mere Christianity and our then teachers (a married couple) said we’d do it if I led the discussions. Of course, they knew they would be moving out of state to be closer to family soon. Guess who inherited the class?
I love your varied yet precise daily reading schedule, Wendy! 🙂
I’m currently going through 1 & 2 Samuel with Beth Moore’s “A Heart Like His” book about David. I’m really enjoying it! 🙂 I’ve also just started using the Bible Gateway app to listen to Scripture while I’m walking on the town walking trail.
I have also started listening to audio books in my car! I’ve been able to double my reading quota. I’m on my fifth audio book now (“The Forgotten Garden” by Kate Morton)! woohoo for progress on that To-Read list! lol.
I’m currently reading my MS on my Kindle app and editing it. It is a neat way and another perspective to read and edit a MS. 🙂 And I’m waiting for my library to get in Becky Melby’s “Tomorrow’s Sun” because she’s a new comparable I’ve found (thanks to Books & Such!) and her books sound fantastic!
Of course, there is also a stack of Nazi Germany/WWII books that are beckoning me to research, so I need to get to those after editing my MS on Kindle. Whew…back to reading everyone! lol. Have a great day!
P.S. And…I’m currently re-reading Donald Maass’s “Writing the Breakout Novel” as well as numerous educational writing blog posts each week. 🙂
This is in my TBR Pile. I need to make time for it.
I forgot to mention how important it is to read craft books. I’m so glad several mentioned them here.
Oh, Morgan, you are so smart to listen to your manuscript. We hear things we would miss with our eyes.
If you like listening to the Bible try the edition read by Max McLean. It’s my favorite. That resonant Scottish voice– he makes it come alive.
You’re right–Max McLean’s voice is one I could listen to all day long. 🙂
I’m already there, Wendy! hehe. I’ve been listening to him. 🙂
Love that Scottish accent reading Scripture. Reminds me of the church service I attended in Scotland.
A sermon and a Scottish accent = wow!
I am glad that I am not the only one who reads several books at one time! I feel embarrassed sometimes that I have books scattered on my desk, in my bedroom, on my kitchen island, at the treadmill, and the table beside my favorite chair–all in mid-read! As a developing writer I feel I must read to learn about the craft and marketing, as well as keep in touch with what is going on in the reading-for-pleasure, spirituality, and self-help world–especially as I include all those in my own writing. To help keep up with it all, I also listen to podcasts and downloaded audio-books … whew!
I don’t feel so bad now! I have books stacked on my kitchen island too! 🙂
I only read one novel at a time but I feel like I absorb nonfiction better at one chapter a day.
My reading habits are rather haphazard. I start each day with the biblegateway.com verse of the day, and my weekly Bible study group is discussing the book of Psalms. I’m reading Deeanne Gist and Karen Witemeyer books this month, trying to analyze why I like their writing style so much. I’m doing historical research online, focusing on the cultural and economic impact of the Great Depression. For pleasure, I’m taking advantage of some free books I’ve downloaded to my Nook–a variety of genres, with some self-pubbed and some traditional.
Carol, have you seen The Great Depression documentary on PBS? I think the subtitle is Surviving the Dust Bowl.
Carol, you brought up another important element of our reading as writers– analyzing other writers. Good reminder!
Right now I am reading “The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance”. Next I plan to read one of my favorite authors, Paua D’Arcy, new book called “Rivers of Sorrow, Currents of Hope: A Prayerbook for Grieviny”. After that I plan to read some mysteries. I just recently bought a slew of Elizabeth Peters books. Mostly the Amelia Peabody series though a few of the 13 books I bought are not. I also have few other mysteries by other authors I want to read this year. I’ll also throw some romance into the pile when time allows.
As for audio books, I finished earlier this month John Updike’s “Terrorist”. Now I just put in my car “The Paris Wife” by Paula McLain. I am waiting (impatiently) for Dan Brown’s “Inferno” to be released.
As work, besides writing engineering documentation from scratch, I read it too. I read and edit regularly what the engineers write. (Remember I am not an engineer and that mathematical equations make my head spin.) This past year, I have been training to run an experiment on the International Space Station and I had to read a lot of documentation and be tested on it.
I need to learn to type. Paula’s book is Rivers of Sorrow, Currents of Hope: A Prayerbook for Grieving”. I hit the ‘y’ instead of the ‘g’.
At last someone who reads mysteries. Elizabeth Peters is one of my favorites and I’ve read almost every one of her books. Besides cozy mysteries, I like to read the classics – some of which are great and others, not so much. Required reading is usually some “how to do thus and such” from the expert writers, plot, platform, character, etc.
I’m a huge Elizabeth Peters fan. I think I’ve read everything. I even got the coffee table compendium, Amelia Peabody’s Egypt. Love these on audio as well.
As for your engineering reading, I feel like I should send condolences.
Reading the documentation and then being tested on it to become certified to run an ISS experiment was worth the time spent. There is nothing more awesome then sending a command and watching it execute. We watch the actual experiment being performed on screens.
As for bringing down the experimental data from the ISS, condolences are need because it soooo boring.
I’d like to be very intentional about my reading and have a plan and a chart to track it (ahem, yes, I am that way). But I still have little ones at home. And I homeschool. And I have my own editing business. And my husband, who frequently works from home, likes to be spontaneous. So there’s not much planned in our house other than meals and bedtimes.
But I still read a lot. Almost entirely fiction. And it’s not unusual for me to have three to four books going at one time.
I never have trouble getting the story lines crossed. I figure God just wired me to be a reader. Or a writer. 🙂
Right now I’m reading Sarah Morton’s The Forgotten Garden, which is very good but unusual in that there are about three different timelines going at once. I’ve got Susannah Kearsley on deck. And I just finished Gina Holmes Wings of Glass. So very, very good.
I’m listening to Kate Morton’s “The Forgotten Garden” on audio book now! 🙂 And Susanna Kearsley is one of my favorite authors. I’m going to re-read “The Winter Sea” before my trip to Scotland in May. I’ve also added Gina Holmes to my to-read list.
It seems we have quite similar reading tastes, Sally. Have a great day!
P.S. The three or four timelines going on is brilliant but at the same time a bit exhausting to me too. If she wasn’t such a superb writer, I think I should put it down.
Morgan, we may have been separated at birth. Or just at the library.
I love Susanna Kearsley’s writing. Can’t wait for The Firebird to release in the US already!! I’ve read the first three chapters on line. I’m so hooked. I’ve read nearly all her books now, and some of those written as Emma Cole.
hehe. I think you’re right, Sally! 🙂
I read the Forgotten Garden a year or two ago. On the bike at the gym. It made me ride longer. 😀
There’s her marketing campaign. Read my book at the gym and you’ll burn more calories. Hm…
That’s a longgg ride indeed. 🙂
I wonder what your reading will be like when you have an empty nest. Yikes.
I’d like to think I’d just fill that time with more writing. We’ll see, but it’s a good eighteen years away.
I am typically reading 7 or 8 books at a time for my own enjoyment and enlightenment. Right now I’m reading Spirit Hunger by Gari Mecham; rereading The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson (best book I read last year); working through Seek God First Bible Study from FP4H; Hatch by McNair Wilson, The Blessed Life by Robert Morris and Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson.
Looks crazy when I write it down but it works for me. I want to re-read the classics but so far all I’ve done is put them on my kindle.
I also read new submissions every day and find it hard to keep up with the volume. I need a plan like yours, Wendy.
Fun reading about everyone’s reading habits. Saw some titles I must have!
McNair Wilson is the keynote speaker at Mount Hermon this year. Will you be there Karen?
Great list, Karen. As you know, I’m usually also doing a First Place Bible study as well.
(First Place 4 Health is the best Christian-based weight loss/ healthy life style program ever.)
Just finished: The Big Book of Irony by Jon Winokur (hilarious)
Anything by Jennie Allen (discussion group; great ideas!)
Small Damages by Beth Kephart (YA, very interesting writing and story line.)
The Englishman’s Daughter by Ben Macintyre (research; fascinating WWI narrative nonfiction)
Always: Oswald Chambers’s My Utmost for His Highest
Currently: Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth and Logue’s The King’s Speech.
On tap: Julie Klassen’s The Tutor’s Daughter
I loved the Big Book of Irony! A great gift book, too!
Go, Michelle! You’re going to love The Tutors Daughter. I was a Julie Klassen fan long before I came to be her agent. Her books never fail to engage.
I second The Tutor’s Daughter. It’s a true blooded Regency. Love that one. Very vivid visuals. The scenes just come alive off the pages of the book. Very well-written. Five stars.
I am spontaneously intentional. 🙂 I’m always reading a craft book and a novel in my genre or almost-genre, but I don’t have a plan to know what I’ll read next.
I just finished Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson this past week, so it’s time to start another. I have several on my shelf, but I’m not sure which yet. I’ll look through the titles, run my fingers over the spines, and see which seems to apply best at this point in my writing.
I also just finished The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck, and, although I don’t write medical suspense, I think I’ll read Richard Mabry next. I’ve heard so many good things about his books, and I enjoy his online personality. I have a couple of his books on my Kindle app on the iPad and their titles just call to me every time I scroll past. But I’m also in the middle of a Love Inspired novel. I’ve not read a category romance novel before, and I was curious as to plot, voice, length.
I do have a Bible reading plan for each morning — one chapter in the OT and one chapter in the NT.
Thanks, Wendy, for starting the discussion of books. I’ve picked up some great ideas here.
Meghan, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Love Inspired book when you’re done.
Don’t you love to talk books?
I can’t believe I haven’t read Richard Mabry yet. I need to remedy that. I keep hearing such good stuff.
Until I started writing fiction, I just read favorite authors’ new books, re-read old favorites, read novels for my middle and high school classes I was teaching.
Now, everything’s changed. When I started writing, I began a list of craft books– starting with those listed on the Books & Such website, the very first time I found you all online.
These days, I try to do one craft book about every-other-month, either from my list, from recommendations, or from promising ones that are free to “borrow” with Amazon Prime.
For fiction, I still read all my favorite authors’ new books, but now I have the added joy of doing several of them with an online book club. So I read the novel of the month, and try to keep up on writing friends’ releases throughout the year, sometimes to help with influencing. Always, it’s a study of craft in action.
And most important of all, that soul-watering time in the Word– my husband and I do our devotions individually before bed, which gives us a neat chance to talk over some of what we’re learning afterwards sometimes, and to pray together.
I’ll bet you also spend time reading to little ones as well.
Hasn’t your reading volume increased the more author friends you have? I find I have so many online writer-friends I may never get them all read.
Wendy, yes! An ever-growing TBR pile, and an ever-repeating pile of books for the little ones, Pokey Little Puppy taking the cake for favorite right now. 😉
It was suggested to me that my manuscript would fit into the YA genre, so I started reading up on the leaders of the market.
That got dull, quick.
I can understand, somewhat, how a writer would not be a reader. If they are a sci-fi writer, for example, they might find themselves at odds with the overly whiny, shoe-gazing, self-indulgent tripe that the kids with the MFAs who cannot be bothered to view anything seriously flood the genre and “best of lists” with. (Finding intelligent sci-fi, or just plain ol’ good Sci-Fi that doesn’t read like some hipster on a sugar-high discovering Dada for the very first time is about fruitful as searching for a unicorn).
So my research into the YA market revealed quite a lot that made me reconsider whether or not that is the market for my manuscript. Books that half-way through it appears there is still no clear motivation for the characters, no purpose for their behavior, hard to tell one protagonist from that of any other novel; I could understand if it was commentary on the nature of finding ones’ self at that age or whatever, but this was all just bad writing.
Then there was the grim/dark, sex/violence stuff thrown in to be “edgy” or whatever, or in some lame attempt to try to describe the realities for what it is to be that age…..while completely leaving their audience with no clear understanding of the result of said behavior.
“Drama for the sake of drama” seems to be the motto for YA authors these days….
I’m an intentional reader in the sense that I’ll read those who are recognized as the best of their particular genre, to get acquainted with better appreciation of what the craft of writing can give readers, and what the best writing out there is.
I refuse to read a book just because it is a best-seller, simply because from my experience the best-seller books in fiction also seem to be self-help books: reaffirm the vapid, tepid beliefs of contemporary society, regardless of which side of the socio-political spectrum the book addresses. Then, in regards to the craft itself, add a dash of cliche and / or deus ex machina for the sake of plodding along to the resolution…….
Understanding the market is one thing, and that in itself is helpful, but then again, writers are always told to never write to the market as trends will change by the time the process of getting a book to market is complete, so even without my snobbery, I guess I don’t see much point in reading the best-seller books.
I’ll just wait until the movie version comes out…. 🙂
“…from my experience the best-seller books in fiction also seem to be self-help books…”
Well, I don’t see that when I read NYT bestselling suspense or thrillers. Most of them are pure entertainment, IMO. Or maybe I just don’t try to read between the lines LOL.
While it’s true that some bestselling novelists add political undertones to their novels, seasoned authors seem to know not to marginalize some of their readers. They try to take the middle road. If the middle road affirms the “vapid, tepid beliefs of contemporary society” then perhaps there is an element of “self-help” — to maintain status quo LOL.
“I’ll just wait until the movie version comes out…”
Perhaps you might reconsider that, sir. Letting Hollywood scriptwriters funnel out a well-written novel into a 2-hour synopsis doesn’t always do justice to the written word. For example, I haven’t seen a satisfying adaptation of “Pride & Prejudice.” Many have tried. The closest that came was the 1995 Ehle/Firth miniseries, and yet, it’s not quite the book itself, is it.
I’d read the book first, then see the movie version. Then I compare the two.
Finally… suppose YOUR novels become bestsellers. Do you recommend we read them? (I hope so!)
As much as I loathe the script-writing process, and current Hollywood culture, there was an era when the film industry was able to translate novels and theater into art which, if not necessarily surpassing the original source material, turned it into art of its’ own sort.
And, at the very least, the Hollywood of today gives us pretty graphics and lens’-flare to compensate for not being able to translate the clunky prose and stilted dialogue of the source material from the best-sellers lists. 😉
As far as my own novels, how anyone could not be interested in a dystopian post-apocalyptic coming-of-age existential literary magical-surrealist love story which subverts and redefines the tradition of heroic literature (among other genres), is beyond me. 🙂
I’m still trying to figure out what genre you’re writing in. It sounds like Speculative Fiction since it has most, if not everything, you listed, but then again, does it? Is it? Could it be?
Yikes. Methinks you have a tough time reading for fun. It’s great to read analytically since it allows you to hone your own craft but I’m so glad I’m able to shut the editor off when I read for fun.
I haven’t read any sci fi, but by your description it sounds pretty gruesome.
Yeah, it’s hard for me to read for fun, because I noticed even with one of my favorite series, there’s some contradiction of the lore / rules of the in-story universe which subsequently calls into question both the ethics and moral philosophies revolving around said lore/ rules, and which on a basic craft level, makes for the subsequent actions and character motivations / recriminations which occur to literally have no basis or logical consistency. Not that I mean it’s a basic oversight, or anything of that sort: what I’m referring to (without trying to give spoilers) occurs at a pivotal scene in the book and series, at the climax of several character arcs, and after it is constantly reinforced by previous actions / moral quandries about the nature of said lore / in-story rules how the events during this particular scene should not happen the way they do, as if one is to accept it, then the resolution of the series (and subsequent follow-up series) makes no sense.
I’m the guy at the theater yelling at the protagonist on-screen to not go into the basement, I know. 🙂
As far as Sci-Fi, I suppose it’s fitting how the genre is commonly associated with aliens, because what the genre has become is pretty alien to me.
Basically, distill the essence of internet memes and pop-pyschology, throw in a good measure of a political ideology which has best been left in the ash-heap of history (how strange that folks writing about the future are obsessed with building worlds with the proven duds of the past!), and thus one has the modern sci-fi novel or short-story.
In my teen years I proceeded through my TBR pile in alphabetical order by title or author. I guess you could call that intentional in a nerdy way.
Now I’m re-reading The One Year Book of Hope by Nancy Guthrie as well as some Joni Eareckson Tada devotionals.
I finished The Tutor’s Daughter by Julie Klassen, and am now reading Love’s Reckoning by Laura Frantz and Whispers of the Bayou by Mindy Starns Clark.
For learning purposes, I’m reading Stein On Writing.
Many times, while reading for pleasure, my right and left brain do a little wrestling. On one side I want to immerse myself in the story, and on the other side I’m analyzing and critiquing so I can apply what I’m observing to my own writing.
“Many times, while reading for pleasure, my right and left brain do a little wrestling. On one side I want to immerse myself in the story, and on the other side I’m analyzing and critiquing so I can apply what I’m observing to my own writing.”
Same here! But now I do a “pleasure” read through first, then I go back to page one and do a technical read through.
Impressive Jennifer. It really does help to pick apart why I like or dislike something in the context of story. Do you take notes on your technical pass through?
Since reading The First 50 Pages by Jeff Gerke, I’ve grabbed random books off the shelf at the library and read the first few pages to better analyze how the author draws the reader in. I applied a lot of Jeff’s suggestions in my WIP.
I do that too!! I grab a book, find the first page and think “okay, grab me!”
But I don’t say that out loud ANYMORE, talk about awkward.
I try to re-word their sentence into my own voice. How arrogant is that, eh?
“Hey, Laura Frantz, listen to how *I* would do it.”
Then I analyze, make notes, read the swoony scenes to make sure I have it right…hello? Red Shirt and Silas?
Phewff, is it warm there, too?
Ooo, I loved Stein on Writing. I read it a long time ago. I need to retread.
Hope you had a nice visit, Wendy.
Since I began pursuing a writing career, I became an intentional reader. At first it was craft books and then genre specific fiction so I could see what was out there. While my review schedule prevents me from reading for pleasure right now, I’ve made 2013 my year to catch up on reviews I owe to authors, so I can mold my schedule closer to what I want to read than what books I’ve offered to review (though sometimes they end up being the same thing).
Though my girls are way beyond picture books now, I have a publisher who sends me picture books to review. I’m currently writing one picture book a month. And since my girls and I read together every night, I get a chance to dive into middle grade and YA novels. We’re currently reading Hank Zipzer: A Brand New Me and Scarlet, the second book of the Lunar Chronicles.
Reviewers definitely have their work cut out for them! But how we appreciate the work– as readers and most of the time as writers.
My daughter is nine, but we still enjoy picture books. When she was younger I had a blog called PBwithJ (Picture Books with Jenni) where I wrote reviews about the titles we liked best.
Some of my favorite illustrators are Marla Frazee, and Mini Gray of the Traction Man books.
Well, now I have a few MORE books to add to my TBR list, Wendy. Really thought-provoking post. This year I decided to be more intentional in my approach, so I gathered up the books from various places and took a look at what I have had in TBR stacks. My intention is to read: 1) for fun, 2) for craft 3) for personal growth. Ahem. I just meeasured six FEET of book spines. In his memoir, Stephen King says, “If you want to be a writer, you need to do two things. Read a lot and write a lot.” His point is that reading informs our writing life. I heartily agree with him … and YOU.
Stephen King boils it down quite nicely, doesn’t he. I also have one of your quilt books on my TBR pile, Steph.
Two hundred books a year doesn’t sound so impressive to me because I usually read over 350 a year. Of course most of those, five or six a week, are middle grade books with a few YA novels and maybe one adult non-fiction one every month. I rarely read fiction for “grown-ups.” I read kids’ books partly because that’s what I enjoy writing, partly because I can usually finish one in an hour or two and know it probably won’t be sordid or depressing, partly because I like kids, and partly because I’m still a kid on the inside.
We’ve talked about this before, Janet, but I’m with you on middle grade and YA. Some of the best books ever published can be found in this age group. Think, Sarah Plain and Tall, Because of Winn Dixie, Catherine Called Birdy, Jacob Have I Loved, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Walk Two Moons…. I could go on and on.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the daily devotionals, magazines, e-zines, blog posts, etc. that I read every day. Some days I even read the Bible.
Let’s see:
Create Your Writers Platform – Craft
Saying Goodby – Review
Max Conquers the Cosmos – Fun/author connection
Adopted Son – History
Washington’s Spies – Research
Stained Glass Hearts – Inspiration
Book of Dreams – Re-read just for fun
Writer’s Market 2013 – Research/business
Those are the ones I can see in the stack beside my chair.
I’m not even going to open my Kindle. I think last count was 199.
I just read and evaluated a memoir for a member of one of my writing groups.
In another handily referenced location, I keep Streams in the Desert and Magnificent Prayer.
The number of books in this house used to be a bone of contention, but I think friend-husband finally decided he didn’t want me to have to choose between him and the books. (Just like I don’t want to make him choose between me and the cows.)
What fun to see what everyone else is reading.
Judith, you mentioned a longtime favorite of mine, Nick Harrison’s Magnificent Prayer.
I’ll join the chorus of people reading lots of books at one time! Right now:
Devotional – Mornings and Evenings with Charles Spurgeon
History (I love history)! – The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance
NIV Commentary on Exodus
Everyday Talk: Talking Freely and Naturally About God with Your Children
Just finished “Has God Spoken?” by Hank Hanegraaff and “Love in the Balance” by Regina Jennings
I keep a reading list on Amazon as I see books that I’m interested in. Then I dive in as I feel led. 🙂 I’m pretty much always reading a theology book!
…Also, for the business/marketing side, I have about 15 blogs I follow each week. I tend to stay in the loop on social media and online marketing via blogs rather than books.
I’m glad you mentioned blogs, Natasha. Haven’t they become such an important part of our reading?
For book club I read, My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira. It is one of the best Civil War-Era novels I have ever read. (From one history lover to another)
I love Civil War-era novels. Thanks for the recommendation.
I grew up in a home with bookcases is every room but the kitchen. My parents read aloud to their seven daughters in the evenings before bed. They sat with us as we learned to read, and listened as we took turns reading chapters. Books surrounded my life at home, in my father’s classroom, and at the private schools I attended.
I married an avid reader, thank God! Our home resembles the one I grew up in, bookcases in every room. I recently built one in to my kitchen when we renovated and I keep a kitchen journal. I have a basket with a photograph album and vintage books in the front guest bathroom. Lots of jetted tub reading goes on in there. My favorite is the round book table that greets people when they first walk in our front door.(It also greets people on my website)
I read more fiction than non-fiction these days, unless manuscripts I critique lean in that direction. I have books and Bibles going in my office, my bedroom(no TV in there), the kitchen, the living room near my chair and ottoman, and the hallway nook and desk. I read children’s books daily as I read for Story Time bi-weekly and am always searching for new and old books to share with the kiddos.
I am a vintage book addict, old poetry and prose, Bibles, novels…
My car looks like a traveling bookstore. Electronic readers are plugged in everywhere at home, especially with my seventeen year old granddaughter visiting these past two months. (she hasn’t turned on a TV once. Instead she hand writes and composes music and plays it on the acoustic guitar and our piano. Grandma is in heaven)
I LOVE the classics and reread certain books once a year but I watch for the bestsellers too and read through them. The past few years I have been able to buy amazing hardcover books at the Dollar store. I buy them by the dozen to give as gifts at Christmas and at my English teas.
I live for my in-depth book club once a month with the “Bookies”. (Interesting how that happened)The discussions are riveting and we switch off between non-fiction and fiction.
I am enjoying a new genre for me, YA. Recently read, The Blue Umbrella, by Mike Mason,a book club pick.
Give me C. S. Lewis, Rita Gerlach, Ginny Ytrrup, anything Anne Perry, Sally Beauman…pour a cup of tea, and I’m off in a bookie neverland.
This morning I read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, Letters from Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams,and from the Joan Walsh Angland Story Book. What a way to start the day.
My husband is a pre-Christian so I read my daily devotionals and Bible alone. But I look forward to the day we can share that blessing together.
You are a reader! Coming from a long line of readers.
We have so many books in common but as you know I’m a died in the wool Anne Perry fan. (Can anyone have too much Monk or Pitt?)
And I just bought the most beautifully illustrated new Velveteen Rabbit. I’m not at home right now or I could tell you the illustrator. I’ve loved that story my whole life. I even have a full-size Victorian era skin horse in my collection.
I love to read. Growing up, almost every room in our home had a bookcase filled to overflowing. I enjoy reading a wide varity of genres and I always have a Bible study and devotional going. However, I’ve become more intentional over the years reading 1) literature classics, 2) the area of my expertise, 3)the Bible and Christian (including Christian classics), and 4) books about writing, reading, and speaking.
When I finish a book I like to think about it and analyze what I liked and didn’t like about it and what I can learn from the book as a writer as well as a reader.
This is my first year reading “Jesus Calling.” January 2, while walking through a bookstore, it jumped into my hands and said, “Take me home with you!” (My version of a talking book. :)) I’m so glad I did! Every day it’s been spot on.
Linda, it sounds like you’d enjoy keeping a reader’s journal. I keep intending ti, but. . .
I love to read! I can’t imagine being a writer without first being a reader. Even if the writer is not reading for fun, she has to do research. That means lots of reading.
It was my love of reading the classics and poetry and stories as a child (thanks to mom and dad who still love to read) that eventually led me to desiring a career in writing later in life. Besides, it’s easier to read than write LOL.
Other than my Bible, I read numerous genres — suspense, thrillers, historical, contemporary, medieval, non-fiction. I read inside and outside the genres I write. I read multiple books concurrently, sometimes because the library books are due about the same time, sometimes because I can LOL. In general, I read what’s hot off the press. Sometimes I go back and reread books I really like. While I watch science fiction movies, I don’t read them at all.
I just finished rereading Joane Bischof’s Be Still My Soul, and getting ready to reread Laura Frantz’s Love’s Reckoning. I love a good inspirational historical fiction… They write, I read 🙂
In my reading corner, I’m reading these concurrently: Brad Thor’s Black List, Michael Connelly’s The Black Box, Brad Meltzer’s Fifth Assassin. In the pipeline is Joel Rosenberg’s Damascus Countdown. I’m also rereading Vince Flynn’s Paranoia because a new movie is coming out based on this novel — Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Liam Hemsworth, Richard Dreyfuss — imagine all these actors being characters in a movie adaptation of a novel you write…
I’m also rereading Jack Bickham’s The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes in preparation for my epic self-edit (the edit itself is epic LOL). But I’m recovering from a cold, so I’m not touching my ms until I feel that I can write properly. My word count last week was ZERO.
All these readings I do are on top of all the research materials I’m going through after school hours and on weekends. Thank God I’m letting my historical fiction take a backseat while I focus on my suspense ms because it’s hard to toggle back and forth writing in two genres. So all my historical research is stuffed into my bookshelves waiting for me to come around to it.
Other than all that I’m also reading middle school literature and other subjects since I’m a homeschool mom by day, and I’m my son’s writing teacher. So I’m reading a LOT of YA anthologies and American history for school! In addition, my son has reread Rick Barry’s Kiriath Quest and Gunner’s Run so many times I can’t keep up with him. No wonder my eyes are tired! Oh and he can’t wait for Barry’s new YA novels to hit the bookstores (no pressure, Mr. Barry)…
All that to say, I can’t imagine a writer not being a reader!
Oh sorry! Not Vince Flynn — I read his books too — but it’s Joseph Finder’s Paranoia that’s getting adapted into a movie. Joseph Finder. They are all in a big stack in my reading box…!
I think one thing you said bears repeating– you read both inside and outside your genre. So smart because when one genre starts to get a little stale someone introduces a fusion of that genre with another and a whole new genre is launched.
I’d be a little suspicious of non-readers as writers too. I can’t imagine it. I remember my first step into a Borders (RIP). It was awe-inspiring. Much smaller than what they’d eventually become, but the clerks required ladders to reach AAAALLLLLLLL the books. Not a space of wall unused. It gave me a high! I remember my first moments in the “stacks” at the university library, where they had to roll the shelves to fit them all in the room. All that info available to me. Wow! I could barely breathe. And then … Google. Oh my!
My end tables are filled with books underneath and stacked with books above. Shelves of my entertainment centers, several steps to the second floor … And then, there’s my Kindle. It’s about to bust. Sigh!
I usually read at least one fiction and one non-fiction at a time. It’s a balance. I got stuck in fiction-only for a while, but have found a few really good non-fiction books lately. Right now, I’m reading “In the Shadow of Your Smile” by Susan May Warren, “On Writing” by Stephen King and 2 Corinthians, by Paul. In the “On Writing” book by Stephen King, he says he spends hours a day reading other stuff himself. He mentions how much of the non-fiction gave him ideas for his stories. Evidently, they don’t develop in a vacuum.
I love to hear about other reading addicts. Helps me know I’m not alone. Thanks for this post!!!
I’ll never forget touring Notre Dame and checking out the stacks in the library. Ummmm. When libraries go completely digital I pray I’m in heaven where I know there will be a library that looks like the ones in English castles.
I’m primarily an intentional reader. I intentionally look for books about writing and art so I can grow in those areas. I also read middle grade fiction and picture books, because I want to know who is writing what and because I do reviews. I think it’s important to keep the voices and rhythms of quality children’s lit humming in my brain.
We bring home stacks of books from our huge local library, and even though little of my reading is spontaneous, but I do put aside a little time for fun reading for pure enjoyment.
This week’s reading:
• Writing With Pictures
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• Four different art books
• Nuts About Squirrels (humor)
Sound like an eclectic stack! Love Sherlock Holmes.
I’m intentional.
Like you I start with a cup of hot tea, my Bible, devotional book and prayer journal.
Then I hit my favorite writing blog, and then I get ready for work.
I write after work and on a good day after supper also. Then before bed I read for pleasure.
I started Crazy Love two days ago,after a comment you made a few weeks ago. I’m excited to dive into it.
I hope you have a great reading day!
Don’t you wish we all had our own reading group here? We’d never get anything else accomplished.
I loved reading about your intentional reading, Wendy, and about your day. Like you, I’m an intentional reader and love to have more than one book going at a time.
I’m surprised we didn’t have a single commenter who reads only one book at a time.
Wendy, that would be like going to the beach and only watching one wave come in.
I read some in the Bible most days, at the office before work on weekdays, any time on weekends. Back in 2008 I was frustrated by my disorganized reading, so I gathered the books I had out and organized them into a pile, priority from top to bottom. I think it was 17 books, or which I was actively working on 4 or 5. After finishing the first one, I looked at the second and decided I didn’t want to read it yet, so I shuffled the pile. I read the second, then shuffled the pile again. Before I finished the third I bought some more and the pile grew to about 20, again reshuffled.
I’m now down to about 8 from that original pile, but with 10 or 12 having been added. The one I’m working on right now could also be considered research for a history book I’m planning on writing.
I have a paper book, an e-book, and a book of letters (A Conan Doyle) in progress at home, and one of the classics and business book active at work.
Loved the post, I usually have about three books going at the same time. One on the craft of writing, one young adult fiction in the genre I write for and one that takes my fancy when I am at the library picking the other two. My family turn the TV off and read at night time
What also existed then was the electronic ignition system. but it was inside a plain box whose contents most people do not know. Electronic ignition gave off better spars and was almost maintenance free. But such was only found in higher end cars and were generally not present in most compact cars.”
Very latest article straight from our new online site
<",http://www.caramoan.co/caramoan-island/
Modern vehicle manufacturing nearly always includes a complete system of some kind from the factory when the car is assembled. This is referred to as the ‘stock’ system, or OEM system. These systems can be supplied by an exclusive vendor to the manufacturer to their specification, or other company that specializes in design or production of such equipment.;
Our new web site
<="http://www.caramoan.ph/caramoan-package/
Yes, I am an intentional reader! I’m trying to “write the book on it!” My blog is a life-coaching blog to help people who read alot to read more books and better books — and to help those who don’t feel they read “enough” to make a plan to do so.
Loved your post, thanks!