Reading for Writers

[Meghan Ward]

There are many theories about what writers should or shouldn't read. Some say you should read everything you can get your hands on in the genre in which you're writing. Others say you shouldn't read books in your genre at all, so you won't be influenced by another author's style of writing. There are whole books dedicated to the subject, like Francine Prose's <A HREF="http://bit.ly/6BhgPZ">Reading Like A Writer</A>.

I read for several reasons:

1. For the sheer pleasure of it. Books are why I became interested in writing. Stories that I read as a child, like "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell are what made me want to write. Today, although I've completed a memoir and am beginning a book of nonfiction, I still read fiction—for the joy of it. I read for prose like this: "The moon lowers itself, sitting for a few moments on the shoulders of a western butte, considering the lake of shadows. In its distant, porous memory, the moon can conjure up how it pulled the ice back like a bedsheet, exposing the tender ground beneath" from Jo Ann Beard's <A HREF="http://bit.ly/5NLFbI"><em>The Boys of My Youth</em></A> (If you haven't read this, go out and buy it right now!).

2. I also read to become a better writer. (See number one). I learn from both good writing and bad. I mark up the books I read, highlighting sentences I love, like this one from Junot Diaz's <A HREF="http://bit.ly/6QJNqA"><em>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</em></A> (Again, if you haven't read this, run out right now and buy it! Or download it onto your e-reader!): "All I wanted to do was dance. What I got instead was <em>esto</em>, she said, opening her arm to encompass the hospital, her children, her cancer, America." This is a fabulous book, fabulous enough to win Diaz a Pulitzer.

3. I read to learn. There's nothing I love better than a novel that not only entertains me, but teaches me something about the world, about the human condition, or about myself. This line from Abraham Verghese's <A HREF="http://bit.ly/635CEv"><em>Cutting for Stone</em></A> summarizes the meaning behind "Abu Kassem," a Middle Eastern folktale about a man who could not get rid of his own slippers: "The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more." I love that. And I love my old slippers.

4. To feel like I'm not alone. I lived abroad for the first seven years of my adult life, and during that time, I was often very lonely. When I had no one to talk to and couldn't afford international calls home, I took refuge in W.H. Smith, the English bookstore in Paris. There I sought out "friends," narrators and characters I could relate to, so I wouldn't feel so alone. Kerewin in Keri Hulme's <A HREF="http://bit.ly/8tzeye"><em>The Bone People</em></A> and Ishmael in Daniel Quinn's novel by the same name became my friends. More recently, Anne Lamott, author of <em>Operating Instructions</em>, was my friend as a recovered from giving birth for the first time and struggled to breastfeed and change diapers at 2 a.m.

There has been a lot of talk about the demise of the publishing industry lately, but I won't have any of it. I love to read. It's my greatest pleasure after sniffing my babies' necks (Is that weird?) and getting a good night's sleep. And I know I can't be the only one out there who loves a good story, who is tickled by a particularly fitting metaphor, and who sometimes needs a good friend.

What about you? Why do you read? And what relationship does your reading have with your writing?

[Simpatico]

I basically read for one of two reasons:

Fiction - for enjoyment.

Non-fiction - to learn.

[PaulWoodlin]

I read different books for different reasons. At first, all books I read were for education and enjoyment, because outside of school I didn't see the difference. I enjoyed reading science and history books; I enjoyed reading Asimov, Donaldson, and Austen.

After I left graduate school, I was in a confused point in my life, so I read philosophy and theology and killed dragons with dice. Then I lived in Portland, OR, and hung out with poets, so ended up reading Plath, Bukowski, Baudeliare, and others because they were, or I'd find poetry just to share with them. It was a social thing.

But once I started taking my writing seriously, I felt that lack of an English degree. I'd been a history major instead. So I've read Shakespeare, Hemingway, two of the Bronte sisters, Dickens, and other heavy hitters. I've read magical realism (Winterson, Borges, Kafka) because it enlivens my imagination in ways even fantasy doesn't quite manage. I dipped my toes into romance, Christian romance, paranormal romance, thrillers ... to see why they are popular. You don't have to read a lot of them; just read until you see what they have in common that people like. Living in China, I've also read a lot of translated Chinese literature since it's easily available, and the city I lived in at first was a little boring intellectually so once a semester I'd slip over to Nanjing and stock up on books.

I do understand the confusion. Time and money are limited, so sometimes book shopping actually feels like a worrisome chore instead of the joy it used to be, because I wonder which books should I read, instead of which books do I want to.

[marilyn peake]

I read in every genre because I learn from all sorts of books, and because I believe that knowing how different books have been written is important to becoming a good writer.