a) I can read about two books a week in the summer, if I have a list and a stack of books ready to pick from
b) I find it immensely satisfying, reading these books and making notes on them; I think it is good for my writing
c) I have watched too much tv the last few years
The tv is also stories, of course, but y'know, I'm not a screenwriter. I don't think I'll ever be a screenwriter. And I am feeling that the excuse that watching tv is also 'research' is a pretty thin excuse at this point. Summer is a forced interregnum that I am very grateful for. I'm not sure where I'm going to find the willpower to not start up most of my shows again in the fall, but I think I have to make the effort. They just ate up too much time.
Facebook and tv, the time-killers.
Oh -- here is the current list. I'm pausing it for the rest of this week, because I'm reading and critting two novels by friends of mine (GOOD, almost-done novels, thankfully). But I'll be back to it next week if you want to join me. No idea which one I'll read next. Feel free to agitate for a favorite.
- Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
- A Door in the Ocean, David McGlynn
- The Hungry Ghosts, Shyam Selvadurai
- Huntress, Malinda Lo
- Island of a Thousand Mirrors, Nayomi Munaweera
- A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah
- Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
- The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides
- Narcopolis, Jeet Thayil
- Noah�s Garden, Sara B. Stein
- Quench Your Thirst with Salt, Nicole Walker
- Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust
- Salsa Nocturna, Daniel Jose Older
- The Summer Prince, Alaya Johnson
- Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Marriages, Katie Roiphe
- Wave, Sonali Deraniyagala
- We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler
- Whipping Girl, Julia Serrano
- Wild, Cheryl Strayed
If you are reading this, will you listen to your voicemails and call? Thx!
And the new (August) Louise Penny?
But of course! Which reminds me, I should get on the wait list for that at my library…