Reading & writing

      Besides writing, I've done a lot of reading these past couple of weeks. I've read: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde; Black Wind by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler; Tumbling Blocks by Earlene Fowler; The Sea of Trolls and The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer; The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs; Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda; and How I Got Published edited by Ray White and Duane Lindsey. I have started Pontoon by Garrison Keillor and should finish it tonight or tomorrow. Then I'm going to read The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. All of these books are from my local library.
      I know it might seem strange to be reading so many books while writing as much as I am, but I find that I thirst for reading when I'm writing intensively. I can hardly bear to watch TV when I'm writing. Don't know why. I do, for the most part, avoid the genre I'm writing in. There's only one mystery in that group, and I was already familiar with Earlene Fowler's books and knew that I wouldn't pick up any of her style by reading it.
      Classics for Pleasure made me jealous of Michael Dirda -- he apparently has plenty of time to read hundreds of classics. I'd like that life. The book is a collection of essays in which he discusses many lesser known authors and writings that he thinks everyone should read. I added several of his suggestions to my future reading list.
      I also enjoyed both books by Nancy Farmer. She's a multiple Newbery Honor recipient and deservedly so. A good reading list would be all the Newbery Honor and Newbery Award books over the years. You will find many books that, even though they were written for children, hold wit and wisdom to astonish and delight any reader irregardless of age.
      I don't what to think about the Thursday Next book. This is the fifth book in the series, and I mostly enjoyed it. Enough that I'm going seek out the first four and read them in order. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I had done so.
      How I Got Published was full of inspiration and short of advice, other than to write and never give up. Still, I enjoyed the short essays by published authors detailing how they finally cracked the publishing code. Black Wind was enjoyable. One of the nice things about a Cussler book is that you get exactly what you expected to get. That's not a bad thing with an established author.
      Anyway, there wasn't a bad book among the lot so you might want to add them to your list. They all worth a read.
      Have a good night and great tomorrow. Talk to you then.