What I’m Reading
One of the things I’ve come to understand on a deeply fundamental level is that reading widely is essential to continued growth in writing. Yes, I’d heard all the nuggets, such as Stephen King’s, “Read a lot. Write a lot,” and others. It’s easy to take in information, to say we understand it, and quite another thing to grasp something on a profoundly practical level. It wasn’t until I worked with Gayle Brandeis as a mentor in my MFA program that I understood the importance of reading widely on a profoundly practical level. I’ll likely pontificate on that subject at length at some point in the future. This page on the site is just to chronicle what I’ve been reading and brief thoughts about each work. I plan to update this on a semi-weekly basis.
9/23/2019
This week I’m rearranging some of my reading. I’m also going to be listing books I finish each week.
Morning Reading: The Tao Te Ching, The Art of Writing Slowly, The Underbelly, A Poetry Handbook, Fierce Fairy Tales, Shoulda Been Jimi Savanna, Blood Ties
Evening: American Indian Stories, The Road Between, Rilke’s Book of Hours, The Stone Sky, The Book of Delights,
Finished: Artificial Condition, Wired For Story, Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad,
9/9/2019
Morning Reading: The Tao Te Ching, The Book of Delights, The Art of Writing Slowly, Artificial Condition, Fierce Fairy Tales, Wired For Story, Shoulda Been Jimi Savanna
Evening Reading: Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad, American Indian Stories, The Road Between, Rilke’s Book of Hours, The Stone Sky.
9/24/2018
Alexander Hamilton’s Guide to Life by Jeff Wilser – (Morning read) Still fun. Still giving me some things to think about in my own life. Some of it’s a little depressing to consider how much Hamilton did in his life and he died younger than I am now.
It Didn’t Start With You by Mark Wolyn – (Morning read) Having finished, The Body Keeps the Score, I moved onto the next book on my list of in-depth examinations of trauma and how it not only affects the mind but also the body. This book explores epigenetics and how trauma changes our DNA so that the effects of trauma can be passed down even three or more generations. It also talks about how the language we use can give insight to generational family trauma.
The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K Le Guin – (Morning read.) This is a book of essays by one of the great minds of science fiction literature. Her view of the world is interesting, and her presentation of this view is poignant and poetic. It’s
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist by Sunil Yapa – (Morning read.) Loving this book. Some of it is a little disjointed. I have yet to decide if that’s intentional or not.
Outspoken Author Series by various authors from PM Press. (Random moments.) I’m not reading this one as much as I should be. Sadly, this last week I’ve ignored this bit of my reading. I will remedy this today.
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Before bed read.) Wow. Just…. Wow. I am so honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to work with this man.
Curiosity by Alberto Manguel (Before bed read.) Enthralling, though it’s one of those books that’s so smart, so thought-provoking, sometimes I can only get a couple of pages in before I have to stop so I can process everything it’s making me think about.
Michael Moorcock: Death is No Obstacle by Colin Greenland (Moved to before bed read.) This continues to be interesting, though I don’t agree with everything Moorcock has to say about writing. I’m fascinated by his process. I think this would be more interesting if I’d read all of the books they talk about in the interviews.
Sadly, I’m currently between poetry books.
9/17/2018
Alexander Hamilton’s Guide to Life by Jeff Wilser – (Morning read) Still making my way through this one. I really like the author’s use of language and how he points out the differences between history and the musical.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. – (Morning read) I am almost done with this book. It’s been enlightening. It’s allowed me some semblance of self-compassion. It’s also given me a perspective and insight about times in my life when I was doing really well and times in my life when I was a trainwreck due to when I was intentionally handling my trauma well and when I wasn’t.
Black Ink ed. by Stephanie Stokes Oliver – (Morning read) I finished this Saturday morning. Wow. It’s worth reading. It’s a good chance this book will give you a perspective about how much you are missing from the scope of American literature. I’ll be posting the full review later this week.
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist by Sunil Yapa – (Morning read.) Loving this book. Some of it is a little disjointed. I have yet to decide if that’s intentional or not.
Outspoken Author Series by various authors from PM Press. (Random moments.) I’m not reading this one as much as I should be. I’m on the third in the series, with Gary Phillips. I’m having a hard time getting into it, but that maybe some of my own prejudices. Will report in once I finish.
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Before bed read.) Still brilliant, delightful, and breath-taking.
Gardening Secrets of the Dead by Lee Herrick. (Random moments.) I’m really enjoying the poems in this book. For those of you from California, especially my Central Valley fans, I think you’ll find some of these poems speaking directly to you. Several of the poems have inspired new additions to the next Lullabies for Dungeon Crawlers book.
Late In the Day by Ursula K Le Guin (Random Moments.) Breathtaking snapshots of nature in words.
NEW THIS WEEK:
Michael Moorcock: Death is No Obstacle by Colin Greenland (Morning read.) – This book of interviews with Michael Moorcock is taking the place of Black Ink in my morning reading. So far I’ve only read one of the essays, which Moorcock talks about his process and what he considers the structure of sword and sorcery. Fascinating insight. Also makes me feel lazy as shit as a writer. Cool anecdote: I received this book as a gift from Michael and Linda Moorcock last spring when I interviewed him for an author spotlight at Silicon Valley Comic Con.
Curiostiy by Alberto Manguel (evening read.) – Last week was kind of crummy. Browsing bookstores and getting interesting looking books is one of my coping mechanisms. Since my post Defining Geek on www.GeekLitTheory.com, I’ve been interested in the curiosity aspect of the geek community. Then, in Barnes and Noble, I see this book titled, Curiosity. It’s an exploration into the nature of curiosity, knowledge, and why we wonder about things. It uses Dante’s Divine Comedy as a guide, which is interesting. It’s given me lots to think about in my approach to The Geek’s Guide to Literary Theory as a panel, a website (including submission guidelines), and the book I envision writing.
9/10/2018
Alexander Hamilton’s Guide to Life by Jeff Wilser – This is my current “self-improvement” book. No secret that I have a bit of an obsession with Alexander Hamilton. This is an irreverent look at ways to incorporate Hamilton’s values and beliefs into your own life. I don’t agree with everything in it, but it’s fun. It also points out some of the differences between the musical and reality.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. – (Morning read) This book is about how our brains and bodies get rewritten by trauma. It’s tough for me to read. I cry sometimes. However, it is helping me understand some of my behaviors and why I react to certain stimuli the ways I do. This book isn’t just for people who have suffered deep trauma in their lives, it’s also a great resource for those close to trauma survivors. I believe every writer should read this book. We largely write about people who go through traumatic events, often times events we haven’t experienced. This book will help in rendering characters who have survived trauma in a far more realistic way.
Black Ink ed. by Stephanie Stokes Oliver – (Morning read) This is a collection of excerpts and essays by black writers about the importance of reading and writing through the course of American history from Frederick Douglas to Barak Obama. Other authors include Maya Angelou, Booker T. Washington, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, Malcome X, Langston Hughes, and others. It’s a fascinating, multi-perspective read about the literary black experience. It’s nuanced and layered. Some of the authors have contradictory experiences, yet speak as if theirs is the universal experience.
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist by Sunil Yapa – (Morning read.) This is another book in my quest to read something from each of the teachers who influenced me during my time at Sierra Nevada College. This book takes place during the protests and riots of the Seattle WTO summit in 1999. I’m 97 pages in, and I love this book. Yapa has a way of describing characters and filling in just enough of their backstory to justify their actions, but not so much as to make me think, can we get back to the story? His figurative language is gorgeous, and I can’t wait to see where this one goes.
Outspoken Author Series by various authors from PM Press. (Random moments.) I’m digging this series of tiny little books by PM Press. Each book represents a different author, containing a piece of fiction, an essay or a second piece of fiction, and an interview with the author. So far I’ve read the first two volumes, Terry Bisson and Kim Stanly Robinson. While I don’t know that I’m going to “like” everything I read, I do think I’m going to enjoy taking in how PM Press puts this reading series together. (the series is twenty books so far.)
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Before bed read.) This is another one of my teachers. I’d already read McCormack’s Notes from a Coma, a truly fascinating and deliciously Irish book. Solar Bones is unlike any book you’ll read. It’s a novel in a single sentence about an Irish Engineer wandering about his house soon after his retirement as his thoughts wander about to different points of his life. McCormack’s prose is stunning, beautiful, vivid, while at the same time being accessible and down-to-earth. Despite being a single sentence, I’m never lost. I’d tell you about some of the delightfully odd memories that the main character has, but that would ruin the surprise for you. Get this book. Read it. Delight in it.
Gardening Secrets of the Dead by Lee Herrick. (Random moments.) This is a book of poetry from one of the teachers in the Sierra Nevada MFA program. I never got a chance to take a class with him, but we had several quiet conversations where he gave me encouragement, advice, and wisdom about being a working writer. The poetry in this book haunts me after I close it and walk away. Several of the poems have made me rethink some of the approaches to poems in my second book of gaming poetry.
Late In the Day by Ursula K Le Guin (Random Moments.) This is a book of poetry by one of the greatest science fiction writers ever. She doesn’t write poetry about science fiction, or what would be considered nerdy things. She writes about the environment, places she goes, moments in time, and simple and complex truths about the human condition. I think I may like her poetry more than her fiction.
