READING ADVENTURES

What a mess!   I walk into the living room and find a coffee table without a spare space for another thing to be put on it, because it’s filled with books and writing materials.   I guess it is sort of a desk in the front of the TV, which I don’t need to be watching but instead READING.   

Among the reading material sit an outdated 2001 calendar book, Garden Maine Style Daybook, that has tiptoed through time but just couldn’t be tossed. A few great photographs lie within the pages every month.   Lovely writing, close to perfection, appear with each picture.   One March photograph is accompanied by this sentence:   “Voluptuous hydrangeas spill over weathered rails”.  It reminds me of teaching again as students were busy making their sentences come alive.   

Another easy and often read book contains over 600 quotations in three chapters labeled Books, Readers, Writers.   Book Love is published for those who still make quotes part of their writing, bringing some meaning to what one is thinking about.    I keep returning to one quote in the READER section that seems to say it all:  “A good reader is the one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary and some artistic sense”.   

Then there is the Booknotes by Brian Lamb about a host of storytellers, reporters and public figures sharing their words of wisdom about writing.    Weekly interviews, with an emphasis on the process of writing and publishing appear in this book.   It’s a C-Span book and reading the introduction is an enjoyable description of what the authors are giving us.   I turn to the first page and find David McCullough’s name.   He talks about his life, his family, adventures he has pursued and examples leading to him being a writer.   The chapters are only three to four pages long, filled with “I needed to know that”, as it drew me closer to the writer.  

A little black book, where chapters are only a page long, is a quiet time read.   A sketch beside each writing is usually a deep thought that requires some thinking.   It’s entitled 101 Things to Learn in Art School by Kit White.   Judy sent it to me months ago and I love it!   The first sentence in the Author’s Note reads “Art is an idea that belongs to everyone”.   Each page is dedicated to an “art thought”.   This book also sits right by a living room chair and continually gets picked up when thinking about art on a different and deeper scale.

When I am composing these stories each week I find myself constantly referring to the book Why We Write About Ourselves where authors leave us with personal suggestions on routines to try when writing.    This sort of a writing Bible for me as words come from accomplished authors. 

The Magic of Memoir describes the challenges that occur while writing our stories and discovering things about ourselves, giving us tips for dealing with “practical writing”.

I’m not sure why Writing a Novel was purchased.   There must be something in it that motivated me to buy it.   I’m still searching for it.

Then on a lighter note is a “grand memoir” by Rick Bragg called All Over but the Shoutin’ that is filled with great writing and so far a good story where words get read while relaxing in the afternoon. 

The TV Guide  seems to fly into my lap around 5:00 and the saved People, lurks in the shadows, taking a place beside the good literature.  For there are days when “trash” delights the eye over deep thinking reads.

Here sits all kind of literature which continues to motivate me to WRITE, referring to these reads often.   I can't get rid of them!    They are a part of me.   So, I continue to pull one of them off the shelf when I'm stuck on the written word.