Weekly Book Post

Writing time is definitely cutting into my reading time.

After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris. A slim little book that summarizes what happened to all the characters. The best part is the illustrated alphabet that introduces each section. I did like hearing what happened to some of the minor characters. But's it's not worth the price. Also I rather preferred my imagination to having her specify the ultimate fates.

The Body in the Snowdrift by Katherine Hall Page. Meh. Not really up to par. I didn't care for the plot. Faith is too much of the superwoman in this one.

Dead As a Dodo by Jane Langton. Not one of my favorites in this series but still enjoyable. This one is set in Oxford. There's a lot about Darwin and Lewis Carroll. I didn't find the mystery as persuasive as usual and the characters weren't as interesting as usual. Still, it had her cute drawings.

The writing process

For a few weeks prior to the start of NaNoWriMo, I was thinking about the writing process. I read a couple of books by well-known authors about their approaches and a couple of books with writing exercises so that I could limber up my mind and fingers, as it were.

Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster. The book collects a series of lectures he gave in 1927. It's a classic: he analyzes story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm. The story appeals to our curiosity, the plot to our intelligence, and pattern appeals to our aesthetic sense. Values come from people. I loved the way he took chronology out of his analysis. The image of all those authors gathered in one room was highly entertaining on several levels.

Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood. An interesting book. She explores who writers are writing for, why they do it, and where it comes from. She concludes that writing is about entering the darkness and illuminating it. She doesn't cover the hows or wheres but why. She has interesting things to say about the role of the reader and also about the role commerce plays. This is also a compilation of lectures she gave.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. A collection of short essays on writing. She covers a wide variety of topics including where to write, exercises to get started, writing buddies, and the importance of listening. There's some repetition but it's helpful overall. I also enjoyed her occasional discussions of Zen practices.

The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron. This book is very specifically about the writing process. At the end of each short chapter she has writing exercises. I liked the examples she drew from her own life and the insights she had into the writing process. I like the way she rooted her process into her locale.