J. M. Levinton

Yes, I Reread Books

• November 03, 2014
• Blog, reading
• 2 Comments

*

“But why? Why reread a book? Isn’t that boring? You know how everything ends! I mean, if it’s a series and you need to refresh your memory, I guess I can see it….”

“I reread standalone novels as well.” I shrugged. This conversation almost always goes the same way, with a baffled person on the other end of it.

So I’m going to try and explain here. When I reread a story, it’s not about the ending. This is so important, I’m going to give it its own line space:

It’s not about the ending.

There’s a certain tension when I read a story for the first time, because I don’t know how it will turn out and I hope for the best. But after that, it becomes a place to go to again.

Why is that strange? How many people visit the same vacation spot year after year? No one thinks anything’s wrong with that.

I get to meet the characters again like old friends and revel in their adventures, similar to taking the same ride at an amusement park every summer. No one blinks an eye at Disneyworld. And reruns! People watch reruns on TV and buy season DVDs with the intention, I believe, of watching their favorite episodes more than once.

But say you reread books? That’s weird.

So this is the best explanation of why I reread books. I like them and want to experience their lives more than once.

Yeah. It’s weird.

 

 * Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

 

 

Reading Other Writers on the Path

• October 27, 2014
• Blog, reading, writing
• No Comments

*

 

I’ve read books that explain grammar and editing. While they offer necessary advice, those are not the ones I want to talk about here. I enjoy reading about writers discussing the journey, the weird, quirky, baffling journey that I’m on as a writer.

I thought I’d share a few of my favorites with you, the ones I’ll pick up off the shelf and dip into, reading where the book opens. In no particular order:

Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg

If you haven’t read this, run and pick up a copy. I remember the first time I began reading it. I was on the subway, squished between people on the long gray bench as the car rattled and swayed. I read a few of her essays and was filled with the sudden strong desire to write and had to close the book. I had to go to work and, sadly, there was no time. But really, how could I not like a book with chapters titled “Fighting Tofu” and “Do Not Marry the Fly?”

For Writers Only, by Sophy Burnham

I adore this book. Her comments are interspersed with quotes from many authors and they give me such a feeling of we’re all in this together and it’s all fine. Some quotes she gathered:

“The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.” —Agatha Christie

“Walking on water wasn’t built in a day.” —Jack Kerouac

“I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work. —Pearl Buck

The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear, by Ralph Keyes

We like to think we’re normal. But it’s easy to wonder, in the solitude of our chosen career, whether we really are. The simplest things attack our brains and Ralph Keyes goes a long way to bringing them out into the spotlight and helping them fade away.

One chapter starts off with this:

A friend of mine named Lorraine left an insurance company to become a writer. After a few days, Lorraine called to get some pointers about her new career. “You’ve been writing for a few years, right?” she began.

“Right,” I answered.

“Well, I have a very important question to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“Do you get dressed in the morning or what?”

 

I read these words and a weight shifted off my shoulders. I was not alone in pondering this difficult question. In fact, opening his book at random to see what would be good to share made me realize it’s time to reread this one. See ya next week!

 

The Joy of Reading Indie

• September 22, 2014
• Blog, reading
• 4 Comments

*

 

I’m late to the indie game, for three reasons. First, because I have only a Kindle App, any ebooks I buy must be read on my computer. Second, there was an element of snobbery. I envisioned wading through piles of slush and rolling my eyes in despair to find something good to read. After all, traditional publishers have been the gatekeepers, the ones to keep bad writing from landing on the shelf, right?

And third is the cost. I’m a voracious speed reader and I reread books. So there are many times where I’ll get a book from the library and decide it’s something I’ll want to read again, and then I’ll buy it. Libraries don’t stock indie books, whether ebook or paperback. So there’s a higher monetary risk.

Twitter changed my perception. I saw many writers with self-published books and as I read the descriptions and reviews, I realized that it might take a little more work to find something I’d like to read, but that’s always been the case with reading books published traditionally as well.

So I took the plunge and was very glad I did. These are three I’ve read recently:

Alice K. Boatwright’s Under an English Heaven: An Ellie Kent Mystery, a charming, down-to-earth cozy. I look forward to future books in the series.

Edward M. Erdelac’s Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Planes Drifter, is definitely different. A Hasidic gunslinger who hunts demons in the Old West. I was impressed with the quiet prose that crept into horror so deftly.

Peter John’s Dead Medium, a humorous spin on the afterlife—what if the medium was already dead?

 

*Image courtesy of adamr at FreeDigitalPhotos.net