“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading…. a writer will turn over half a library to make one book.”
Read as much as you can; it’s the most basic advice for writers, isn’t it?*** It’s why I don’t quite trust people who have no books around the house, and why any writer who says “I don’t read so I can maintain the purity of my own writing” is full of shite.
My Dad recently gave me a copy of Nick Hornby’s “The Complete Polysyllabic Spree” in which the “High Fidelity” author details the books he buys, month by month, as well as reviewing the books he actually reads. I was heartened to see how many books made it onto his bookshelves, but how few of them he finished. I also have walls full of the damn things, with overflow boxes into the garage. When we sold our last house, prospective buyers would say, “What a lot of books - have you read them all?” as if I’d merely bought them from Ikea by the metre like so much decorative bunting.
There are very few books in the house that I haven’t read cover to cover, usually several times. It’s only recently I’ve felt able to give up on a book I’m not enjoying. That’s doing an English degree for you; you get so used to ploughing through set texts that not finishing a book feels rather naughty, even if a novel’s so dull, objectionable or badly written that it makes you want to rip it up and kick it downstairs. (I’ve only actually done that once, and it was Gina Ford – but that’s another story).
My reading habits change by the week – one of the great things about writing is the excuse to read a big stack of books for research, whether it’s for story background or a non-fiction article. I do abuse this – I’ve been getting away with reading ‘Heat’, ‘Hello’ and ‘Okay’ for the last year because I tell my husband it’s all vital research for the ‘deranged celebrities’ novel I’m working on. Last month I wrote a story about the Great War and devoured books about trench warfare and now I’ve got a huge pile about religion in late 17th Century England. Can’t wait.
It’s also interesting to see where people have reading blindspots. Some of mine are: good poetry (too intense, it makes me weep), bad poetry (just plain embarrassing), Chicklit (I resent that ‘marriage solves everything’ triteness), and George Eliot (dunno why – she’s just a total miserablist).
Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the stuff I’ve read this month, in no particular order, and maybe you could all recommend things you’ve read recently and really enjoyed (or warn us off the ones you’ve hated…)
Russell Brand – “My Booky Wook”
Frank, funny, with a great ‘voice’ but oh so horribly manipulative. He thinks describing how louche and ambitious he is makes it all okay, and unfortunately he does seem to be getting away with it.
Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons -“Watchmen”
I hadn’t read a graphic novel for years, but it’s billed as one of ‘Time’ Magazine’s ‘100 best novels’ and it’s about to be released as a film and I love that crossover between movies and books. It is very good indeed. (So far. My husband has now pinched it, so I’m only ¾ through.)
Haruki Murakami – “South of the Border, West of the Sun” and “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman”
Great stuff. Evocative, haunting and strangely reassuring. Sometimes simply telling a story, or maybe telling a story simply, is enough…
Terri Prone – “Dancing with the Angel”
Weird one this; the novelistic equivalent of one of those cars that’s made from welded together bits of other cars. It starts out as a thriller, quite dark and with lots of personal tragedy and mystery, and then it veers off into a Marian Keyes-style humorous Irish romance, bejesus. Like the author changed her mind half way through, or her publisher suddenly demanded a happy ending…
Linwood Barclay – “No Time for Goodbye”
Yes, and life’s too short for reading this. Okay, it’s a page-turner, but has character and plot holes you could drive a 4 x 4 through and is the most psychologically unconvincing crime novel I have ever read. One of those books that depending on your mood, cheers you up because you know you can write so much better than this, or makes you despair that such nonsense reaches #1 on the bestseller list. I’d love to find out what other people think about this one, but please borrow it from the library ‘cos I don’t think the author deserves any more royalties for such a shonky book! (God, what an awful thing to say…)
Emma Seaman
‘Short stories a speciality’
*** Ah, now whether it’s the best advice to writers is another matter – personally I think the best advice to anyone who says “I want to write” is “Well bloody write then!” Took me quite a while...
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