I just started Francine Prose's
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them to set the tone for my upcoming vacation. She cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted. I ponder at this thought and realize this is the reason I embrace language--I would read and reread the authors I most live, to read for pleasure but also to read analytically, to be conscious of the style, to be aware of the deceptively minor decision the writer makes in a sentence. After all, we were all close readers at an infantile age when we learned how to read the pictorial story books. Demands of other duties and obligations make us skim and read quickly the classics that deserve time and attention. I enjoy reading--to look for crucial revelations that are in the spaces between words.
I just started Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them to set the tone for my upcoming vacation. She cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted. I ponder at this thought and realize this is the reason I embrace language--I would read and reread the authors I most live, to read for pleasure but also to read analytically, to be conscious of the style, to be aware of the deceptively minor decision the writer makes in a sentence. After all, we were all close readers at an infantile age when we learned how to read the pictorial story books. Demands of other duties and obligations make us skim and read quickly the classics that deserve time and attention. I enjoy reading--to look for crucial revelations that are in the spaces between words.
3 Comments:
I've seen that book at the store before and it looks interesting.
I must check out this book. I have a tendency to be a fast reader, it's not that I do it on purpose but it's just habit I guess. Especially if it's a great book then I am usually racing to get to the end. What will make me slow down is poetry. I love to re-read poems, pay attention to language, read them out loud, etc. Really try to "get them".
I'm taking a fiction workshop with David Fulmer. Last night he stated that he rewrites the first act of his novels about four times before he moves on to the second act. This was intimidating, but as I slept on it, I realized that the true art of fiction isn't just in the storytelling--like Dan Brown--but also in the rewriting where we chip away everything that is not essential. I'll have Jeff add this book to our next P.O. Having a bookstore has its perks.
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