For writers, a wide reading is an asset. Whether you are a romance writer, a fantasy writer, or a writer of literary fiction, reading across the genres gives your writing a sort of depth few other things can provide. There is a cross germination of ideas as you read. Sometimes, you stand back from something you like and wonder how the author did it and at other times, you read terrible writing, and learn what not to do.
I’ve been reading Lost Horizon by James Hilton, and what I really liked about the story is the way Hilton has created a world–a hidden, legendary lamasery in remote mountains, the Shangri-la, where people live longer lives, where the lamas devote their time to contemplation and academic preoccupations.
I particularly love the descriptions:
“To Conway, seeing it first, it might have been a vision fluttering out of that solitary rhythm in which lack of oxygen had encompassed all his faculties. It was, indeed a strange and half-incredible sight. A group of coloured pavilions clung to the mountainside with none of the grim deliberation of a Rhineland castle, but rather with the chance delicacy of flower petals impaled upon a crag…An austere emotion carried the eye upward from the milk-blue roofs to the grey rock bastion above, tremendous as the Wetterhorn above Grindelwald. Beyond that, in a dazzling pyramid, soared the snow slopes of Karakal.”
So what have you been reading recently? And what has moved you the most in the books you have read?
Feel free to post an excerpt from your reading in the comments, so we may all get to know new and exciting, or old and undiscovered books for our future reading lists!
–Damyanti
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5 Comments so far
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[...] take time to read What Have You Been Reading Lately by [...]
By If You Give a Girl a Pen… » Blog Archive » CONFLICT CONTEST: LET THE VOTING BEGIN on 03.30.09 11:16 pm | Permalink
I am reading a Tale of Two Cities again. I just love the language and you can’t ever get past the very first paragraph without wanting to know more. At least I can’t.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were going direct the other way-in short, the period was far like the present period…”
I just get sucked into Darwin’s world so easily!
[Reply]
By Brenna on 03.31.09 9:48 am | Permalink
Brenna means Dickens.
And I read just about everything. I have found that if you read outside your norm, then you open yourself up to learning.
I recently read Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth. I believe there is much to learn here. For one, we learn how a hard working good woman can bring so much confidence to a man. Inspire him to be better. We learn that you can’t eat silver, and having food on hand for emergencies is a necessary thing. I believe if at all possible, you should have a one year food supply for your family. If you’re laid off or lose your job, you can still eat.
One quote really fit, in my mind with today:
“When the rich are too rich there are ways, and when the poor are too poor there are ways…and that way will come soon.” pg. 84
We need to be kind and serve God by serving our fellow-beings. In all our endeavors, seek to do good.
Help each other.
[Reply]
By Sarah on 03.31.09 10:57 am | Permalink
I went back and can’t stop laughing at how stupid I am!!! I am pregnant everyone! I knew it was Dickens, were did I come up with Darwin? I need some sleep I think!
[Reply]
By Brenna on 03.31.09 10:55 pm | Permalink
I have a toddler and a WIP (or 2 or 3) so I hardly read anymore. But just last week I read The Land of Laughs, by Jonathan Carroll. I loved it in so many ways. By the end I wanted to throttle the main character. I am still trying to decide whether this is a good thing.
[Reply]
By Sharon Fisher on 04.01.09 12:20 am | Permalink
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