Reading and Writing

Writing is a product of the life we live, so it should surprise no one that some of what we read spills over into what we write. I’m not talking about plagiarism, here, just a flash of image or the beginning of a thought from a book read to a book written. For that reason, I thought it might be of some interest to update you on what I’m currently reading.

I finished Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver a couple of weeks ago. I posted earlier that it had gotten me thinking about butterflies and the role they might play in my book. Since then I have read The Driving Lesson by Ben Rehder, a competently written, though predictable young adult novel. I also read about half of Albert of Adelaide by Howard L. Anderson. I was listening to that one, and finally found my mind wandering elsewhere to the point that I just gave up on it. That teacher who told you that if you start a book, you must finish it? Maybe that’s true, if you’re in second grade.

I’m just about finished with the latest C.J. Box book, Breaking Point. I’m listening to that one, and also to Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes. The Box book is a typical Joe Pickett novel, which means a fun read. I’m only about an hour into Don Quixote. I find that what was probably hilarious in 1605 has lost a little verve 500+ years later. It’s a story we know so well--or think we do--that it is almost too much trouble to read it.

Finally, I’m rereading Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft on Kindle. It’s about 3/4 autobiography, with some practical writing tips tossed in. Definitely worth a read if you’re interested in either King or writing.

Will anything from those book leak into what I’m working on? If it does, even I probably won’t know it.