I was a voracious reader long, long before I ever wrote stories of my own. I was hooked from my first encounter with Go Dog, Go. I used to win public library summer reading contests (the prizes for which were always more books) and classroom contests designed to get non-readers to read (I was never very popular). Writing a good story always seemed so impossibly mystical that it never even occurred to me to try it until my early 20s. Those first stories were wretched — let us never speak of them again.
But the point is, the more I started to write, the less and less I read. Not because I didn’t want to or because I was worried about copying, but because I became a jaded, hard-to-please reader. I’m not entirely clear on when this happened or how, or even what I can do to make it stop, but I’m ashamed to say it has become very very difficult for me to get through a novel. The reason I started writing is because I love reading, so what does this mean? I shudder to think.
Historically, I have had a couple of emergency books I could go to when the non-reading got really bad. Books I know I love and that inspire me. But — I don’t know. My reading ennui is turning into one of those antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. Sometimes, even the books I love can’t keep me interested. Which is why, when I started today to reread The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (by John Barth), I was relieved. Because this book is amazing, and inspiring, and I’m getting to enjoy it again… I may be a little more jaded this time, but I’m going to think of it as an ability to read with a slightly different perspective. I love this book. You should read it. And, now that I’m back on the reading wagon, I want to know what you (if there are any yous out there anymore) reread when you need inspiration. I need more books to add to this pitifully short list.
I’m having a different version of the same problem. I always seem to be reading things I think I should be reading and don’t always pick things purely because I hope to enjoy them. And my reading time is so limited that I don’t get through anything fast. While I was at my Mom’s I grabbed her copy of The Blind Assassin. I remember while I was reading it the first time I was thinking about reading it again. But first I have a couple of other things to finish and a loaner I need to read and return and …
Some of this list is the same since we first met (eleven years ago!), so if any repeat, apologies:
The Golden Notebook
Dan and Mara — Doris Lessing
Oryx and Crake
The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood
Any of the Dragonriders of Pern books — Anne McCaffery
Nation, or anything else — Terry Pratchett
The Children’s Book
The Virgin in the Garden
etc — A.S. Byatt
I can usually find something by these authors that I haven’t yet read. Good luck!
Most of my go-to books would be things you’d hate. I really enjoyed “Liar” which was my Pam Present in Madison. It’s YA, but the kind that is BOTH well written and easy to read.
Also, you’ve probably already read her stuff, but I “discovered” Edith Wharton several years ago and read everything she ever wrote. “The Enchanted April” is this really sweet book about a group of ladies who rent a house together. It’s better than it sounds and it reminds me of what CW would have been like if we were all little old ladies.