Recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to read a lot more than I have been. I’ve read a couple of books in the past few months, but to take things to the next level I feel like I should be reading at least one or two novels a week.
I came to this conclusion last week after visiting the Provo Library to pick up a copy of Gettysburg (the movie based on The Killer Angels) that was on hold for me. Unfortunately, someone had misplaced it, but since I was there I took some time to browse the shelves.
Holy cow, it’s been a while since I was surrounded by actual physical books. I get about 60% to 70% of my books nowadays on my kindle, so browsing through the shelves, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I picked up the last Drenai book that I haven’t yet read (finished it today, actually), a classic by Heinlein, and an Alliance-Union novel by C.J. Cherryh.
The thing about physical library books, though, is that if you don’t read and return them in time, they tend to cost you money. LOTS of money. I can’t tell you how much I’ve paid in library fines over the years–it seems like every time I go to check something out, I have to pay a couple of bucks. What can I say–I’m not a very disciplined reader. But this time, I figured I would actually go through and do it. That’s why I limited myself to just three (or was it four?).
If you’re a writer, reading voraciously is essential. Not only is it a great way to pick up new tricks, it’s absolutely vital in keeping your sense of story honed and sharp. I wonder how much of what we call “writers block” would actually best be solved, not by just writing through it, but taking some time to just immerse yourself in a good book and recharge your creative batteries by filling your mind with story.
Another reason to read is that it helps to keep you from being stretched too thin by online distractions and obligations. I picked up this tip from Jeff VanderMeer in his writing book, Booklife. It’s a good one. Basically, if you find yourself wasting too much time on the internet, cycling endlessly through your email, your facebook, your twitter, webcomics, message boards, blog aggregator, sales stats etc etc–the best way to break free of that addictive cycle is to sit down and read a book.
A couple of days later, I was at Leading Edge and noticed that they have a whole bunch of unread ARCs in their cabinet. A couple of small publishers send them stuff every couple of months, and it tends to accumulate, especially in the summer when most of the students are gone. Well, I ended up coming home with three of them, with a promise that I’d read and review a couple before the next issue goes out in June.
Not that I’m complaining–not at all. In fact, I’m excited. I’ve been doing a lot to rework my routine recently, mostly having to do with writing in the mornings and finding a good place outside of my apartment to get stuff done. I find that it helps to take frequent breaks when writing, so if I can fill those with reading instead of useless internet browsing, I figure I’ll be in good shape. I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks how that goes.
In the meantime, I’ve got to go, but you can expect another squeeing fanboy review of David Gemmell soon–as in, probably tomorrow. I just finished the last remaining bok in the Drenai series that I hadn’t yet read, and holy crap, it is AMAZING. It makes me want to go through and read the whole series all over again! At the same time, I’m so sad that there aren’t any more of these books left anymoer–if Gemmell had written a hundred Drenai books, I would have read (and gone fanboy crazy over) every last one of them. Sadly, that is not to be. But maybe when my soul passes over to the Void, I can sit at his feet and hear them direct from the mouth of the master … okay I’d better end this before I go all fanboy again. Later.
