I doubt I’ll finish any of the other books I’m currently reading before Monday, so here’s my list of books read in February.
Nonfiction
- Technologized Desire, by D. Harlan Wilson
- Archaeologies of the Future, by Fredric Jameson
- One Nation Under Dog, by Michael Schaffer
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
- Earth, Air, Fire & Water, by Scott Cunningham
- Biotechnology And the Human Good, by C. Ben Mitchell, Edmund D. Pellegrino, Jean Bethke Elshtain, John F. Kklner, and Scott B. Rae
Fiction
- Promise of the Wolves, by Dorothy Hearst
- American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
- In A Perfect World, by Laura Kasischke
- Fragment, by Warren Fahy
I thought I’d make a post at the end of every month listing the books I’ve read. I already keep track of this on Goodreads, but I thought a month-by-month breakdown might be fun. Here’s the post for January.
Nonfiction
- Writing Down The Bones, by Natalie Goldberg
- Give ‘Em What They Want, by Blythe Camenson
- The Case Against Perfection, by Michael J. Sandel
- Speculations on Speculation, edited by James Gunn and Matthew Candelaria
- Opium Culture, by Peter Lee
Fiction
- Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
- Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
- Tales of H.P. Lovecraft
- The Unincorporated Man, by Dani Kollin and Etyan Kollin
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
- Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters, by Kathleen Ragan
- Biting The Sun, by Tanith Lee
- Genesis, by Bernard Beckett
- Everything That Rises Must Converge, by Flannery O’Connor
Fiction writers must read fiction.
Wait, let me re-phrase that. Fiction writers who want to be good fiction writers must read fiction. Frequently. Widely. Voraciously. Apart from writing, it’s the best way to improve your abilities as a storyteller, a writer, a wordsmith, a wordweaver. Writing fiction without reading fiction is like exhaling without inhaling, talking without listening. It’s like teaching without knowing your subject. Dispensing wisdom when you haven’t lived.
Tell me what you’re reading. Tell me what you’ve read in the past and still think about today. Tell me about books that seduced you with their delicious, rich imagery. Tell me about the stories you want to swim in.
