associated in random thought

books and more books for me

i think that it must be an (un?)written rule that when writers are stuck, or empty, or bored with their undertakings, they overload themselves with books. naturally, there are many reasons for this phenomenon:

1. to see how other authors pull it all off
2. to fill up on other inspiration and ideas
3. to steal said ideas and call them your own
4. pure, unadulterated procrastination
5. to distract themselves from pesky panic attacks.

as for me, i choose options 1-5.

and the books?

let's see. i've been raiding the library for various james baldwin essays, as well as eudora welty's the optimist's daughter. i confess, i'm having trouble getting interested in the latter. does that make me less educated?

i've also been frequenting amazon's zshops, where one pays $4.00 for shipping on a $.97 used book. i like this arrangement. thus far, i'm developing quite the collection:

a book (whose title eludes me at the moment) about sexual/spiritual development of anne frank and etty hillesum through study of their holocaust writings. a bit heavy, really.

nick hornby's a long way down. good novel of why/how not to commit suicide.

stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers by mary roach. morbidly entertaining. quite enlightening, too.

a complicated kindness by miriam toews. good old-fashioned story about being ostracized from your community.

encyclopedia of an ordinary life by amy krouse rosenthal. genius. and funny. very anne lamott in abc order.

travels with charley by steinbeck. awaiting this one. but it sure looks good. i thought i'd read it with my charleydog.

so there you have it: my summer reading list. any other suggestions for me?

pee ess: for a nice summer list of new books, salon is always a good source...

Posted by bananie at July 8, 2005 11:32 AM | TrackBack