End of Day Reading

In a recent blog, Sia McKye wondered how writers can be writers if they're not also readers. I wonder about that, too.

If I'm in a bad mood when I think of writers who don't read, then I'm likely to say that anyone who doesn't care about reading fiction, probably doesn't really care much about writing it well.

If I'm in a good mood, I see those who don't read as missing a great opportunity to explore the nature of the story and how it can be told.

If I'm in a neutral mood, I tend to notice that those who see reading as too much of a luxury in a busy day seem to still find time to watch a ton of TV a week.

When I'm working on a book review and/or end up with a page-turner, the book I'm reading begins taking over more and more of my day. I don't want to do anything else, or else the deadline for the review's coming up fast.

Day in and day out, I spend the last 30-40 minutes of each day reading. I find it to be a good way of shutting off the cares of the day whether those cares are the latest political issues or the work I'm doing here at the desk. Others, spend time in a steaming bathtub with candles and tea and scented water; some love sitting in a sunny garden to relax. Others listen to music. Books are both my enjoyment and my meditation.

Tonight, I'll pick up Sunetra Gupta's latest novel "So Good in Black." I like her stores and her use of language, so I'm savoring this one, and it takes me far away from everything on my mind that might otherwise keep me awake.

Last week, I was finishing another fast-moving and hilarious Beth Ciota novel, this one, "The Fall of Rome."

My end of day reading is diverse, though it usually tends more toward literary fiction than commercial fiction because my meditations, as I see these times, focus more on words than stories. It's a writer's favorite food.

Odds and Ends

TODAY'S AUTHOR: I'll be David Ewen's guest on the March 20th edition of "Today's Author" on COS Internet Radio between 8:30 and 8:45 p.m. eastern Daylight time. Click here to listen.

SIA McKYE: On March 25th, I'll be a guest of Sia McKye's "Over Coffee" weblog. While the conversation is focused on writers and writing, I hope it will be fun for readers as well. Click here on (or after) 3/25 to read and leave comments.

BOOK REVIEWS: I enjoyed Peeper by Paul Chandler, a fast moving book about a man who can read minds. I also enjoyed Saara's Passage by Karen Autio; set in Canada in 1914, it's a beautifully written sequel to Second Watch (2005) Secret Son, Laila Lalami's debut novel, to be released on April 21, is a very special book about a young man growing up in a Casablanca slum. (Click on the links to see my reviews.)

LOST FRIENDS: My wife and I lost two good friends last week who were killed in an automobile accident at a rural intersection. Long-time Jefferson residents, they have been active volunteers and neighbors, impacting many people's lives in a very positive way. We will miss them. At times like these, a comment from Bengali poet and mystic Rabindranath Tagore comes to mind: "Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come."

Malcolm

Snowfall

Six inches of snow are enough for officials to call a snow day for students throughout Jackson County, 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Now, where did I leave that old set of studded snow tires?

Somebody on Twitter asked this morning how the snow is affecting us. So far so good as the power flickers from time to time rather than going out. Makes me glad we have APC surge protectors with battery backup for our computers.

There's been more time to read. I just finished a review of Secret Son by Laila Lalami and am now reading Saara's Passage by Karen Autio.

I'm giving some thought to clearing away some of these piles of paper that have drifted high along the counters and desk in my office and them seemingly frozen there even though each item seemed important when it was carefully added to the top of the clutter.

With no grocery shopping to do this morning (my usual Monday morning chore), I had more time to put out a fresh block of suet for the red bellied woodpecker who was, instead, pecking at the few remaining seeds in a feeder. The titmice and chickadees and cardinals now have a fresh storehouse of sunflower seeds. There are breadcrumbs out there for the bluejays. Crunching about in the frozen snow was certainly more relaxing than wheeling a cart up and down the aisles at the grocery.

Since I don't have to commute several hours to work, I can enjoy our snow day, though I'm not enough of a kid to go outside and make any snow angels in the front yard.