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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Bibliophiles Unite

I'm member at Shelfari a site for bibliophiles. It’s a book lover’s dream real. You can create a virtual library, join book discussion forums based on your tastes, read reviews on books you've wanted to read and there is no shortage of new reads to discover.

As a writer, I can’t take anyone seriously who says he’s a writer but he’s not a reader. If we should write what we know and we can’t know all that we know by personal experience, then reading is a logical way of knowing. Of course reading is important for a host of other reasons, but that is another soapbox topic I won’t make you suffer at the moment.

Anywhoo, what are you currently reading? Do you have a favorite genre? If you don’t mind, please include a brief description of what you’re reading. If you’re not currently reading anything, feel free to share favorite authors and titles.

4 comments:

paisley said...

i did not want you to think i was overlooking our comment on my post, "mama"... yes i do speak out on womans issues,, as i am a woman,, and i have had plenty of issues... anorexia being the one i have no first hand experience with,, but i am no stranger to negative body image...

you asked for my choices of reading material,, i guess you were making reference to the area of womans issues,,, and in that area,, i have none off the top of my head that i can spout off for you.. what i know about being a woman i learned the hard way...

i read for pleasure and to free myself,, to enter into a realm that is out side of my own experience... i do not do much reading on "the issues" i prefer biographical, memoirs, and fiction....

most recently the most interesting book i have read was "a long way gone" memoirs of a boy soldier” by ishmael beah…

other than that i have been reading a lot of biographies of old metal bands and their members,, which i dont think is what you are looking for,, but it was a lot of fun for an old metal head like me to hear first hand what they were really like....

susan said...

Hi paisley, my to-be-read list is way too long. I'm not looking for anything. I asked the question because I am interested in hearing what others read.

Regarding my comments about women's issues, I asked because you write about what plagues us. Our lit group has what I think is a pretty impressive and growing women's lit collection so again, I was simply curious about what you like.

Thanks for weighing in.

Crafty Green Poet said...

I love reading and I agree entirely that anyone who writes needs to read as much as possible. Currently I'm reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything which is going to lead into a long series of books on the history of the earth and human evolution. Bryson being a good place to start as his writing is very accessible. I'm also reading Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which is moving and very informative about the situation of women in China, also short stories by Italo Calvino, first in italian then in English to make sure I understood everything. Plus poetry - W N Herbert in my handbag to read whenever I'm stuck in a queue somewhere and just about to start Chrystos' collection Dream On

susan said...

Hi Crafty Green Poet,I've bought at least one Bryson book for our community library and his name keeps coming up among friends lately. Will have to push him up on my pile of tbr.

Thanks for coming by.