I am currently reading Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party - I need to write a short story for our writers group and am struggling to find time and words, so am hoping for inspiration from Katherine. I haven't read her for a long time and the writing feels familiar but uncertain - like revisiting a place after many years and not quite remembering the streets.
I have also just started The Wild Remedy by Emma Mitchell - after weeks, actually months, of not being able to get out for walks in the countryside I think I have some form of cabin fever. Am not far into the book yet but am finding her insights and honesty helpful.
I've been reading The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph for weeks now. I was really looking forward to this novel, and I *think* I'm enjoying it, but apparently not enough to sit down and concentrate on it for more than ten minutes. I find there are some books that set me off scribbling down loads of ideas, but they tend to be nonfiction.
Hi Sarah so sorry you have been feeling rough. It can be very hard to keep going but I'm wishing you on. I read fiction of all kinds particularly British and Irish fiction. I love Barbara Pym and Anita Brookner in classic women's writing and Clare Keegan plus Alexander MCall Smith's Isobel Dalhousie novels and all of Donna Leon's Veneetian detective novels. I'm reading some old Ursula Bloom books at the moment but I confess I am not enjoying them. However, I have a wonderful biography to look forward to about Alan Rickman and I am saving it for Christmas! I can't live without books and reading.
I read creative nonfiction, most often a blend of memoir and nature writing. Lyrical and descriptive prose which says something truthful but does it eloquently is most often the source of power I rely on to help me write myself. Reading, I find is essential I find to kick-start the word-flow. Recently, new ideas have been slow to come or nonexistent, and I also find writing on schedule doesn't work for me. Though I would love it to! 'Life' just keeps getting in the way. Meanwhile, in between bouts of writing with enthusiasm and trying to believe in actually finishing writing 'the book', reading is an essential pleasure which I couldn't live without.
Currently reading ‘the little stranger’ by Sarah Waters - so far it’s a slow introduction to characters but it’s a mix of Victorian and thriller from what I’ve been able to find out.
Currently rereading ‘the World’s Wife’ by Carol Ann Duffy as I’ve been facilitating a group to write monologues from Ovid’s Heroides’ perspectives
I'm reading a book about Victorian spiritualism. As you do. It's for research for my new book, so maybe that doesn't count? I can't always read much when I'm writing a lot. It's as if I run out of concentration.
Currently reading 'The Hot Gates', a collection of essays by William Golding; to be followed by Denis Johnson, George Saunders, Philip Roth, and a book on Picasso's Guernica... (Confess that I didn't like the Claire Keegan collection that much. Sorry...)
I am currently reading Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party - I need to write a short story for our writers group and am struggling to find time and words, so am hoping for inspiration from Katherine. I haven't read her for a long time and the writing feels familiar but uncertain - like revisiting a place after many years and not quite remembering the streets.
I have also just started The Wild Remedy by Emma Mitchell - after weeks, actually months, of not being able to get out for walks in the countryside I think I have some form of cabin fever. Am not far into the book yet but am finding her insights and honesty helpful.
Great choices, I've not read any Mansfield for years, will have to dig something out!
I've been reading The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph for weeks now. I was really looking forward to this novel, and I *think* I'm enjoying it, but apparently not enough to sit down and concentrate on it for more than ten minutes. I find there are some books that set me off scribbling down loads of ideas, but they tend to be nonfiction.
Hi Sarah so sorry you have been feeling rough. It can be very hard to keep going but I'm wishing you on. I read fiction of all kinds particularly British and Irish fiction. I love Barbara Pym and Anita Brookner in classic women's writing and Clare Keegan plus Alexander MCall Smith's Isobel Dalhousie novels and all of Donna Leon's Veneetian detective novels. I'm reading some old Ursula Bloom books at the moment but I confess I am not enjoying them. However, I have a wonderful biography to look forward to about Alan Rickman and I am saving it for Christmas! I can't live without books and reading.
Hi Sarah,
I read creative nonfiction, most often a blend of memoir and nature writing. Lyrical and descriptive prose which says something truthful but does it eloquently is most often the source of power I rely on to help me write myself. Reading, I find is essential I find to kick-start the word-flow. Recently, new ideas have been slow to come or nonexistent, and I also find writing on schedule doesn't work for me. Though I would love it to! 'Life' just keeps getting in the way. Meanwhile, in between bouts of writing with enthusiasm and trying to believe in actually finishing writing 'the book', reading is an essential pleasure which I couldn't live without.
Currently reading ‘the little stranger’ by Sarah Waters - so far it’s a slow introduction to characters but it’s a mix of Victorian and thriller from what I’ve been able to find out.
Currently rereading ‘the World’s Wife’ by Carol Ann Duffy as I’ve been facilitating a group to write monologues from Ovid’s Heroides’ perspectives
I'm reading a book about Victorian spiritualism. As you do. It's for research for my new book, so maybe that doesn't count? I can't always read much when I'm writing a lot. It's as if I run out of concentration.
Currently reading 'The Hot Gates', a collection of essays by William Golding; to be followed by Denis Johnson, George Saunders, Philip Roth, and a book on Picasso's Guernica... (Confess that I didn't like the Claire Keegan collection that much. Sorry...)