To do great writing, read great writing. Here’s the great writing I’ve been reading this week:
Once this whole blogathon madness is over, do you know what I’m going to do? Read.
It’s kind of funny, because frankly, I read all day long. But all day long I read email, message boards, rough drafts of blog posts I’m writing, first drafts of manuscripts from writers I edit, newspaper stories, Twitter feeds, Facebook status updates, blog post comments, and on and on. Bite-sized reading and lots of it.
What I’m hankering for is something longer, more nourishing, like a steak after too many dinners of microwaved soup and cheese quesadillas. Something that feeds my curiosity, challenges my way of thinking, makes me say, “Damn, I wish I’d written that.”
I’ve been stockpiling summer reading material for when June rolls around. Here’s some of it:
Nearly 100 fantastic pieces of journalism (The Atlantic) – Sadly, I’m only familiar with a handful of the stories on this list, compiled by Conor Friedersdorf, an associate editor at The Atlantic and founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction. Based on what I have read, like Chris Jones’ profile of Roger Ebert, I can’t wait to dig in. Yes, this is the same list I mentioned in a post about content curation – it’s good enough to mention twice.
Books – These have been sitting on my nightstand since March, and I’m no further into any of them now then I was then: Like Water for Elephants, Bell Canto, What the Dog Saw, The Big Short.
2011 Pulitzer Prize winners – This year’s winners included exposes of small-town government corruption from the Los Angeles Times and property insurance gone wrong from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and a tale of fishing boat lost at sea from the (Newark, N.J.) Start Ledger.
My Twitter Favorites feed – This isn’t exactly long-form journalism, but I use the Favorites feed to bookmark stories to read later – except that lately, later never comes. Which reminds me, I still need to set up my account on Instapaper, another tool for saving longer (and other) stories you see online to read later on a PC, laptop or iPad.
What’s on your summer reading list?
Like you, Michelle, I read and write all day long but can’t wait for the chance to delve into some good fiction and creative non-fiction.
We’re (hopefully!) taking an early summer break at the cottage starting next week… Yay! For fiction I have both Depression Cookies and Valhalla from fellow Blogathon participants Tia Bach and Jen Willis to read. I’m really looking forward to both!
And for creative non-fiction, I have a few memoirs stacked up; first on the list is Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere by John Nathan.
I, too, am going to get back to some reading (I also do a review blog). I’ve loved Blogathon, every second of it, but it’s been my reading this month. Not that I’m complaining, but my huge pile of books is gathering dust and looks all lonely next to the bed.
Lisa, thanks for the shout-out, and I have Valhalla on my Kindle needing some love come June 1!!
Hi Michelle,
I like one Dickens for the summer, which this year is David Copperfield.
I’ve also become fascinated by James Baldwin and have one of his old novels in a 1970’s edition; not a first edition, but an edition close to the time it was first published. It’s like being part of history. A Kindle won’t ever be able to do that.
Uh, that being said: I have “The Jungle” and “A Confederacy of Dunces” on my Kindle, the former a first-read and the latter, I don’t know, a dozenth read at least.