Monday, January 16, 2012

Reads and regrets . . . and inspirations

All writers read poetry, stories, essays, and novels that make them say, "I wish I'd written that" or "I wish I could write like that." During 2011 I read many books. Some of the ones I thought rose well above the rest:


Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor (I wish I could write like that!)
Twice Born by Margaret Mazzantini
Bent Road by Lori Roy
The Winters in Bloom by Lisa Tucker
The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill

I began the new year well with The Glass Room by Simon Mawer and anticipate more great reads in 2012.

There are many books I can't write, writers I can't match. But there's comfort in knowing what I do write, no one else can.

5 comments:

Jess said...

Well... I don't know what to say. Sometimes I think I should give my idea to someone and say, "Write this. You can do it so much better than I can." But then I think they'll look at me and say, "What a lousy idea this is."

And then where would I be?

Jan Rider Newman said...

You'd be right back to writing it yourself!

Jess said...

No I wouldn't. Not if someone--anyone--told me it was a lousy idea. I. Know. Me.

Angie said...

I love the idea that what we write is unique to us. Like a fingerprint.

Jan Rider Newman said...

I think that is so, Angie.