Things I've Read, December 2015: Content (and annual eBook Secret Santa swap!)
Dear reader,
It's been sort of a strange year. And lately, I've been reminded and reminding myself of the simple things:
- No really, you should exercise.
- Sometimes it's easier to do things when you distract your brain into looking the other way.
- Friends are more than important: the kind of friends where you can't even feign at pretence; the kind of friends who've seen you at your worst, and so anything else is just cherry on the delicious friendship cake you've made together.
- The more time you take to work out what you should be doing, the less time everything else takes.
- Patience with yourself is everything.
None of which is rocket science, but hey, I'm just a guy who reads and writes things.
Lately, I've been reading Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald, it's a book that was recommended as I tried (and failed at NanoWrimo [which is okay—see last point above]). It's a book not so much about writing as about story: about how to put together the skeleton and structure of the story you want to tell. It's one of those small helpful books that's helped me flesh out some things that I've felt but not articulated about story—and the way it works—but it also sometimes seems to cherry-pick its examples a bit too neatly. Nevertheless, it's worth having in a writer's collection.
For my current writing project, somewhat to my surprise, I find myself reading Nothing Lasts Forever which is the book that Die Hard (the greatest Christmas movie ever) is based on. It's actually surprisingly good: I was expecting airport fare, but Roderick Thorp was a crime writer with some chops, and there's a certain terse, and gritty substance to this one. Of course, fans are the movie are always going to be disappointed with the corresponding lack of Alan Rrrrickman.
Thanks to the amazing Kathleen, I've started reading A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly. Prompted by my statement last letter that I most enjoy detective novels in other cultures and times, this is both: the story of Ben January, a black man in 1830's New Orleans, pre-Civil War. It's actually fantastically written, filled with lovely details, and great sympathy for the race issues at hand.
I've also been drifting in and out of Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the story of three teenage outsiders and their discovery that music is magic. Some of the best parts of the book are when nothing happens: because when you're a teenager and outsider, that's sort of what happens.
Finally! Last year it was fun and by popular demand (two people asked) we're doing it again: an ebook-based Secret Santa. For just $10 or so, you can get the satisfaction of giving. And a present of an ebook. And a slightly awkward interaction with a near-stranger. Just click here and fill in the thirty-second survey, and I'll be in touch soon about your giftee.
May your Christmas be literary. As always, thank you for reading.
Guan