List of 10...

There is a Facebook status that was making the rounds in my group of friends a while ago, and it's one I wish would come back. It's simple. You list 10 books that have stayed with you for whatever reason. You do it quickly...no over-thinking. Then you ask, cajole, and/or order your friends to do it as well. I like it for numerous reasons: 1) I like it anytime we talk books; 2) it interests me because it isn't planned. These are supposed to be snap judgments; 3) writing my list reminded me of many wonderful people who have given me the right book at the right time; and 4) this list could change drastically due to the quick forum that is Facebook--I feel like every time I would think of ten different books. On Facebook, you simply list them, but I wanted to explain why I chose the books I did because they all made me approach reading and the world in a different and new way.

So here is my quick list turned not-so-quick with explanations:
1. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
My sister gave me Cannery Row to read when I was probably a little too young to understand its nuance. But I loved it. It filled me with feelings I had had before but had never articulated. When I was older and read it again, I realized it had helped me learn how to articulate them. After I read Cannery Row, I found The Winter of Our Discontent. I asked to borrow it, and my sister, who always knows best, told me I probably was too little. I read it anyway, or rather I read to within a page and a half of the ending and couldn't go any further. It broke me. It was too sad, too despondent. Years later I read it and loved it, but I needed those years before I could understand the beauty and hope and love that carry you to the end of that story.  

What I Like in a Story

I've read so many books recently that were interesting concepts or great writing but the stories have been terrible. I have come to the realization that the books I love are the books that tell good or amusing or heartfelt stories. I'm in a book club, and our last pick was Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist. Colson Whitehead is a good writer. But man is this story boring. The whole time I read it, I thought why didn't he write an article about race? The story concerns him not at all, so why bother with it? If you aren't going to tell a good story, why tell one at all?

I understand that "good" is a relative word, but when I can't ever forget that the author, I feel like maybe the author hasn't succeeded. Which brings me to myself. As well as reading a great deal, I write. I had a great idea for a book, or so I thought. Until I realized I've been writing a great concept and looking at an issue of storytelling which fascinates me, but I'm not telling a good story. I'm focusing on the wrong things. As Stephen King would say, I need to shut the door to the world. Write my story and then invite the world back in.