Also, a bit of a book review. It's been awhile since I've been here. It feels good to be back. I had my issues with 2015 but she's gone and I'm moving on. So just to get started I wanted to tell you about a new class I'm taking with Christina Greve, called Slow Down with Stills. Each week we will receive a prompt to help us stay focused on slowing down while taking stills. She is such an awesome person and her posts each week are so inspiring. This is for week one. It's a combination slowing down lesson for me but also a book review for you. I'm way behind in my book reviews.
This weeks prompt is nuanced textures of life. It is to showcase a part of my daily life that I wish to pay more attention to. That was so easy for me. I feel like I pay so much attention to everything else and yet I let my one big love down every year...No, not Jim. The book pile. Each year I promise to read more, give myself permission to do the things I really love and stop putting them at the bottom of my to-do list. I want to move them up to Top Priority. Although I did o.k last year, I didn't read as many books as I wanted to. I also spent more time fluffing through magazines than reading hard core books and photography lessons. So this year...I've doubled my expectations for myself. I've already carved out slots of time and I've stopped some wasteful magazine subscriptions. Feeling good about making space, everyday, for reading. Feeling good about lesson one being complete for Slow Down With Stills and feeling very good about being back...
Just a quick review from some of my favorites from 2015:
One of my favorite writing books this year was Stephen King on Writing. Five stars from me. It was different and unique and because I loved it so much my husband gave me his newest book of short stories for a Christmas gift. The first half of this book was surprisingly a mini autobiography which was utterly fascinating and the second half was his thoughts about writing. Some really good tips and a different spin than most writers, and purely entertaining. Honestly, I couldn't put it down.
I also read Ernest Hemingway on Writing. Such a really enjoyable book. It's very easy to read, has lots of quotes and he tells his story in small tidbits so you can pick it up and put it down easily. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. The first book I ever read of his was The Old Man and Sea, which won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. I could not get that book out of my head and continue reading him time and again.
The last writing book I read was by Jeff Goins, You Are A Writer. I think it is worth a read. I found lots to underline and to look back over. Some very good tips. I read with the hope of finding something that sparks me, even if the entire book isn't overflowing with advice. That's what I found with this book, but honestly, I found enough to keep me going.
Moving on to some fun and entertaining books, which you have probably read by now because I'm so late reporting on them...but just in case you haven't.
I read one Memoir, The Liar's Club by Mary Kerr. The reason I read that book was because I have heard so much about what a great writer she is. So I thought I would start with her story. Honestly, I didn't finish the book. Very dark and depressing and maybe because there was a similar string that ran through that book for me, I decided to leave it. She has also written Cherry and Lit, which I have heard good things about but I'm thinking those are also biographical so I probably won't read them either. This was the only book that I did not finish and I tried really hard. I got to page 149. In this new year if I notice that a book isn't doing it for me, I'm letting go a lot sooner than that.
A quick read that I loved...if your a fan of E.B White you might like Here is New York. In the summer of 1948, E.B. White sat in a New York City hotel room and, sweltering in the summer heat , wrote a remarkable, pristine essay, Here is New York. If you love E.B.White or New York, you will love this little book.
Two other small ones that I'll group together here. Steal Like an Artist..a good one. Then The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly...love this book. I would recommend both of these and they are keepers.
Just for pleasure...I loved them all. After You, by Jojo Moyes. A good read but not as good as You Before Me..but a good book. All The Light We Cannot See...love, love, loved this book. Rumi and the Red Handbag, by Shawna Lemay...you may have heard of her. Enjoyed this book. Finally, for now, Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue..simply a fun book to read. 1748 working class London. Very descriptive of London in those days, and the story of a strong willed girl. I just sank into this one. Emma Donoghue also wrote the book Room..which I read a few years ago...that was a fantastic book also and now it is out in film in the states.
So there you have it...some of my very favorites. This year my goal is to read two books at a time, one technical and one for fun. It seems the technical never get read because the fun books speak louder. Not sure how it will all end up but I'm off to a good start. I'm on my second book and I'm almost done with a book of poetry...Thanks for stopping by and happy reading...
"All my life I've looked at words as though I was seeing them for the first time." Ernest Hemingway
"Books help me breath better. It's that simple." Nina George