In the special part of my brain reserved for book related ephemera is a running list of my all-time favorite novels. I update the list quarterly in the event that I must spend the rest of my life on a remote island and will only be permitted ten books. So when this happens, I’ll be ready. I’ll shrug and say, “Sure, give me a minute. They’re on the middle shelf of my small bookshelf: Love Medicine, One Thousand Years of Solitude, Dalva…”

I should add that this remote island will have a special reading deck with a mini bar, and one of those ridiculously expensive Eames reading chairs. The ones that cost five thousand dollars (ottoman included). I’ve been told the island has a great Wi-Fi connection, so I’ll be able to keep up with my editing responsibilities. In which case I’ll definitely want to amend my list to include some books on writing. Here are my top three:

1.     Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, by Elmore Leonard. 

Leonard’s rules are as clear as they are simple and elegant. Essentially, he’s packed an entire writing course into ninety-six pages. There are pictures, too!

Consider this one: never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. The Iowa Writer’s Workshop has a three-hour long graduate lecture on “said,” while Leonard gets the job done in a sentence. Or this one: never use an adverb to modify the verb “said,” he admonished. That last part is Leonard, too, which, along with the pictures, shows his wonderful sense of humor.

2.     On Writing, by Stephen King. 

Steve’s reflections on his extraordinary life and career. It’s okay for me call him Steve because – in my mind, at least – we’re on a first name basis. He calls me Jenny. Make sure and read the part about the first draft of Carrie. It’s a perfectly clear and lucid description of the genesis of the idea behind the story. All the more amazing because we’re all familiar with the execution of that idea.

3.     Bird by Bird, by Annie Lammott. 

This is what to read when you’re caught in a spiral of writerly self-doubt. A new batch of rejection emails and, at the same time, your writer best writer friend calls to say that she got a six-figure, three book deal on a twenty page partial? Read the part about jealousy, which both normalizes and humanizes. With humor and compassion, Lammott shows us that it’s all going to be okay. Really, it is!

That’s all for me, what’s on your list?

Writing and Listening — an Interview with Brooke Randel

2 weeks ago

As a young girl Brooke Randel knew little about the Holocaust—just that it was a catastrophe in which millions were murdered, and that her grandma Golda Indig barely escaped that fate. But her Bubbie never spoke about what happened, and the two spent most of their time together making pleasant memories: baking crescent roll cookies, playing gin rummy, and watching Baywatch. Until an unexpected phone call when Golda said, out of the blue: “You should write about my life. What happened in the war.” What results is a fascinating memoir—about one woman’s harrowing survival, and another’s struggle to excavate theRead more…