Vol II: #79 Some Thoughts on Reading
Reading is a good practice and I highly recommend reading a variety of books. To read only a certain style, author, or genre of writing becomes dull and laborious. For years, I read only biographies of people like St Francis or Martin Luther King and self-help books. Only recently did I discover how enjoyable fiction can be and so I began to read what interests me.
What I love about fiction is how forgettable it is. My mind doesn’t obsess over what Jess B. Semple says or does as it does when I read Gifts of Imperfection. The added bonus of reading fiction is that it is, on par, better writing. Brene Brown wants as many people as possible to read Gifts of Imperfection, while Langston Hughes (the creator of Semple) knew his stories had to have style and substance. The adventures and observations of Mr. Semple are not for everyone and thus our friend Langston can ignore the masses to focus on his audience. Dr. Brown must simultaneously dumb down and punch up her academic findings for her audience. She wants to make her findings on shame and how to overcome it as plain and easy to understand as possible. And, thankfully so.
I find a great bonus in reading fiction as it affects my writing. Where as academic and historical writing can be dry and mundane, fiction challenges me to add color and movement to my writing, to give personality to people and places, and dare to leave some subjects and situations unanswered. As I see it, this is the great strength of fiction authors- to leave things unsaid or open to interpretation. Great books ought to leave us asking for more and debating the fate of its heroes or villains.
