Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "encouraging-books"
Encouraging Books
Yes, this could mean the self-help books and there is much to be said for those, but for me an encouraging book is one that makes me read further into the subject. This can apply to fiction as well as non-fiction.
For example, Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time is fiction based on Richard III and is one of my all time favourite books. It has also led me to read far more about Richard such as The Maligned King, The Last Days of Richard III and others.
For non-fiction, it is easier to go by topic of course when looking for books to encourage further reading.
For fiction, it is nearly always based on how well the main character comes across and the theme of their story that makes me look for similar themes in other tales.
When the character is based on a real person, and if the story has gripped me enough, I nearly always look up non-fiction material on that character as I did with Richard III.
And there is scope for a lot of crossover - fiction leading into non-fiction and vice versa. Book reading leading into magazine reading etc.
I don't write historical fiction (though I do read some) but I should imagine one of the great joys of it is the research the writer has to do before starting. I should also imagine the big problem here, and one I know I'd have, is stopping the research and actually getting on with the writing!
So what books have encouraged you to read more on their character/theme etc?
For example, Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time is fiction based on Richard III and is one of my all time favourite books. It has also led me to read far more about Richard such as The Maligned King, The Last Days of Richard III and others.
For non-fiction, it is easier to go by topic of course when looking for books to encourage further reading.
For fiction, it is nearly always based on how well the main character comes across and the theme of their story that makes me look for similar themes in other tales.
When the character is based on a real person, and if the story has gripped me enough, I nearly always look up non-fiction material on that character as I did with Richard III.
And there is scope for a lot of crossover - fiction leading into non-fiction and vice versa. Book reading leading into magazine reading etc.
I don't write historical fiction (though I do read some) but I should imagine one of the great joys of it is the research the writer has to do before starting. I should also imagine the big problem here, and one I know I'd have, is stopping the research and actually getting on with the writing!
So what books have encouraged you to read more on their character/theme etc?
