What are you reading?

[Maya]

I might as well break the ice, so what are you currently reading? I'm juggling a few books which is new for me. In the past when I lost excitement, I wouldn't allow myself to read anything else until I finished. Juggling multiple books keeps me motivated and I think it's working well. Here's my current list:


Loving this book more than you can know. It's fascinating and emotional. The pace is also slow, yet building in a way that I can't put down.


Ah, my long slow slog. Started reading this in August with a read-a-long and had to set it down. It's a great book but my attention span ebbs and flows. Since switching to the kindle edition, the length is a lot less intimidating.


I'm listening to this on audio book and was doing great until I fell asleep during acupuncture, now I have no idea where I left off. The one negative of audio books I guess. It's interesting, but the narrator tends to make me loose my concentration. There's just something about his voice that puts me in an altered state. I have rewound this audiobook more than any other I've ever listened too. Going to try speeding up the voice, maybe chipmunks can keep me focused.


Great technique book. I learned the Snowflake Method from his blog post, but I'm getting a lot more out of the book version.

[Anais]

I'm also juggling a few books. The main three I am reading are

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet I read Cloud Atlas about three years ago and loved it. This is wildly different that Cloud Atlas. I think I enjoyed Cloud Atlas more, but this book has its nuggets.

Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers As a writer and editor, I'm usually reading at least one craft book. This one is surprisingly entertaining. It casts two fictional developmental editors as iconic heroes in their pond of editors. Not sure that's true to life, but it's nice to pretend editors are hip.

Object Lessons: The Paris Review Presents the Art of the Short Story A special anthology of short stories from the Paris Review. It's been called an MFA between covers. Well known authors suggest their favorite short stories and explain why they love them.

On Moral FictionI also started this cross-section of literature, art, anf philosophy, but it's on the back burner until I finish Object Lessons.

[Anais]

Maya, how are you finding the snowflake method? I've heard about it but stayed away. I'm always wary of those writing formulas. My wariness is instinctual and not based on any experience or fact. How do you like it?

[Maya]

Anais wrote: "Maya, how are you finding the snowflake method? I've heard about it but stayed away. I'm always wary of those writing formulas. My wariness is instinctual and not based on any experience or fact. H..."

It isn't actually a writing formula. I consider in exploratory outlining or discovery outlining. It's a creative way to find your story, that ends with a good outline, rather than a way to plug your story into an outline. I'm not sure that makes sense, but it's the only form of outlining that works for me.

[Maria]

I am reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. Anais had recommended this novel, but I ignored the recommendation for a while haha, but after reading The Cheaters Guide to Love from same author with the Literaryroadhouse cast, I decided to give it a shot. Reading it in ibooks lets me know how many pages this book is, and my reaction to the 767 pages is "well, I guess is not that brief, I hope it' is wondrous! so I don't get bored." Lol

[Maya]

Maria wrote: "I am reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. Anais had recommended this novel, but I ignored the recommendation for a while haha, but after reading The Cheaters Guide to Love ..."

Oh, I just finished the audiobook, I think you will like it a lot Maria.

[Jocelyn]

I'm reading 'Love in the Time of Cholera' which I'd picked up a few times before, but never really started. This after reading the short "the Handsomest drowned Man.' I would recommend the short stories in 'Drowned' by Junot Diaz.

[Anais]

I recently finished Drowned and loved it. Though the stories that focused on Yunior's adult missteps began to wear on me a bit. I think this is a result of having read The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and The Cheater's Guide to Love, both of which feature Yunior as well. Perhaps I've overdosed on him, and would have liked him more in Drowned had I read the anthology before any other Diaz works.

But within Drown there are also great stories which feature either other characters (Yunior's father; the disfigured boy from the campo), or Yunior himself but as a child in both the DR and NY. Those resonated with me the most.

[Maya]

Jocelyn wrote: "I'm reading 'Love in the Time of Cholera' which I'd picked up a few times before, but never really started. This after reading the short "the Handsomest drowned Man.' I would recommend the short st..."

I just started Love in the Time of Cholera on Monday as an audiobook and am really loving the language. It's a long audiobook so I think I'm going to listen an hour a day and just savor it.