It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Last week I finished three books: 300 Sandwiches: A Multilayered Love Story . . . with Recipes, by Stephanie Smith; The Inseparables, by Stuart Nadler; and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King. I read the Stephen King book for a class on creative writing pedagogy that I'm teaching. While I haven't read any of King's novels (because horror scares me too much), I enjoyed his craft book (mostly.) I thought the best part of his book was seeing how he became a writer. The first section of the book is autobiographical, and it was fun to read about his childhood experiences and his early struggles as a starving writer. The next part of the book, the craft part, while partly helpful was also rather annoying. His advice is very prescriptive -- he wants you to write the way he does, using the same techniques, etc. His advice that writers spend 4-6 hours a day writing was particularly troublesome. That might be possible for someone who makes a lot of money at writing, or who has a spouse with enough income to cover the gap and take care of the children most of the time, but for most of us that's impossible!

Anyway, the book is still a worthwhile read, but  The Inseparables is the best novel I've read in awhile. There's a good review of it at The Washington Post you can read if you want to know more.

This week I'm working on Elibile, by Curtis Sittenfeld (I've loved her novels in the past), Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth, and The Art of Memoir, by Mary Karr.

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