We’re asking our fellow TPMers to share their own personal reading recommendations: books they love or that have shaped their lives.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1416089
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1416089
Thank you for this. So good to hear a writers prospective every now and then, to trace the origins of their arc…
I’m going to buy that last one. I’ll buy it used because I like buying used books. There was one that was supposed to be in “good” condition, but the margins were filled with notes and thoughts - not every page, but enough. At first I was disappointed because I knew I could not resist reading her notes (the handwriting appeared feminine to me). After a chapter or two I realized she had a deeper understanding than I and her questions and comments added to my experience. By halfway trough I was looking forward to what she had to say about the last few paragraphs. So now I like used books for something other than the obvious reason. Has that ever happened to you?
Whenever I see these lists, I always think, “Gee, my reading habits are really pedestrian.”
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Thank you, Nicole Lafond, for this thoughtful list and for choosing to stay with “this thing that you do”, and for promoting books and general reading. I have read all of the books on your list except for the Ocean Vuong (which I have planned to read for some time now), and I concur with your thoughts about them.
I would like to recommend a book that may not inspire you to be a writer, since you’re already there, but may inspire you nonetheless:
Rumors of Peace by Ella Leffland
(published 1979)
This is a classic coming-of-age novel that follow the moral growth of 10 year old tomboy Suse Hansen from the beginning of WWII to the Charter of the United Nations (1945), and her growing understanding of the moral complexities of war, family, life, love, prejudice, humanity, everything. It is beautifully conceived and written and deserves a much wider audience. Why Suse is not as well known as “To Kill a Mockingbird”'s Scout is beyond me. A true unsung classic!
Also I just read “The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America” by Ira Shapiro. Just so informative and good.
Love all the book recs. Thanks for supporting books and the world of ideas. Support your local indie bookstore!!