My Summer 2013 Reading List

I'm a list maker and trust me, I need lists in my life. As a writer, I'm in my head a lot and when I start writing, I lose track of time. When writing, I go into a deep creative state that some people compare to hypnosis and others call the Beta state. When I really get going, I've been known to write for eight or nine hour stretches with only potty and tea breaks in between. My adult children are out of my nest and I'm single, so I'm able to write to my heart's content. I truly believe that the process of writing allows us to access things and places in our brain (and outside our brain) that aren't easily accessible in our normal waking state.

During a good writing session, I've been known to miss birthdays, hair appointments and utility bill deadlines. My cell phone is turned to the lowest sound setting, the curtains are closed and I hang a little sign on my front door that reads, "Writing" with a big smiley face on it. I might forget to call someone back or reply to an email during those writing jags. I tend to forget food items I'm out of at home which, of course, I remember as I stand there with a kettle of hot water and realize that I'm out of coffee. I'm a woman who needs lists in her life!

My family and close friends know all this about me (or at least, they humor me), and they're good with it. Weekends and Mondays are my days to reconnect with the special people in my life. I DO have a day job, I tell people--I take my writing seriously.

I write daily lists, weekly lists and I also make lists that help me as a writer. There are lists of agents to query, small press publishers who I want to research, and there is a list of authors whose books I want to read that also includes their author and blog Web address and the name of their agent. This week, I began thinking about whittling down my reading list to a doable summer reading list. My reading list includes books I've read years ago and want to revisit, all the books below are in my bookcase and on my Kindle.

Summer Reading List: (in no particular order)

Fiction:

The Breakers - Claudie Gallay
Hemingway's Girl - Erika Robuck
Calling Me Home - Julie Kibler
Our Lady of the Night - Mayra Santos-Febres
The Glass Wives - Amy Sue Nathan
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy (read before)
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard - Kiran Desai (read before)
The Ladies Gallery - Irene Vilar
The Painted Girls: A Novel - Cathy Marie Buchanan
Wait For Me - Elisabeth Naughton
The Doctor's Wife - Luis Jaramillo
The Age of Miracles: A Novel - Karen Thompson Walker
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (may not get to this summer, but will watch the newest movie adaptation)
Receive Me Falling - Erika Robuck
The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
The Paris Wife: A Novel - Paula McIain (currently reading...and can't seem to get through by no fault of the author. I think I've picked the book up and put it down because I already know the ending--Hemingway cheated on his first wife and later said that she was his first and only true love...yeah, yeah, yeah. That clearly bugs me :)

and, I've decided to purchase the series A Song of Fire and Ice that inspired the high fantasy HBO series, Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. I LOVE Game of Thrones!

Non-fiction: (on my friend Kristine's recommendation)

A Little History of the World - E. H. Gombrich and Clifford Harper.
The Story of Art - E. H. Gombrich (Huge book that will take me a LONG time to get through, but it's a feast for the eyes and soul! Do not purchase this for your Kindle!)

Have a beautiful day :)

Peace and love,
Ellie