A house without books is like a room without windows.
–Educator Horace Mann
The joys of writing start with the joys of reading. Why do you love books? I love reading books that
- Tell a story, fiction or nonfiction, so compelling I am forced to keep reading until I finish it
- Bring people I care about to life
- Enable me to escape to times and places I couldn’t otherwise visit
- Provide information that is a revelation, illuminates the subject, and broadens my view of it
- Inspire me to improve myself
- I am eager to tell everyone I know about and urge them to read
- Are works of art inside and out, printed on stock that seduces my fingertips
- I discover in a local temple of the literary arts where it’s a pleasure to browse and make an offering to the owner of the store, the publisher, the agent, and the author, all of whom helped make the moment possible
- Stay in my apartment as part of my life (A mover once guessed we have more than seven tons of books.)
Although Apple is not on the side of the angels, there is an iPad in my future. Even though I don’t own an ereader, I believe that all but the last three pleasures can be experienced on one. Ereaders also provide the opportunity to enrich the text with other media.
What can you add to this list?
How do you want your book to affect your readers? Before searching for an agent or publisher, make sure that readers who know writing and your kind of book assure it has the impact you want it to have. May reading and writing always be a labor of love for you.
What books do you love most? I’d welcome the chance to share your passions with other readers. Please send the titles and authors of your favorite fiction and nonfiction books and even more helpful–if you wish–why. Let’s create a reading list to share with each other. I’ll be happy to credit you.
Me first: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa. An historical novel about the life of a Sicilian aristocrat during the nineteenth-century struggle for unification, gorgeously written by an Sicilian nobleman. The poetic prose make Sicily, the Sicilian sensibility, a country in the throes of political upheavel, and the wonderful cast of characters come to life, including one who says: “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” Another favorite line: “Her sheets must smell like paradise.”
Comments, questions, and rants welcome.
The 9th San Francisco Writers Conference / A Celebration of Craft, Commerce & Community / February 16-20, 2012 / www.sfwriters.org / sfwriterscon@aol.com / http://sfwriters.org/blog / @SFWC / 1029 Jones Street / San Francisco, 94109 / www.facebook.com/SanFranciscoWritersConference / 415-673-0939 / San Francisco Writers University / Where Writers Meet and You Learn / Laurie McLean, Dean / free classes / www.sfwritersu.com / sfwritersu@gmail.com / @SFWritersU
Michael Larsen is a literary agent and consultant to nonfiction writers. He and his partner Elizabeth Pomada are co-directors of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference.
