I can’t seem to stop finding books I want to read. For every one that I finish, I add at least 3 more to my list… sometimes more. This is getting ridiculous, yet at the same time, I can’t stop (and I don’t want to).
For a while, while looking more into my career choice as an editor, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy reading anymore – that I would forever be critiquing. I’m currently taking a course through Simon Fraser University’s Writing & Publishing Program. It’s the pre-requisite for the Editing Certificate Course and it’s titled “What Editors Do: An Introduction”. The most impressionable line I’ve gotten from it is: “If you find yourself enjoying whatever you are reading while you are supposed to be editing, put down your pencil and enjoy it. Then come back later with your pencil and the intent to edit.” So, to summarize, reading is enjoyable and I don’t need to be worried that having a career in words is going to ruin them for me!
In fact, working at my new job with The Word on the Street, I am in the same office with the BC Book Prizes. I’ve encountered a number of novels and authors I wouldn’t normally be exposed to. Some of the books I’ve added to my list include:
Conceit by Mary Novik – This is one of the BC Book Prizes 2008 Winners. I’m working at Rebus Creative who do events like The Word on the Street (my focus), BC Book Prizes, and The Vancouver International Children’s Festival. Written by Mary Novik, born and raised in British Columbia, it is about Pegge Donne, daughter to famous poet John Donne. [She] “began to wonder how John Donne’s children, especially his daughters, would have felt reading his poems“. [Synopsis]
The Alchemist’s Dream by John Wilson – Another BC Book Prize book, this is a 2008 Finalist and was also shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award. “In the fall of 1669, the vessel Nonsuch returns to London with a load of furs from Hudson Bay. It brings something else, too—the lost journal from Henry Hudson’s tragic search for a passage to Cathay in 1611. In the hands of a greedy sailor, the journal is merely an object to sell. But for Robert Bylot—a once-great maritime explorer—the book is a painful reminder of a past he’d rather forget.”
All of Jane Austen’s books – I am currently reading The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, and while it is more about the characters in the book club, I’m unable to follow their discussions having never read any of Austen’s novels.
I’ll discuss more in another post! Add me to your RSS Feed or make sure to check back.
Related posts:
BookCrossing
Delicious
Etsy
Flickr
GoodReads
Ravelry
Twitter
YouTube
3 Comments
Ooooooooooooooooo. Both of those sound like great reads. And you have to fix that Austen oversight. I love them all so I’m not one to say that one is better than another but I do have an endless softspot for “Pride & Prejudice”.
At one of the last Meetups I picked up “Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict”. It’s pretty funny. I’ll bring that for you to the next meet…I think you’ll enjoy it.
I adore Jane Austen. I started reading her novels at a very young age (we had lots of books in our house so I just picked them up), and I re-read some of them regularly, so that I kind of feel that they are accompanying me through my life. What I love about doing this with a few really great books is how at each stage of my life I discover new things in the books that didn’t resonate with me at an earlier age.
Okay, dittos on the Jane Austen advice. Then, I just started to read the Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. I think it’s something you’d like. Have you read it yet? Did you know they made a movie? I saw the movie, it was okay. I’m not far enough in to the books to make any comments yet…but stay posted!