On Writing by Stephen King
Some books you read and read and read again. And by “you” I mean “I.” You probably have a more pragmatic attitude toward reading. Or at least some modicum of… oh… a life. Anyway, some books are meant for re-reading. King’s On Writing is one of them… but I didn’t know that until I re-read it. Now I feel like there may be others, secret favorites I’ve already read but have completely forgotten.
Yes, I realize I am a crazy person. I will have to learn to speed-read soon or else die without having read all the books I want to read, PLUS re-read all the books I want to re-read.
Also, I still wish Stephen King was my uncle.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
There are non-obsessive reasons to re-read a book. One such reason: you are pretty sure you never actually *read* the book you claimed to have read. I have sympathy for you English teachers out there, I do, but is there a more awful way to read a book than assigning two chapters a week? Like a chapter is a discrete thing, separate from the rest of the text? I fell behind in my 11th grade Gatsby reason because I didn’t like the book enough to read ahead of schedule, but I didn’t like the book because I had to read on a schedule. Vicious cycle. Anyway, I actually did enjoy this re-read and am glad I did it. More thoughts here.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Oh, you are all sick of hearing me talk about this book. But I will never pass up a chance to mention it, so here you go. My official Frankie manifesto can be read here.
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Speaking of books I talk about way too much… still reading Sarah Dessen! For some reason I decided that The Truth About Forever was my least favorite Dessen book, and I actually hadn’t read it since before it came out. I have no idea what crack I was smoking. This is a very good Sarah Dessen book with a very tight plot. I feel ashamed for my baseless judgments about a perfectly decent piece of fiction. Apologies to the universe.
Up next… THE TOP TEN! !! !!!!