We’ve all heard the advice that if you want to be a good writer, you should also be an avid reader.  I have to admit that I’ve been resting on my laurels for quite some time now.  Since I received my Kindle, however, I’ve poked my head out of my shell and dived into the world of literature once again.  I recently asked you all to offer suggestions for what I should read.

It went something like this: “What should I read, and why? Tell me about your favorite fiction. What classics make the world a better place by their mere existence? Fill me in on industry books I should be reading. What authors will blow my mind? What’s the best nonfiction book I’ve been missing out on for these last several years?”

Many of you jumped on board and offered some great suggestions.  I thought it would make sense to list them all in one place so each of us could take advantage of the advice of our colleagues.  I’ll continue to add to the list if and when more suggestions are made.  I was trying to gather 100, and we have 35, not counting specific authors that were recommended.

So far, I’ve used my electronic book to read Alice Sebold’s The Almost Moon, Gregory McGuire’s Wicked, and Cami Walker’s 29 Gifts.  What should I choose next?  Maybe one of the following from Freelance Writing Job readers.

Laney Landry

Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (3)

Simon J. James

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Closing Time by Joseph Heller

The Liar by Stephen Fry

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Tomas by James Palumbo

Choke by Chuck Palahnuik

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Heidi Heidel

The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborelli

Alice

The Shadow of the Wind by Carolos Ruiz Zafon

The Angel’s Game by Carolos Ruiz Zafon

Better by Atul Gawande

Complications by Atul Gawande

Unconditional Parenting aby Alfie Kohn

Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Theresa

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

This House of Sky by Ivan Doig

English Creek by Ivan Doig

Jodee

Rebecca by Daphne Dumaurier

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory

The Chamber by John Grisham

Kirsten

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Meghna

The Japanese Wife by Kunal Basu

Mike

Treasure Island by Robert Stevenson

Journey to the center of the Earth by Jules Verne

The Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum (3)

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (second time this one was mentioned)

Authors that were also suggested:

David Sedaris

Matt Taibbi

Tony Hillerman

Jody Picoult

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse

Nora Robers (as J.D. Robb)

Mary Higgins Clark

James Patterson

Janet Evonovich

Before I start to tell you more about my experience with the Kindle, I wanted to hit you all up for naming suggestions. It turns out that you can give your device its own name, and I haven’t come up with the perfect one yet. If you’ve got a suggestion, please leave it in the comments.

As I mentioned previously, my darling husband bought me a Kindle for my birthday. I do love my little toy, let me tell you. We’ve had some issues, and I had to get a replacement because once my battery ran all the way down, it wouldn’t start back up. I sounded so forlorn telling my hubby, “My Kindle won’t wake up.” It reminded me of some little kid who has just found his goldfish floating belly-up in the bowl.

It didn’t help matters that I was 1/3 of the way through Wicked at the time and was going to have to wait for the new one to arrive via FedEx. I know the delivery guys get all kinds of comments when they show up with packages, but this one nearly got French kissed on my front porch.

There are some things I really like about my new Kindle:
1. I can use it one-handed, which means that as long as she doesn’t realize Mama is trying to multi-task, I can read while nursing the baby.
2. I love the instant gratification that comes with being able to download a book immediately.
3. I don’t have to flip through the book to find out where I left off. (Because I’m just no good at using bookmarks.)

There are also some things I don’t like so well:
1. If you accidentally hit the “back” button, you may spend the next ten minutes trying to find your place.
2. It’s pretty easy to accidentally advance multiple pages. (I believe this was addressed with the Kindle II.)
3. Apparently, you should never let the battery run all the way down.
4. Because it is a “no-no” and has buttons, my daughter covets it to a ridiculous degree.

Really, though, I’m quite pleased with my gift. It was a refurbished unit, which means hubby didn’t pay full price, and I like that, too. Since the birth of my first child, I managed to read ZERO books. I am now on my fourth since the end of September. As odd as it sounds, I kind of feel like myself again. There was a time when you just wouldn’t find me without a book in my hand, and even though this one is electronic, that’s starting to be the case again.

So, it turns out that I’m a jackass. Not just a cute little petting-zoo burro, either; but a braying, bucking donkey of a blogger.

After four months of inventing word games, of finding hilarious videos, and of attempting to share my self-deprecating humor, I was so sad that no one seemed to be reading. My self-esteem took a nosedive, but I kept trying to put cool stuff up here because a) that’s what I was hired to do, and b) it’s fun. A lot of times, it seemed like Julia was the only one who was interested.

This little donkey threw a bit of a pity party, hee-hawing and boo-hooing to herself. After all, when I asked a community of writers for their reading suggestions (Oh, Literature. How I’ve Missed You) and only got one, I was seriously bummed. To be honest, my self-confidence took a hit right around that time. Again with the boo-hooing.

Then I got an email from Deb today. She asks if I realize that I’m supposed to be moderating the comments. Wha…? Comments? People have been commenting and I didn’t know? Sure enough, following Deb’s email was a slew of comments that she had apparently approved for me.

So, I’d like to apologize to all of you who have had something to say and feel like I’ve completely ignored you. I have, but not purposely. I appreciate that you’ve been adding your two cents’ worth, even if you weren’t getting an acknowledgement for it. I promise to make a point to check the comments and approve you as quickly as possible from here on out!

Heeeee-haaaaaaw.

Below you will find several sets of letters. If you add the same letter to both the beginning and the end of the group, you will have formed a real word. For example, _REA_ would become “DREAD” when a D is placed at the beginning and the end. Put your answer in the comments without looking at what other people have said.

1. _tlant_
2. _ada_
3. _eldin_
4. _illo_

Below you will find several sets of letters. If you add the same letter to both the beginning and the end of the group, you will have formed a real word. For example, _REA_ would become “DREAD” when a D is placed at the beginning and the end. Put your answer in the comments without looking at what other people have said.

1. _riti_
2. _awnsho_
3. _oin_
4. _oftnes_

Usually I can make these videos and other posts somehow relate to the writing life, but I’d really have to stretch pretty thin to make that work today.  Still, I thought this was pretty darn funny, even if it does have a laugh track.

For some reason, it didn’t quite register when my husband pointed the camera at me as I opened my birthday gift a week and a half ago, that there was something truly special secreted under the purple flowered wrapping paper I’d bought during a school fundraising drive several years ago. It turns out that he wanted to capture the look on my face as I opened the package to find my biggest (current) materialistic dream had been fulfilled.

He bought me a Kindle. And I am in love. Um, with him. Yeah, that’s what I meant.

Here’s the not-so-flattering picture he got, by the way:

As someone who gave up the love of reading as life got more and more hectic and then a baby was thrown into the equation, I fondled my new electronic device with mixed emotions. Of course, I was elated by the gadget…and the fact that my darling husband had actually heard something I’d said in the past six months. But, there was the fear that I wouldn’t use it enough. That it would be a waste of money.

Fortunately, I’m already about 90% done with my first novel (Alice Sebold’s Almost Moon) and already have a wish list in mind. Next will be The Timetraveler’s Wife, and then is Wicked. (I’m telling you, I am really far behind in pop culture reading.)

But, I’m not content with my piddly little list of “must reads.” I am insatiable at the moment. That’s why I’m asking you to offer suggestions for my wish list. What should I read, and why? Tell me about your favorite fiction. What classics make the world a better place by their mere existence? Fill me in on industry books I should be reading. What authors will blow my mind? What’s the best nonfiction book I’ve been missing out on for these last several years?

Go crazy, people. I’m hoping to have a list of 100 “must-read” books that lets me know my husband will get his money’s worth out of this purchase.

If you’re not reading this through your RSS Reader, it’s safe to assume the person who posted this is a content thief and should be reported.

Yesterday I talked a bit about why it’s so great not to have an office job.  Then I saw this video, and I’m thinking it wouldn’t be all bad.  This totally made me smile, even if I do have this song stuck in my head now.

So, in case you’re living under a rock, or like me, you’ve been attending to a sick baby for days and haven’t poked around the Internet, I’ll let you know that today is Blog Action Day. It’s something that’s been going on for a few years now where thousands of bloggers all write about one specific topic on one specific day in the hopes that some actual change will come about and the world will be all copasetic and stuff.

This year’s topic is Global Warming. No, wait. Scratch that. It’s on Climate Change. Despite having gotten half a dozen emails in the last week reminding me that Blog Action Day was coming up and what I was supposed to write about, I still had to go look it up and am writing my post at the last minute. Oh well. I’m guessing the person sending out those emails has been puked on two less times than I have in the last 24 hours or so.

So, in an effort to be a part of something bigger than myself, as well as to fulfill my contractual obligation to FWJ (just kidding, Deb), I thought it might be nice to take a look at why being a freelance writer is so good for the environment.

1. No daily commute means less fuel consumed, less emissions, and less of me giving the finger to other drivers in traffic.
2. Eating at home means that I consume more organic and local food leading to lest pesticides in the ecosystem, less transportation needs for the food, and less worry over whether I’m going to develop a second set of breasts due to all the added hormones in fast food.
3. Despite the fact that my job is all about creating documents, the only ones that ever actually end up on paper are my to-do lists. Freelancing means no inter-officer memos, no coworkers Xeroxing their butts on the copy machine, and no need to print out the latest “TPS Report.”
4. Having complete control over your working environment means you don’t have to sit by as someone else wastes electricity setting the heat to 75 degrees while opening a window to “get some fresh air.”
5. Barely leaving one’s home makes for a lot less consumerism overall. I don’t find myself tempted to buy things I don’t need only to have them end up in the landfill once I’ve really proven to myself that I was a moron for buying them in the first place.

I’m sure I’ve missed plenty of reasons that we freelancers can be smug about how great our jobs are for the environment, so I invite you to add to the list in the comments section.

A quick and dirty list of some of my favourite writing quotes for you to use in any article, post, diatribe, speech, dedication, mantra or bellow to the heavens. Hope you enjoy and feel free to add your own in the comments!

Ambition
1. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C.S. Lewis

The Aging Writer
2. With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.
James Thurber

3. If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.
Kingsley Amis

4. I have been commissioned to write an autobiography and I would be grateful to any of your readers who could tell me what I was doing between 1960 and 1974.
Jeffrey Bernard.

Research
5. Get the facts first. You can distort them later.
Mark Twain

Honing
6. The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.
Mark Twain

7. You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. Ray Bradbury

8. Every writer I know has trouble writing.
Joseph Heller quotes

Deadlines
9. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
Douglas Adams

10. Writing is pretty crummy on the nerves.
Paul Theroux

Procrastination
11. For a moment, nothing happened.Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.
Douglas Adams

12. The best time to plan a book is while you’re doing the dishes.
Agatha Christie

13. Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance
Dan Greenburg

Getting It Right
14. A good novel tells us the truth about it’s hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

15. The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way.
Richard Harding Davis

16. The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
Tom Clancy

The Truth about Writing
17. A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.
William Faulkner

18. Let’s face it, writing is hell.
William Styron

20. For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.
Ernest Hemingway

21. I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.
Peter De Vries

22. The true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence.
Cyril Connolly quotes

Criticism
23. This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
Dorothy Parker

Getting Paid
24. The free-lance writer is the person who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.
Robert Benchley

25. The large print giveth, but the small print taketh away.
Tom Waits

Companions
26. A catless writer is almost inconceivable. It’s a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the typewriter keys.
Barbara Holland

27. A writer is, after all, only half his book. The other half is the reader and from the reader the writer learns.
P. L. Travers