16 books read. The highlights:
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.
Hard to review classics. ‘Really long and way too much dialogue and everyone is so RUSSIAN!’ or whatever. But as I think I mentioned, I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would, though I’m still more enamored of Crime and Punishment. I could read an entire book about Kolya.
Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
A book I’ve already pushed into someone’s hands, crying ‘Read! Read!’ How can we understand something, or someone, in the time it takes to blink? How can this go wrong? Why is gathering all available information not necessarily the winning strategy? And interestingly, you learn about people who taste food for a living (not in the poison sense, though).
Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel
I rarely reread books, and of those I almost never reread within a year, but this one I did, and if I only find the envelope on which I jotted notes on how to improve my novel, things will be peachy.
Hello! I wrote The Amnesia Door query on EE’s blog, and just wanted to thank you for commenting. I’ve heard a lot about Donal Maas’s book…I might have to check it out.
Beth – thanks for stopping by! I meant to comment that the second version of the letter was lots better. Also, given that you have a good reason to use the name Belle, that probably squashes my nitpick about it. I highly recommend Donald Maass’ book, in case that wasn’t obvious.