Building Community One Book at a Time

During a daylong (oft interrupted) discussion with my young colleague,  some ideas came up about why we read what we do and why some people are writers and others are not. Emilia is a writer but also a voracious reader.  She will pick an author she admires and read everything available by and about that author (at the moment Oscar Wilde). She is focused.  She writes that way too, not in little snippets but in big well thought-out chunks to which she has dedicated regular amounts of time. I asked her why she writes. Is she possessed by the muse or inspired by what she observes in the world? Is she compelled to write as some are forced by their creative nature to paint or compose music or make the perfect loaf of bread? Does her art control her life? Does she have something very important to communicate? What I really wanted to know was how does she choose what she likes to read. We left that question for another time and I would like to open it up to anyone who would like to be involved in the discussion.

I can’t answer it either. Do we define ourselves by what we enjoy reading? Is it part of the validation we crave for thoughts and feelings that we can’t quite articulate, but recognize when a writer magically projects an image on a page? Do we want to be transported , entertained, educated or enthralled? I am not a writer…I am a reader. I depend on others to organize the universe through the written word. I often find myself suggesting to writer friends that “this would make a great novel!” I would never dream of trying to write it myself. If I want to torture myself creatively (which I often do) I will try to learn a fiddle tune in the key of E flat or attempt an unfamiliar bread recipe or try to grow a tomato in Vermont.

Please consider joining this discussion by commenting on this blog post or email me directly and keep reading (and writing) whatever feeds you soul!

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