how do you read (or, what I have been reading lately)

today I have to write a book review for class. the tricky thing for me will be to decide what voice to take, to decide how to write it. some people say that I write poor reviews, they just don't get it. as I am just warming up for the day, trying to motivate myself and get into the literary frame of mind, there is a topic that I want to discuss: reading.

I have been reading a lot lately and I must say it feels like quite an achievement. Because we don't often get the opportunity to just sit down and read, and if we do, sometimes it's hard to stay with a book and finish it. I have so many unread books in my collection that I have made a point of not buying any more until I read all the ones I already have. It's all very well to have an impressive collection, but more impressive to be able to say that you've read all the books in it. My plan was disrupted by the aforementioned class, though. Fortunately I have been on this reading kick and was able to devour two books in a weekend, and I haven't strayed too much from the plan.

This class of mine is called "literary non-fiction". Things like memoir, autobiography and biography fit nicely under this heading, as well as factual/historical fiction. It's quite a pertinent class for me, as I have great difficulty in separating my life from anything I write (or anything I write from my life). So the book that I am reviewing is written by David Carlin, actually a lecturer at RMIT, who is investigating the death of his father. His father committed suicide when he was only 6 months old, so although there are testimonies from relatives and medical records - real facts that inform the story, he often gets carried away with the possibilities of the story, what could have happened or led him to his death. Another book I have read for class is The Spare Room by Helen Garner. She reportedly made a big fuss about this book, insisting it's fiction, despite the undeniable similarities between Garner and the protagonist, Helen. Novel Helen takes care of her friend who is terminally ill with cancer, but deluded and in Melbourne for some experimental (read: crackpot) treatment, just as real life Helen did.

One thing I feel strongly about as a writer is communication. It's all about communicating stories that you feel are important or beautiful or interesting or funny or sad or brave or scary. Sometimes real life is the best place to find these stories. Sometimes they happen to other people who would just never write about them. Some people might not be able to write them.

I have also decided that I want to reread a lot of books, because all too often I read a book once and it "changes my life" (or really, I find some quotes in it that I like and change my quotations on facebook) but I have only read once. That's why I'm doing On The Road (this also happens to be literary non-fiction, I think) again. I have also, recently, been loaned a bunch of books. I think book loans are good incentive to read things immediately, especially if you respect the person who loaned it to you. You not only trust their judgement and are likely to enjoy the readin', but you also like them enough to return their book promptly.

Oftentimes I'll write lists of books that I want to read or finish reading - I do this almost monthly. Books I normally want to read are old and usually they'll be ones I've seen in secondhand bookstores or people talk about sometimes. It was weird for me reading those books for class because they were both published in the last 2 years and they're all new, sleek and glossy. There's no real rhyme or reason to my reading, I suppose if there was one it would just be READ MORE. The rationale behind Estelle Tang's 3000 books really gets to me sometimes (like how sometimes we talk about wanting to visit places or go places in our lifetime, I actually wonder whether I will travel as much as I say, what I will actually achieve): "The life expectancy for an Australian female is 83 years. 60 reading years left x 50 books [a year] = 3000 books."


Now ya'll tell me how you've been reading lately.