Once upon a time, I used to swim in fiction. I was constantly sinking in tales of love, sex, lies and drama by authors such as E. Lynn Harris and Eric Jerome Dickey. Then, I hit a wall. Fiction wasn't appealing to the person I was growing into and I sent all of my stories to the local thrift store. I bought up dozens of biographies, non-fiction and reference books to replace what I thought to be a cheesy collection. This cleansing went beyond my bookshelf and extended to my CD collection. All the trashy rap music I once enjoyed was given away promptly.For years, I've avoided buying fiction books by the pound as I used to. Of course, I enjoy the occasional short story. I've also indulged in classic, African American literature and literary fiction. However, for the most part, my shelves have been deprived of contemporary fiction authors, a league that I hope to join someday.
Noticing my hypocritical trend, I asked myself:
Ain, as much you you enjoy smut TV, how could you not be getting your story fix from a good, well-written book by an author you'd happily consider your counterpart?
I'm correcting my crazy, and I officially started today by heading to Goodwill and buying five new books that I can't wait to dive into. I'm looking forward to the characters, the unexpected twists, the complicated plots, the witty dialogue, and everything else that accompanies a good book.
My new finds are: Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, Puerto Vallarta Squeeze by Robert James Waller, The Changeling Garden by Winifred Elze, Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman and A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler.
3 Engage in Discourse:
I didn't read a single fiction book (unless it was for a class) freshmen through junior year in college for for similar reasons. However, re-reading James Baldwin's "Go Tell It On The Mountain" and Aldous Huxley's "Time Must Have A Stop" opened me back up to fiction. There's much to be learn from the works of great fiction writers.
I am a huge fiction reader, but also very snobbish and particular about my choices, so I never did get down with the E. Lynn Harrises and Eric Jerome Dickeys of the literature world, but some fiction authors I have discovered that I love (contemporary) are Diane McKinney-Whetstone, Gloria Naylor, Wally Lamb, Alice Sebold, Tayari Jones... just to name a few... :) ... Let us know how the new books you scooped turn out...
Yum! Thank you for dropping the names, Alise. I've already added new books to my Amazon Wish List ;-)
I've finished Something Borrowed two days ago. It's very chicklit in nature but I found myself engulfed in the story... a feeling that I hadn't had in quite sometime. Can't say that there was anything particularly literary about the writing, but a good story nonetheless.
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