I’m often asked what books I’m currently reading (or intending to read soon) and why.
Here’s the current stack of books on my very tidied-up nightstand:
1. The three latest issues of The New Yorker—it’s been a busy month, so they’ve piled up
2. The Vanity Fair issue with Kate Middleton, Prince William, and their baby on the cover. This satisfies my hunger for celebrity gossip (but well written celebrity gossip!) in between hair appointments.
3. Raising Our Children’s Children by Deborah Doucette, a new writer friend who is going to talk about her books at Taber Library in Marion, MA at 6:30 on July 31.
4. Michael Lewis’s Flash Boys(e-book). I am a word person forcing myself to become more knowledgeable about finance.
5. Like Life by Lorrie Moore. She has a wonderful way of mixing humor with pathos, something I want to learn to do in my writing.
6. David Sedaris’s When You are Engulfed in Flames. His newest book prompted me to go back and read this older one. He writes perfect essays: funny, poignant, insightful and shapely.
7. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad because…why not? It’s a classic and its short enough that I might just read it. But Middlemarch…that’s a different story.