My July contribution to the Writers Vineyard, the blog for Champagne Book Group authors, is about reading, the joy and power of it. It’s this week’s Project Create, and I should really dedicate it to the Ellensburg Public Library, one of those magical places that lets you take books home for nothing but the promise to bring them back. If you ever doubt there is magic in this world, go to your nearest public library.
Here’s an excerpt:
My most recent reads are not all in my genre, but they are authors whose craft I admire: Carl Hiaasen, whose biting sense of humor is salvaged by a deep sense of humanity; and Elmore Leonard,who is a master of word economy. Not a single wasted word in a Leonard book. And Ray Bradbury. I think the last time I read Bradbury was that bookstore job thirty years ago. It’s about time to read his work again.*
Who do you read when you want to be snobbish, eager, inspired, insecure, or in awe of a master crafter of words?
PS: Since the original draft of this post, I read Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine for the first time. An amazing, beautiful, near-disaster of a book that might have saved my heart’s desire. I’ll be blogging more about it soon.
Elizabeth Fountain, Author 