“I’m Writing Towards…” # 40 — My Bookshelf

Reading is writing. You can’t write without reading. Be wary of the person that tells you they write, but cannot tell you what they read.

Yesterday I was standing outside my favourite bookstore, waiting for a bus. The manager walked past, said hello, stopped to chat, asked me what I was reading. I panicked, and said that I hadn’t bought anything from the store that day. I was just killing time browsing before the bus arrived. I had a bag with new shoes in it. They were for my mum.

I don’t know why I didn’t want to say that I had an audiobook in my ears at that exact moment — since it absolutely counts. Particularly this audiobook. The best. From an all-time favourite author. One I’ve even had the pleasure of interviewing.

Share Sounds Good!

But I talked through it enough to arrive at the idea that she just wanted to know what I was reading generally — I settled on the latest novel by Pip Adam and the new book of poems by Helen Lehndorf. In each case, it’s a true story.

“Great choices”, she said. And I exhaled. I’d passed the test.

At home this week I have been re-ordering books. Sorting. Shifting. Relocating.

We have a lot of books. And I’d go one further than saying reading is writing, I think if thinking about writing is writing — which it absolutely is, then thinking about reading is also writing, even if it’s not quite reading! Not yet. Not at that exact moment. But it’s on the cards…

I’ve moved the short stories back onto their own shelf. I had them like this last year when I was doing the writing course and making my folio. It worked well for me, just walking by them every day and stopping in to say hi. Almost pouncing that same question on them that was dropped on me. I nearly wanted to ask the books what they in fact had been reading. The answer of course is contained within their very pages — open the book and read. You will usually be able to see what the writer has been reading.

I have a row of Thomas Pynchon books right next to where I sit when I write. I don’t plan on reading any of them any time soon. I’ve read a couple of them in the past. I’ll return to them in the future. But for now they serve their purpose just by being where they are.

Can’t explain beyond that. And happily, do not need to.

In the hallway sit the music books, the bios, the novels written by musicians, or inspired by music, and the handful of books I’ve written and have been mentioned in, or written about. They are both relegated, and also still very important.

Again, I pass them by several times a day, and can stop in to browse them, as if I live in a shop.

Refer a friend

Books about movies, including books based on movies (novelisations) and bios and memoirs from filmmakers are all grouped together too. They are in the same room as the TV, obviously. And there for their purpose. I look to them when thinking of film topics to write about, and even sometimes when choosing a movie to watch.

All about me, books. And I am all about them.

Give a gift subscription

I’m writing towards my bookshelf, always. One day at a time. Book by book. I’ll get there.

Leave a comment

Refer a friend