For the Sheer Joy of It
By David Corbett | December 10, 2021 |
I realize this blog typically concerns itself with the “craft and business” of fiction, but I want to address instead something we seem to discuss too little.
I wrote this post before reading Wednesday’s superb piece by Kathleen McCleary, “Stories Will Save You,” in which she discussed how fiction can offer meaning and insight. Here I too discuss the value of fiction, but from a slightly different perspective: the pleasure of reading.
I grew up in Ohio, and December days were overcast, the nights were long, and snow often covered the ground. Going outside was fun for a while but so was coming back inside where it was cozy and warm—hygge, as they say in Norway—the perfect environment for reading.
“Curling up with a good book” was something that, for me, defined the winter months (and made them a bit more bearable). I remember immersing myself in Great Expectations and Pride and Prejudice and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The House of the Seven Gables and Jane Eyre and Moby Dick, all those thick 19th-century marvels few of us return too—sadly, in my opinion—except in their cinematic versions. Though they didn’t form the groundwork of my love of reading, they expanded it, deepened it.
Those were days when my obligations were largely limited to schoolwork and chores, so I had the necessary time on my hands to disappear for hours on end into a fictive world. I know few of us have that luxury anymore, so I’ll keep this brief: Let’s all share the title of a book (or two) we’ve read recently that brought us pleasure, that reminded us of what a delight a truly great book can be.
For me, I’m absolutely loving China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, set in the most imaginatively realized and stunningly original fantasy world I’ve ever encountered—think Dickens meets Steampunk with an ample serving of “thaumaturgy” (magic) and creatures both monstrous and touchingly human—written by a novelist who also wrote Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law (among other things).
What about you? What have you read recently or are reading now that has once again reacquainted you with the sheer joy of reading?
David Corbett (he/him) is the author of seven novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book), Blood of Paradise (nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar, Do They Know I’m Running?, The Mercy of the Night, The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday, and The Truth Against the World. He has also published the story collection Thirteen Confessions and the novella The Devil Prayed and Darkness Fell.
David’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in a broad array of magazines and anthologies, with pieces twice selected for Best American Mystery Stories.
His non-fiction has appeared in numerous venues, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Narrative, Zyzzyva, MovieMaker, The Writer, and Writer’s Digest.
He has taught both online and in classroom settings through the UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program, Book Passage, LitReactor, 826 Valencia, The Grotto in San Francisco, and at numerous writing conferences across the US, Canada, and Mexico. In January 2013 Penguin published his textbook on the craft of characterization, The Art of Character (“A writer’s bible that will lead to your character’s soul.” —Elizabeth Brundage), and Writer’s Digest published his follow-up, The Compass of Character, in October 2019.
I just finished reading Tracy Deonn’s fantasy, Legendborn, and am ready to reread it to figure out how she kept me so enthralled.
After her mother dies, a 16-year-old Black woman and her best friend make it into the University North Carolina-Chapel Hill program for students who excel and find themselves involved in a world of magic. It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed with the Welsh King Arthur’s knights and mages.
For some reason this site will no longer accept my “likes,” so my comments will largely reduce to “Thanks for chiming in” when a book is named that I don’t know, as is the case here. But I love the fact you’re going to go back and re-read it, Lisa, just to inspect the plumbing–good for you!
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
I loved this book. As a lover of Arthurian legend, it grabbed me right away. I think it sustained my attention by not ever being predictable.
Because I analyze manuscripts and scrutinize published novels for craft insights for a living, it’s not every novel that sweeps me away. One that I’m reading now in that category is The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. It’s the third novel of his that has transported me, proving to me that he’s not some forgettable entertainer but a great American novelist in in the league of E.L. Doctorow.
Amor Towles is one of a handful of authors–others being Mick Herron, Claire North, and Liam McIlvanney–who are in the “must read” category but I just haven’t been able to get to them yet. This will spur me on. Thanks!
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow is one of my favourite novels of all time – a story with a tightly confined single setting, which suggests a limited scope – but no, this is a deep and wonderful celebration of what it means to be human.
I have recently finished reading The Overstory by Richard Powers. It’s a novel made up of interwoven stories featuring various protagonists, and a magnificent demonstration of how the best way to get a message across is through storytelling. In this case the message is about the vital role trees play in the environment, and how humans need to act now to avert climate disaster. The stories are truly compelling – I read this pretty much non-stop and I’m recommending it to everyone.
I tend to read several books at a time because I cannot stop reading: fiction is Once There Were Wolves
by Charlotte McConaghy; Anam Cara Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue; Recovering, A Journal by May Sarton.
I too read several books at once, but usually only one novel. Good for you for being able not only to juggle so many story lines and characters but keep them straight. I can imagine this giant ur-novel taking shape in your mind, fusing them all together — which doesn’t sound entirely unpoeasant, actually. (If you get a chance, watch the show Dickensian, a mini-series that combines multiple Dickens novels into one such story.)
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
Finished the novel When We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, and began The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. But this past year I found myself immersed in a book published in 1924. So Big by Edna Ferber. A thrift store treasure.
Thanks for sharing those titles, Pamela. I think everyone’s TBR pile is going to be expanding prodigiously because of this post.
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles is a deep rich work of literature, filled with adventure and life lessons, a quirky hero, a fabulous feminist, and a terrifying villain. A wonderful winter’s read.
See my response to Don’s comment, which named the same book for the same reasons. I must check it out.
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
So Big by Edna Ferber. Published in 1924, a real thrift store find.
Love this post, David, and thanks for your kind words about my column. I grew up in Michigan, and also spent many winters curled up with great books. This year I absolutely loved Maggie Shipstead’s THE GREAT CIRCLE. And I also reread two favorite books recently, Willa Cather’s MY ANTONIA and William Kent Krueger’s ORDINARY GRACE. Superb reads, all. Happy holidays!
I meant every word. I’m still thinking about your post. Kent’s a friend of mine and not just a lovely gent but a beautiful writer. Happy holidays–and merry reading!
Ordinary Grace is such a lovely book, and Krueger’s latest standalone, This Tender Land, is equally good. He grasps the perspective of the young boy facing challenges he can’t yet understand as well as anyone writing today.
I’ve just finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. The book is so long that I read it in stages over a full week in my so-called spare time, but such is the author’s skill that I did not lose track. Not only is the novel a rich and rewarding read—the kind you can sink into with complete trust in the author, with well-drawn characters, plenty of plot twists, and a believable sense of place—but lessons in craft abound on every page.
I’d say Amor Towles has established a clear-cut lead in the sweepstakes. This sounds like exactly the kind of book short, overcast, wintry days were made for. Thanks for the comment.
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
I fell in love with Hamnett by Maggie O’Farrell, the sheer beauty and creativity of this book carried me away to another time and place. Then I read My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell–a totally different kind of story. But that is the power of creativity and of writers, the vast differences that compell them to write. Reading can be uplifting and should take us to a different place. And then I go back to my own work…
For some reason, Elizabeth, my earlier comment vanished into the ether. Sorry about that. Those who belittle fiction for its not being “real” completely neglect these transportive inner journeys they allow. Those changes in our own perspectives and understanding are no less real than boulders and brickbats.
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
I am a proponent of fiction being more real than the “non” variety. Because when fiction is comprehensively envisioned and carried out, the author disappears, allowing the insight embedded in it it and the emotional experience of the reader to shine forth without distraction. As when truly living them, in the present.
Non-fiction is often hamstrung by the logic and concepts it assembles and by the associations and conclusions it strives to engender. The “present” sinks under the weight of thinking.
Just sayin’. Have a pleasant season…in your new home.
Thanks, Tom. I have to say that some of the best books I’ve read recently are non-fiction, and lack not at all from the faults you identify. Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe comes to mind, about the Troubles in Ireland. It focuses specifically on two sisters who joined the IRA (one of whom ended up marrying the actor Stephen Rea). But I do get the point about the distraction of verification, authentication, demonstration, footnotes, etc., which Fiction naturally lacks.
Have a grand holiday.
The latest children’s fiction: Treasure with a Face by Janeen Zaio. Loved how immersive and action-packed it was.
Adult: Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu is such a tender story about a young boy who’s grown up in an ashram as a god with healing powers who eventually realizes he’s not a god.
Nonfiction: Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an Age of Unbelief by Joseph Pearce. As soon as I finished it, I went back to the beginning. So thorough. And within the endnotes, lots of juicy tidbits as well as titles I want to read.
And an oldie picture book: Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins. Hilarious. Resonates with both parents and children alike.
My favorite picture book is The Farmer and the Clown, which we’ve given to all our friends with wee skitters.
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
I just finished Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson, which I picked up on the suggestion of an editor as an example of craft. Then I got lost in the unnerving but beautiful story. Am now reading Active Dreaming by Robert Moss. Then I’m going back to Anna Karenina.
“Going back to Anna Karenina.” Words to warm my heart. I wish I could go back and read the 19th century novels I loved so much–or read for the first time the ones I overlooked.
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
HOW STELLA LEARNED TO TALK captured my heart recently. It’s a fast read, with times you put it down in astonishment. It made me look at my world differently, and think about how little we know about the world around us.
That’s the wonder of a good book, no? Either it teaches us to see the world differently, ourselves differently, or our relationships differently, or some combination of all three.
Happy holidays–and merry reading!
The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare (going back to the winters of my childhood)
Thanks, Deborah. “The winter of my childhood” brings to mind the opening back-and-forth between priest and server (altar boy) in the Catholic Mass. Allow me to date myself with the original Latin:
P: Introibo ad altare Dei. (I will go to the altar of God.)
S: Ad Deum qui laitificat juventutem meum. (To God, the joy of my youth.”)
I’ve always admired that equivalence, the experience of the divine with the joy of childhood. And though I doubt The Witch of Blackbird Pond would be considered canonical, even by this broad-minded a pope, I’ll bet it was a marvelous read.
Happy holidays — and merry reading!
(If I repeat that much more it’s really going to get a kinda “partridge in a pear tree” vibe. (He says, shivering.)
I only read the blurb of a book once to determine if I will be interested in it or not (I also tend toward older books). Once I buy it, it sits on the shelf for years and only then do I pull it out and read it, not knowing at all what’s in store for me. This is how I found Joseph Kanon’s ‘Alibi’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. A little different take on a post-WW II mystery/drama set in Venice.
Some years ago I read Kanon’s “The Good German” and loved it. His take on WW2 is unique and fascinating. Thanks for chiming in, J.R.
A partridge on a book shelf!
Hi David, I was thrilled that my reading life picked up with several wonderful novels this year after being unable to connect with almost anything I picked up in 2020 (published, that is—I blurbed several books that held my interest better). Some of my favorites this year were The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, and a debut, The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.
Another vote for Hamnet. One more and Maggie O’Farrell will be neck-and-neck with Amor Towles! And Ann Patchett — glad to hear The Dutch House is good, I’d gladly go back and re-read Bel Campo. Thanks for commenting, Kathryn.
Merry merry, not contrary!
For some reason, I can’t seem to reply to other comments, but wanted to chime in to day that ORDINARY GRACE, mentioned above, is a lovely, lovely book that has stuck with me for years, and Krueger’s latest standalone, THIS TENDER LAND, is just as good. He captures the voice of the young boy facing challenges he can’t quite grasp as well as any writer I know.
I also found myself captivated by reading again when I fell into the pages of THE LOST APOTHECARY by Sarah Penner and the equally absorbing but very different WINTER COUNTS by David Heska Wanblie Weiden.
Sorry for the site glitches. In a perfect world, I would be perfect and would know perfectly how to help you, who are also perfect. Alas… (Every time I try to “like” someone’s comment zilch happens, so there may be some bugs in the system.)
Thanks for echoing the choices of several others. And WINTER COUNTS is another book on the “I’m almost ready to read this” edge of my TBR pile.
Eight maids a-reading!
I have been alternately annoyed, fascinated and drawn in by Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World Where Are You. At first I didn’t take to the precise but distanced prose (I wanted third-person close with some of the characters), but then found her skill with that measure technically appealing, and then later found it readerly appealing. I’m about 3/4 through, and enjoying it more.
Before that, Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle (for me, quite good, though I liked Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys each a bit better) and another vote for Ordinary Grace, which again at first I had qualms with, regarding how the narrator moved from his recounting into some present tense in a way that wasn’t working for me, then it was. Maybe I’ll just start all my books one-third in.
Congratulations, Tom, you made me laugh. I once had a friend who always read the ending first. And it looks like William Kent Krueger is rising to Amor Towles and Maggie O’Farrell Status. Whitehead’s Nickel Boys is within arm’s reach, another of those on the edge of my TBR pile.
Have an utterly grand holiday.
I read a lot of mysteries and detective stories. Authors like Michael Connolly, Robert Parker, Donna Leon. For the last few years, I’ve been working my way through Will and Ariel Durant’s Story of Civilization. It’s eleven substantial volumes, I’m about halfway through, and I dread coming to the end of it. I can’t tell if they are better philosophers, historians , or writers, but it really doesn’t matter.
Wow. The Durants. Haven’t heard their name in ages. I’m in the middle of a grand history of mankind and I too am not looking forward to finishing it.
Hope it gets you through the holidays!
Childhood reading for me conjures memories of ordering Scholastic books at school. Choosing those precious few I was allowed every month. Counting my coins and dollars. Waiting for the books to come, eagerly eyeing the unopened box on the teacher’s desk, loving stroking and smelling (that new book smell!) and secreting my finds in my desk until my first free moment. I was a big fan of the Encyclopedia Brown books.
Summer I made pilgrimages to the public library. I spent hours in the children’s room, awed by the sheer, staggering number of choices. I savored the title alone before finally picking five or six to hold me until my next visit and bunge-cording them into the basket of my Schwinn. I think I read every book in the Black Stallion series the library carried.
Winters I sneak-read my older brother’s Sports Illustrated (it was always snowy in Illinois and getting to the library harder). The long-form journalism was splendid and showed me how nonfiction can spin stories as rich as any novel.
Thanks for the chance to stroll memory lane. Have a blessed holiday season!
You too! Best day of my life was that first day my mom took me to the library. I was into the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Danny Dunn, We Were There, and the Random House histories for young folk. Memory Lane’s not a bad spot to linger. Have a great holiday.
Thank you, David. My recent fave book was Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. I love being wrapped in the first love experience. Once again.
Too many books, too little time! haha — Currently reading The Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor – not easy with all the racial epithets! ugh! Also reading on Kindle – Don Quixote. Totally enjoying A Confederacy of Dunces since we are going to NOLA in February and always wanted to read it. So sad that he committed suicide over his submission rejections!! he needed this group for support!! This year was slow in reading since I did three passes of my current manuscript and I’m in the query mode now (which I don’t enjoy) But I read You Can’t Go Home Again and totally recommend that important, beautiful book! The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen was gorgeous! An important zen memoir that is now in my top 5 books of all time! That one is a must read for you Corbett!!
Most recently I enjoyed MEXICAN GOTHIC. Unique, vivid, and left me wondering what came next!!! Prior to that, THE FIFTH GOSPEL. Compelling and vivid and a great read. Third, I wish to offer JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORELL. It’s a doorstop in paperback. I am not in a habit of reading about magic or fairie or the like, but this book opened the door into a new fantasy realm. I am at work on THE GUEST BOOK.