 |
| reading with Rox... |
On August 15th—well shucks, just a month away—I am hosting a free workshop at Magers & Quinn in Uptown (details below). In preparation for the event, I was asked to list 12 books I use in my workshops, classes, etc and why. I actually did 13, but what can you do? I could have listed a bunch more. Anyway, let me know what you would add to the list!
Writing and Mindfulness
Thursday, August 15, 7:00pm - Magers & Quinn Booksellers (map)
FREE WORKSHOP! Intuitive Writing for Creativity, Mindfulness, and Happiness
Want to feel more creative, more alive, more present and joyfully awake for the life you are living?
... As I was saying...
On Writing, Stephen King
I can fill pages with why I love this book so much, but what I love most is that it reads just like his novels, full of raw truth, hilarity, deep insight into the human psyche, with no tolerance for bs, (on the page or in life!). And if "you're in it for the money, honey," forget about it! Write because you love to write and nothing else. What I love most about teaching this book is how without fail my students dread reading this and then say, "Oh my God! I had no idea he was such a good writer!"
The Power of Memoir: How to Write your Healing Story, Linda Joy Myers
So you want to write a memoir, eh? Great! Everyone is a writer, everyone has a voice... Writing your true story heals, etc. So yes, write and write and write. Cathart, cathart, cathart! AND...before you publish (or even share with loved ones), you might want to check your intention: Am I writing this to get back at someone? To get rich? To help others get through a hard time? Your intention will come through much louder than the words.
Fearless Confessions, Sue William Silverman
Write your truth. Period. It's just writing. It's not nearly as bad or shameful as you think. And even if it is, can you accept this already? If you are afraid to write your truth and meet yourself on the page, reveal your truth and see yourself for who you are, what kind of life are you living anyway? Just write it. Worry about who it might hurt later when you start editing. But enough with secrets already.
Junk English, Ken Smith
Like Orwell's "Politics and The English Language," only a little easier to swallow. Not because "Junk English" makes light of a very serious epidemic that is currently making us all automatons, but because it's so frightening, it can't help but read like satire.
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller
A bit shmaltzy, but a great memoir within a memoir about how to write a memoir.
Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
One of the first memoirs of our time, and as far as I'm concerned, if it was the only one ever written it would do the genre justice. I find that a true memoir makes all characters lovable, no matter what wrong they've done. Only through the eyes of a child is such love so deeply conveyed.
She Got Up Off the Couch, Haven Kimmel
It doesn't matter if you've never heard of her and the title is dumb; just read it.
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz
A constant reminder that ever since the beginning of time—well, since 1325 anyway—love is the only thing worth writing about and fighting for. Today, this truth is stronger than ever before.
Dharma Punx, Noah Levine
I wish Id've read this when I was a kid.
Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness, Michael Greenberg
An amazingly well crafted, deeply feeling, no-victims-here memoir that shows us why love is a verb, not just a feeling.
Devotion, Dani Shapiro
I still want to write my version of the young Bu-Jew/HindJew yogi who finally sees the light and discovers it isn't nearly as enlightening as we think it will be, yet a billion rays deeper. If I never get around to it, this is the one Id've written.
Are You My Mother? Alison Bechdel
I'm not sure if I like this because of my own mother issues or because I'm a therapist who tithes to attachment theory. In any case, just shows to go ya that memoir can take any form and boy is that liberating! What's next? Texting: the Digital Memoir? :)
A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis
By far, one of the most crucial books on the planet—for writers, poets, and everyone else. Intense glimpse into our changing neuropathways and where we are headed in our quick fix world if we don't wake up: a future without empathy. What can save us? Relationships. Relationships feed on time. Take the time to linger in the relationships you write about, with all their human charms and flaws. Linger in the human experience of relating before we forget what it means to relate in this cyber civilization of ours.
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland :)
ReplyDeleteyes, Melanie, of course! One of the best EVER. I love this book and remember how freeing it was to read... how resonant. Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteHeaven's Coast by Mark Doty
ReplyDelete