Reading

or interviewing myself and pretending The Guardian did

Earliest reading memory:

Make Way for Ducklings. I have no idea how old I was, but it had to be pretty young. I remember the crinkly plastic library cover, the embossed gold seal of the Caldecott. I grew up with many animals, ducks included, and I fell in love with McCloskey’s ducklings, and that smell and feel of the soft pages of a library book you can check out again and again. To this day I prefer the library over a bookstore. And ever since I started writing for children seriously I have longed for one of those award seals. Still hoping!

Favorite childhood book:

This is a tough one because I can’t possibly pick a single book. As an avid reader from age three, books and the way books affected me evolved as I grew up, and so favorites constantly changed. In elementary, I might have said Judy Blume and EB White, but by the time I got to Jr High, I’d jumped to Stephen King and VC Andrews. But the first book that always pops into my head as a top favorite is Little Women. I read many classics when I was a kid and loved most of them, but Little Women is the one that really stuck. It’s one of the very few books I’ve re-read as well, and my thoughts about it have changed over the years. One silly example is that as a kid I was so sad that Jo didn’t marry Laurie, but as an adult, I’m so happy she found a better match!

Book that made we want to be a writer:

This is a tough one because I’ve been writing since I was about ten years old. Writing has been a part of my routine for my entire life, sort of the way television might be a fixture in someone’s life. It’s always been my entertainment, my personal processing, the way I examine the world, and my escape from that world. So I have to change this to be the book, or books, that made me want to try to be an author which happened in my late twenties when I was reading to my children. The Spiderwick Chronicles, not a particularly literary series, but very fun, is the first book I remember my oldest devouring. I’d take him to Walmart to get the next installment every time (Sorry indie bookstores, we had none in rural PA!) It got my wheels turning about writing in a whole new way—why hadn’t I tried to write a book yet? And with that, I did.

Book I come back to: 

Other than a few exceptions like Little Women, I’m not a re-reader at all, but one book I know I’ll eventually come back to is Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer. It’s one of the few books I’ve read on my library app that I then went out and bought (albeit used) for my shelves. She is a writer who gets me. Being seen in the pages is incredibly important for all readers.

Book I could never read again: 

I have no problem DFN’ing a book. If it doesn’t have me in it’s talons, I’m not wasting my time. I might return to it later and try again, but I do not care often if I don’t finish something I’m not enjoying. That makes it hard to answer this question. I want to say Ethan Frome or The House of Seven Gables, but who knows. I might pick those up again just to see why I hated them so much in high school.

What I’m reading now: 

Just finished God of the Woods, a couple Emily Henry books, The Bean Trees, Three Women, and as of this writing I’m very slowly listening my way through The Institute, and a lot of Substacks. I also just started Mary Karr’s Liars Club but not sure it’s going to be one I finish. About to pick up whatever I can from Sharon McMahon.

My comfort read: 

This is going to sound so narcissistic, but my own work. When I feel the need for an escape, or to feel useful or productive or creative, I dive into unfinished manuscripts, tinker and polish, and strive to somehow bring them back to life. I am at home the most in my own writing. It reminds me who I am to the core, that manipulating words, and storytelling, is what fills me up, drives me forward, and is a craft I can and will always work at improving regardless of the outcome. The potential of an unfinished project is endless. It makes me feel like my potential is endless, and I find that to be the most important state of mind to carry one through life’s waves of disappointment and loss, as well as joys and accomplishments. I can never be satiated; I can never be finished.

Tell me in the comments about what you’re reading or any book that’s left a mark on your soul. I can always use reading recommendations!

And Happy Day of Thanks—I’m thankful for all of you who continue to read my words, whether they are good or not, and to participate in the conversation here. May we have gratitude for the lives and families that were here before us, our own circles and communities now, and the people who will continue moving this great experiment of America forward.