Reading - Mainly Pratchett and Gaiman, with a sprinkle of Dawkins.

January 2010:

In January, I've made life easy for myself and gone on a thoroughly enjoyable Terry Pratchett binge. I've read the third Discworld novel Equal Rites, the first in his Witches series, as well as Truckers, Diggers and Wings, the three books in his Nome series, which is aimed at younger readers.

Pratchett's writing fills me with awe and pure glee. The quirky routes he takes to make his points just bafle me with how imaginative they are and his use of English reminds me why I fell in love with this language in the first place. I remember my mother warning me against trying to read Pratchett in the original - 'It's crazy and complicated enough in French without adding the language barrier, dear.' - but now that I've given the English version a try I could never go back. Translation can only go so far. Traduttore, traditore.*

To me, Pratchett's books are among these things that are so great that they can alternatively fill you with the ultimate writing mojo or sap your moral entirely, because whatever you write, it'll never be half as good.


February '10:

I had been wanting to read short stories for a while and I decided to start with Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things, a collection of 'Short Fiction and Wonders'. I thought these would read very fast because of their average length, but I find that I need a pause between stories, like a glass of water between the main and dessert. Often, I'll try and read the story aloud for the music of it, and some I will re-read several times. I do feel strange about the idea of writing short stories while reading these, because I don't want to be writing in a Gaiman-esque style - I have nothing against his style, I love it even, but I think I ought to be developping my own style, rather than doing a copycat of his, which would probably not be very good anyway.

I've also started Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, which I got for my birthday, but this going to be a slow one, I think, as it is non-fiction and is written in quite a complicated academic vocabulary and style. But it is really interesting and I'll keep reading it in parallel with the rest, hoping the dual reading stays as doable as it is now.


* Italian proverb, literally 'Translator, traitor'.