Indispensable books

Articles referencing some of the best books ever written. These books come in two categories, books on writing and must read books. These indispensable books include a collection of quirky, banned, must read and books on writing. Look here for articles based on the writing expertise of the authors of these indispensable books.

Writing is a skill, and the best way to get better is to write but there is no reason to avoid studying how writing works or learning how to do it well with the help of those who have built the art up to make it what it is today.

September 18 2021

8 Quirky Books You Must Read

Indispensable books

Some of the books I love most are quirky books. Hopefully, you often find yourself wrapped in a good read that is a bit quirky. What makes them quirky? For me, such books are strange, confusing, fun or just plain odd.

My Quirky List:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
Most Of Kurt Vonnegut’s Books
The Innocents Abroad – Mark Twain
Funny Farm – Jay Cronley
Tipping The Velvet – Sarah Walters
The Importance Of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button – Francis Scott Fitzgerald

For more book recommendations see my Must Read Authors list

I love Quirky books. Please share your list?

July 18 2021

A Lifetime Reader: The Book That Did it!

Indispensable books

As a lifetime reader, I have read many books, some bad, some good, some awful and some forgettable. The Chosen by Chaim Potok for me was superb and unforgettable.

Shifting From Lifetime Reader to Writer

As a lifetime reader, I have read many books, some bad, some good, some awful and some forgettable. The Chosen by Chaim Potok for me was superb and unforgettable.

Years ago, as a broody teen I read many books in my bed, under the window, during the summer when I had endless hours to myself. On one of those sweaty hot days, I lost myself in this novel. This book, written before I entered the world, talks about a time after a war that for me had passed into the history books. It was a solid story, about the struggle to be seen. I lived that problem. I was ten, lost in a sea of older siblings. These boys, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders became friends despite their bitter dislike of one another because of a baseball game.

During my girlhood, there were two things I really loved. Baseball and reading. No wonder, this book was a winner to me. At the beginning, the intense baseball scene roped me in, but the developing relationship between two boys from different worlds held me, especially the unseen, unspoken to, brilliant Danny Saunders.

As a lifetime reader, I was thrilled to find a book to lose myself into for a time. I embraced the characters, sensed their feelings, heard their thoughts, and empathized with their plight. Then, in the gooey middle of that turbulent story, came one particular paragraph, changing the game by making the words show up. The words—not the story, suddenly captivated me. I tapped my finger on the page, mouthing as I counted each word, impatient to know how many Potok used to walk me down the sidewalk, up the stairs, right into the world of Hasidic Jews.

The Juicy Details…

Four hundred twenty-three words. A paragraph with twelve sentences, thirty-two commas, and fourteen dashes. It has an average sentence of thirty-five words, alongside words with an average of five characters. Oh, the simplicity amid the complexity. I first wrote out this paragraph on paper, resisting the urge to add periods, leave out words or change the syntax. I transcribed it exactly. Next, I read it aloud. On that day, I learned you could truly break the writing rules, if you also followed them, as you broke them. It’s twisted, but it’s not. The paragraph is loaded; yet without fragmented, or run-on sentences. It’s just right. I wanted to understand how to use words like him, to manipulate them, to own—or make puppets of them. I wanted to not only be a lifetime reader but a writer too. Ultimately, I wanted to bring stories to life like Potok.

A Lifetime Reader’s Paragraph

We were approaching a group of about thirty black-caftaned men who were standing in front of the three-story brownstone at the end of the street. They formed a solid wall, and I did not want to push through them so I slowed my steps, but Danny took my arm with one hand and tapped his other hand upon the shoulder of a man on the outer rim of the crowd. The man turned, pivoting the upper portion of his body – a middle-aged man, his dark beard streaked with gray, his thick brows edging into a frown of annoyance – and I saw his eyes go wide. He bowed slightly and pushed back, and a whisper went through the crowd like a wind, and it parted, and Danny and I walked through, Danny holding me by the arm and nodding his head at the greetings and Yiddish that came in quiet murmurs from the people he passed. It was as if a black-waved, frozen sea had been sliced by a scythe, forming black, solid walls along a jelled path. I saw black- and gray-bearded heads bow toward Danny and dark brows arch sharply over eyes that stared questions at me and at the way Danny was holding me by the arm. We were almost halfway through the crowd now, walking slowly together, Danny’s fingers on the part of my arm just over the elbow. I felt myself naked and fragile, an intruder, and my eyes, searching for anything but the bearded faces to look at, settled, finally, upon the sidewalk at my feet. Then, because I wanted something other than the murmured greetings in Yiddish to listen to, I began to hear, distinctly, the tapping sounds of Danny’s metal-capped shoes against the cement pavement. It seemed a sharp, unnaturally loud sound, and my ears fixed on it, and I could hear it clearly as we went along. I listened to it intently- the soft scrape of the shoe and the sharp tap-tap of the metal caps- as we went up the stone steps of the stairway that led into the brownstone in front of which the crowd stood. The caps tapped against the stone of the steps, then against the stone of the top landing in front of the double door -and I remembered the old man I often saw walking along Lee Avenue, moving carefully through the busy street and tapping, tapping, his metal-capped cane, which served him for eyes he had lost in a First World War trench doing a German Gas attack.

I’m a lifetime reader and I love sharing this paragraph. Years after that sweaty hot, humid summer, it remains for me, the best paragraph ever written.

Are you a lifetime reader? If so, check out my list of must read authors.

May 18 2021

How to Create a Vivid & Continuous Fictional Dream: Part 3

Indispensable books, On Writing

Good stories create a vivid and continuous fictional dream. It’s not easy. In this third and final post based on Gardner’s idea of fictional dreams, let’s discuss how to make our stories vivid and free of distractions.

By detail a writer achieves vividness – John Gardner

Have you ever had vivid or lucid dreams? I have. Reading a book can feel like you’re having one. When a book does that, it’s a winner. The real challenge is to sustain the vividness from the first until the last page.

How to Create a Vivid and Continuous Fictional Dream

Vivid and Continuous Fictional Dream Make your characters real. Having vivid characters means showing who they are on all levels. Readers want to know what the characters look like, what they sound like and how they think but don’t put it out there in one big clump. Reveal character attributes slowly. Even in the very last pages, the author can show us more about a character.

Work hard to develop your characters. When you do, it sets the stage for putting the reader inside a fictional dream. Detail all there is to know about your world. Show us your characters. Show who they are, what they’re doing, where they are and why they’re doing these things.

Build Great Characters

The best way to keep the dream going is to reveal what motivates your characters. The more believable your characters, the more vivid the dream. Here are some ways to make a vivid & continuous fictional dream

Give the characters dimension – no one is all good or all bad. Complex characters feel real because real people are complex. Avoid stereotypes. Unless you have a very specific reason, skip the stereotypes.
Present Concrete Details – Be specific and consistent about how your characters act. Show us their language. Make the reader hear them. Let them interact with other characters, their environment and through inner conflict themselves. It seems, an insurmountable list of requirements but it’s doable. Including these details helps the reader feel close to the characters in your story.
Push them forward – Show us what motivates the characters. Tangle the reader in the conflict and then without distractions make the story too compelling to stop reading.

Keep the Fictional Dream Vivid & Continuous with Good Descriptions

Write descriptions to make your story more interesting. Describe everything. Some writers are great at putting readers into the setting. Yet, there are authors who bog down the story by over describing. Find a balance. Getting the details right will prevent distractions in the fictional dream. Make the reader see.

Use the Senses

No matter the journey you share with the reader, ensure they experience it in every way. Remember to show what’s happening. In order to do that, let the reader know what’s smelled, tasted, touched and heard. When you do, you will create a fictional dream for the reader to get lost into until the very last page.

How to Create a Fictional Dream: Part 1
How to Create a Fictional Dream: Part 2

April 18 2021

How to Create a Fictional Dream: Part 1

Indispensable books, On Writing

“Fiction does its work by creating a dream in the reader’s mind” – John Gardner

If Gardner is correct, then writers must figure out how to create a fictional dream for the reader. Let’s explore Gardner’s idea. To provide the most comprehensive overview, this discussion has three parts.

In this post, I’m going to discuss how to set the stage for the fictional dream. In the next post, Part 2, we’ll look at keeping the reader in the dream. Part 3 is about how to make the dream vivid and continuous.

How to Create a Fictional Dream: Set the Stage

Think back to your favorite books. Did the story keep you spellbound? It had to. Regardless of the quality of writing, our favorite books have great stories in them. We remember those books. Whether they are fiction or non-fiction, the best books can have a magical quality that ensnares us.

What is the Fictional Dream?

Webster defines dream as “a state of mind marked by abstraction or release from reality.” That’s the writer’s job, to create a release from reality. Reading is a way to escape our own lives, to imagine ourselves as someone else, to see, hear, feel and touch with someone else. Every writer strives to create such an experience.

How does a writer succeed? A writer creates a dream if they capture a world in words. Every detail must stay true to the story and keep the reader turning the pages. We can use some of the best stories for examples of a fictional dream.

You may have a list, but I offer a few of mine:

Romeo and Juliet by Willian Shakespeare
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Create a Fictional Dream - Set the Stage

Who’s in the Dream?

Who is in your dreams? Are you standing alone doing nothing? I doubt it. Our dreams are full of action with people doing things. We see and interact with them. And sometimes, when we wake, the dream lingers. This is what a good book must do.

Your characters, no matter the genre, must resonate with the reader. That means, if your book is non-fiction the prose must make us feel close to the narrator or give the sense that we are experiencing or discovering the things the author discusses in the book.

Write true to life characters. Great characters will jump right out of your book and into the reader’s mind. The reader will see them and feel with them as they work through the conflicts you put in front of them.

What’s Happening in the Dream?

Can you have a dream where nothing happens? Probably not? Readers like to get tangled up. Make sure things are happening to your characters. Yes, we need to know what the characters are doing but also why they do it.

Tell us why that character walks down that fictional road. Maybe your characters are lost in a desert. Will they survive? Blanket the reader with the details. If you can make it so we cannot take our eyes off of them, you’ve done your job. However you do it, get the reader tangled in the action. Let the reader get sad with them, angry with them and more than anything emotionally tied to the decisions your characters make.

How will things work out? Only the writer knows. Whatever you do, be sure to take the reader on a journey. Slowly stir up and then unwind your story. Slide your reader down into the depths of your world. Stay there until the last page. That’s what makes a great story.

Where is the Dream Happening?

Both time and place contribute to the authenticity of a story. Take Lord of the Rings for example, the story takes place at an unknown time in unknown lands. But the setting seemed real and possible. Anyone who read and enjoyed the book, took up residence in the Shire with Frodo Baggins in his smial. Later, the reader would have trekked through Middle Earth, finding themselves on a great adventure. For me, it was a wonderous dream.

After I finished The Fellowship of the Ring, I started book two, minutes later. I couldn’t wait. During those teen days, mostly reading in my bed, I did very little sleeping because I had to finish the whole series. Tolkien knew how to design a dream.

Whether your story takes place in current day, right here on earth, or in the future on another planet, build a world for the reader to live in with your characters.

How to Create a Fictional Dream Part 2

How to Create a Fictional Dream Part 3

March 18 2021

10 Great Books That Hit All the Right Notes

Indispensable books

Like so many writers, as a child, I read all the time. I still read a lot. There is no way to laser in on what makes the books we love, the books we love. Yet, sometimes, we just go all in. Perhaps the writing entices us or perhaps it’s all about the story. Either way, there is an unquestionable magic to the great books that hit all the right notes for us. They take us into another world and hold us until the story is done. Here is my list of 10 great books that hit all the right notes for me.

Every book doesn’t tick all the boxes for me. But oh, how I chase the high.

The Chronical of Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis This series is captivating. Young readers will find a fantasy world to get lost in for many days. Great summer series.

Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain Twain’s book is Satirical Rhetoric and is one of the funnies books I’ve ever read. Anyone who can read the book with an open mind, will find food for thought inside.

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin There are so many reasons to like this book, chief among them is the writing. Baldwin is so lyrical, plus his writing style is powerful, raw and honest.

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson A book about self-deception may not sound like a good read but this one was that and more. The authors’ presentation proved to be well-written, informative and for me inspirational.

From So Simple A Beginning by Charles Darwin (Find his work here) This gigantic book contains all of the scientific writings of Charles Darwin. In it, he writes about the Theory of Evolution, and much more. Read the book to understand some of the connections between our greatest achievements and Darwin’s science. Unfortunately, human beings also managed to use his brilliance to justify many of its inhumane acts. See if you can spot those connections too.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card I rooted for Ender. He was the underdog that we love to see beat the odds. But the book was so much more than an underdog story. It was about ethics. The original sequels are excellent too.

The Lord of the Rings Series (which for me includes The Silmarillion) by J. R. R. Tolkien I love the books, not the movies. These books captured my imagination and with them I painted the landscape of the worlds Tolkien created. My imagination was not as dark or scary as the movies.

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler I’ll admit it, this book caught me by surprise. Yet, in it, I found a world so completely drawn, characters so original and a story so utterly fascinating.

Dune by Frank Herbert My first dog was named Dune because I loved this book that much. The world Herbert created is reason enough to read the book. Although it falls in the sci-fi genre, it’s really other world politics. But the characters and interactions are worth the read.

The Chosen by Chaim Potok This is my all time favorite book. I’m not sure what made it so, but I just bet it had a whole lot to do with my age. When I read the book, I was an angry, frustrated teen; ready to rebel as much as any teen ever was.

While reading the book, the unusual friendship between Danny and Reuven drew me into the story. At the same time, I found myself forever captured by Potok’s writing style because his words jumped off the page. For me, the combination was magical.