Category: Books

There are times when it is difficult to choose what to read. It can be mind boggling–even restless to choose what to read.

I used to make a list of all the books I wanted to read, then start at the top of the list and work my way down. But more recently, I’ve been choosing books capriciously, investing my time in what will hold my attention.

What we choose to read depends on what our aim is in reading. Is it just for entertainment–light-reading, or is for information and knowledge? Is our goal to know a topic or a body of work on, say, science fiction, or is it to be taken to a new world–to escape into imagination?

In the past, I was driven to read an author’s body of work, o read a few books that were popular or were considered “great works”. But having gone through these phases, I feel like that reading “great works”, for example, wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. Some of the books were boring, and it took considerable effort and time to finish them.

The qualities that the books were admired for weren’t things I connected with, such as the author’s style, tone, or use of symbolism. As a result, I steered away from what others hailed as great or amazing, and started choosing books that I’d enjoy or that I would connect with.

Reading late at night can either put us to sleep, or it can keep us awake past our bedtime. It’s as if the true test of a book’s grip on us is by whether it puts us to sleep or not.

If a book can hold our attention, even if we’re tired, then we will push sleep aside. We won’t put it down until we’ve finished a chapter or until we’re too tired to keep reading. There are so many surprises and twists in each page that we would rather stay awake than to have a good night’s sleep.

If a book bores us, all it does is speed up the process of our sleeping. I’ve read books like that where each sentence felt more like a chore, an uphill battle to get to the next page.

But when we read, we want to be cognizant of what we’re reading. We want to be focused, alert. Perhaps reading late at night isn’t the ideal time to read. Or if that’s the only time we can dive into a book, then setting a timer might be a good way to keep track of how long we should read. Just slip in the bookmark when the time’s up. Don’t get pulled in, or else we might not sleep until the wee hours of the night.

Don’t you ever wish you had more time to read or write? It’s as if the number of books we want to read or the stories we want to write far exceed the time we have to pursue them.

Thus, we must focus on only a particular set of books and story ideas. We must limit ourselves to what we can accomplish–what we have time to invest in.

But the truth of the matter is is that there would never be enough time to complete all the things we want to read or write. We will always find a new book that will pique our interest, and stumble upon a new idea that inspires us.

Out of all the possible books and story ideas we could possibly choose from, we must choose the ones that will hold our attention the most.

Here is part 1 of my post: eBooks and Physical Books.

In the past year, I’ve amassed more ebooks than I ever have. Strangely enough. Even after accumulating more ebooks than physical books, I still prefer to read books on paper.

Why you might ask? Because when I read books on a tablet or on my phone, it feels like I’m continuously staring at a computer screen. In other words, it’s as if I’m still on my computer when my intention is to be off of it.

When reading for long hours on my phone or tablet, it strains my eyes and makes for an uncomfortable reading experience. Even though I’ve been reading a lot more on digital devices, I can’t read on them as long as I could on paper.

Granted, ebooks don’t use any paper, and they can be bought and read instantaneously. Thus, they are more economical and accessible than having to pick up the book from a store or to have them be delivered via mail. And although there are obvious advantages to the digital format, there’s something about having a physical book that elevates the experience beyond a digital one. It’s as if words themselves live on the page.

Paycheck, by Philip K. Dick, is a short story about a man, Jennings, who has no memory of the work he did for the last two years at Rethrick Construction. Soon, he finds out that they had wiped his memory of those years, and that he will receive compensation for the work he had done for them.

But when he goes into their office to collect his “paycheck,” they hand him an envelope instead, which contains a receipt, a key, etc. Later, the Security Police pick him up for questioning. They ask him about the work he had done for Rethrick Construction. Of course, he has no answer to give.

Using a couple of the items in the envelope, he escapes their custody and goes into hiding to find out what work he had done for the company. As the story unfolds, he uses the items in the envelope to evade being captured and to find out key information about Rethrick Construction.

The story is packed with fascinating ideas about technology and time through a dystopian backdrop. It’s neat to see how Jenning figures out how to use the items at the right moment to get himself out of trouble or to find out what he needs to know. The more I read, the more I wanted to dive into the story to find out what happened next.

Many years ago, I read over 40 or 50 books in a year. It wasn’t something I planned, but something that just happened out of the natural curiosity to read and learn as much as I can. I was reading every week–hours each day. I read voraciously as if I my imagination had an unlimited appetite, as if I needed to learn everything about the world.

Out of all those books, only a handful were great. Most of them were good, and a select few were boring. I ventured out to read books that were considered classics (The Great Gatsby, A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, etc.), and some for my own interest (Kurt Vonnegut books, War of the Worlds, etc.).

The number of books I’ve read has diminished each year as I got busier with work and with life (traveling, writing, etc.). Though my reading habits have shifted to online articles and short stories, my thirst for knowledge still remains.

I go through phases where I read intensely, and go through phases where I devote my time to writing or planning the next story. I often switch between these phases because staying in one phase for too long runs the risk of burning me out or losing enthusiasm for it. Variety is key to find balance. One half of me wants to learn from other writers–how they tell stories, how they create characters–and the other half of me wants to exercise and develop my creativity.

I can’t say I remember much in great detail about all the books I’ve read. Even my favorite books are just fragments and bits and pieces of awesome scenes in the recesses of my mind. Each book I finished has left an impression on me, though some are more vivid than others.

Reading a book is like peering through a window into a new world. It’s a world of ideas, conflicts, intrigue, and characters. Some books may not resonate with us, but for the ones that do, they stay with us as if we lived through the experience.

Reading on the weekend is a wholly different experience compared to reading on the weekday. During the week, we’re tired when we come home from work, and the energy we have to read is limited. When we read after a long day of work, it drains us, and the quality of our reading experience is pale compared to those sessions when we’re focused and engaged.

Reading on the weekend, however, is more casual and relaxed. We have so much more time to read without the worries of a busy schedule. We can progress further in the book, even finish the book in a two or three hour session.

That’s not to say that reading during the week shouldn’t be done. On the contrary. Reading during the week keeps the story fresh in our mind. It keeps the storyline active, and the characters, locations, and events in our short term memory.

If we only read on the weekend, there’d be a break in the narrative where we might forget the storyline and the subtleties in the story. Reading consistently helps to bridge the events and chapters together. If we read on the weekend in addition to the weekday, we can experience the book in a continuous flow in which everything falls into place.

The start of a new chapter in a book should pull us into the story. It should keep the tension and suspense of the last chapter present–activate the unknowns of the plot to engage our curiosity–to keep reading.

When this doesn’t happen, it’s as if the writer is just going through the motions, isn’t even trying to grab our attention. This might work well in a book that has dramatic cliff hangers, but not for stories where it starts off with a completely new scene where nothing dramatic or tense is happening.

Even though the first few lines of a new chapter should set the tone, there should be something unsettling or intriguing about it. It’s fine to describe the setting and the atmosphere, but it should be followed by something gripping–throw us into a conflict. Once that happens, we’ll keep turning the pages.

Personally, I don’t want to dog-ear the start of a new chapter, which is what I usually do. My rule of thumb is to read a chapter or two before taking break. When I’m bored or disinterested, I’ll forget all the details–the character names, the locations, etc. But I’ll keep reading if the new chapter is powerful enough. In that case, the story is playing like a movie inside my mind, and it’s one of the great pleasures about reading.

My new short story collection, Sasquatch Mine And Other Stories, is available on Amazon. It has 4 short stories including Sasquatch Mine, The Robber, The Invaders, and Impulse. Happy reading!

Influential books can inspire us to believe a certain thing, or even pursue something. As an author, influential books inspire me to read and write–encouraging me to find my own voice.

An influential book doesn’t have to be popular or well known, since it might only influence you or a small group of people. For me, books such as The Road, War of the Worlds, Cujo, Eye in the Sky, and The Lottery And Other Stories have had a tremendous influence on me as a writer. Why did they influence me you might ask? I’ll explain why below.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is a post apocalyptic story about a father and son who are surviving in a bleak and unforgiving world. McCarthy’s descriptions and dialogue put me in the characters shoes–made me feel the danger they faced around every corner. For me, the book encapsulates the kind of story I want to write where I don’t want it to end.

War of the Worlds has a simple premise: an alien invasion that humanity cannot defeat, but nature can. The story is gripping, tense, and H.G. Well’s writing is crystal clear, taking us through each moment–play by play–of the invasion. But it’s the idea of an unbeatable, unstoppable alien force that is the most influential, which many films and writers have explored. My novel, THE INVAS10N, is an example of this.

Cujo is an incredibly gripping story by Stephen King that explores a different kind of horror–a rabies infected St. Bernard. The opening chapter is one the best I’ve read that describes the varieties of evil that exists. The story is quite simple: a mother and son are trapped inside of a car during a hot summer while a St. Bernard stalks them. But it is the tension that Stephen King creates with this simple setup, where you don’t know if they’ll be saved in time, where her husband and the authorities are at a lost to find them.

Philip K. Dick’s Eye in the Sky, a group of people get zapped by a beam at a facility that transports them into the minds of the other persons. Each mind is a world that operates on the beliefs of that individual. For example, in one world, miracles are the norm (i.e. a vending machine that can duplicate objects). In another world, a house turns on the people and attacks them. It’s one of the strangest and surrealist things I’ve read, yet, it is absolutely fascinating and gripping to read.

Lastly, The Lottery And Other Stories, a collected work on Shirley Jackson’s short stories, has had a profound effect on me in writing short stories. Many of her stories have a setup where things start off normal until something completely bizarre happens. She wrote her stories with a twist, where things caught you by surprise.

The story Charles, for example, is about a kid who tells his parents about a classmate named Charles, who is causing mischief at school (I attached the link to the story title). The Lottery, her most famous story in the collection, is about a village where the villagers perform a dark lottery ritual. In each story, what appears normal slips into something odd or dark.

I can probably name more books that have been influential to me, but the five I listed are sufficient. Each author influenced on me in some aspect of literature and writing. Whether they inspired me in how I view storytelling, or on what ideas I can write about, these books have one thing in common: they inspire me to read and write.