Fragile Things

It's the end of July, and fall semester doesn't seem so distant anymore. Even now as I write into my blog I can feel my time at home doing little of anything getting shorter. In lieu of this, I decided that this summer I was going to read more and so I have. In all honesty, reading and writing are two ends of a long rod of creativity. When you read, you shape the world that the author writes about as your own, that way you can discuss different views of the text and you overall have the freedom to warp the world in your image of it.

With this knowledge in hand, sometimes having someone give you guidelines for you to make your own world is still TOO constricting, and that's where writing comes in. The truth is, no one will ever read your words exactly as you intended them too, and no one's mind will ever have a picture as cinematic as the one you develop for you own words. 

With that in mind I've decided to read four books this summer, and in between those readings, I have also been working on my own novella. The saying goes good writers are great readers. So if you want to write good, READ READ READ. I cannot express that enough. Trust me, in the entire history of literature there IS a book out there for you. Find it, read it, love it, it's yours. I've read everything from sci-fi to social commentary. If books, for whatever reason, are not your cup of tea then read the newspapers. Read current events, it's all there for you. For once, give your brain an exercise in being creative, rather than only being able to recall images of something you've seen.

Here are my picks this summer. The list is limited, but effective.

1. American Gods, Neil Gaiman- Hands down the best book I've read in years. The story follows a guy named Shadow who's hired on by a guy named Wednesday to seek out mythical figures like, Anubis, Bastet, and other gods to battle the gods of the new world. These new world gods: media, internet, television etc. aren't going anywhere, and thus is the end of the book. The truth is, the set-up is better than the punchline, and that's what makes this book so great.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K Rowling- The last Harry Potter book. I've already said too much about it

3.  Letters to a Young Brotha, Hill Harper- The actor gives advice and acts as a distant mentor to today's African American youth. He talks about everything from the future to girls, a great read for any young black guy with nothing to loose but doubt.

4. TBA

In addition to these books I've read this summer, I've also been writing my own short story, as mentioned above. The name of the story is Toon Town. It's my take on 50s noir style detective stories complete with social commentary. It's still in early development stages, but it's chugging along nicely. I'm going to try and keep up with this blog for as long as I can, I'll probably start linking stuff to this and this is definitely getting linked to my facebook profile. Until next time, thankyou for reading.