Today’s blog is going to be a gear shift. Instead of writing, I’m talking about reading.
It’s said that if you want to be a good writer, you need to be a reader.
And luckily for us, there is an endless supply of fantastic things to read out there. Everything from inspiring literature filled with beautiful descriptions and philosophical investigations, to informational text, ready and waiting to answer all our odd writer questions.
My personal recommendation to any writers out there is to mix it up. Read the genre you want to write in. And read the classics that have survived the test of time. Really get into them, and look at what makes them stand out.
One such classic is the book ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury. This book was written in 1953, painting the picture of a ‘dystopian future,’ but the striking thing about the book is that, living in what would be considered the future to the author, it feels more like a reflection of modern times with a subtle dark twist.
Sure, we don’t have firemen running around starting fires to burn books, but literature being banned is a real issue we are facing today. Censorship, and people swaying the masses by inundating them with a constant stream of propaganda through technological means are both realities we can’t get away from.
Bradbury also predicted so many technologies in use today, which, to someone in the 50s would have seemed far fetched at best. My favorite is the “seashells” or, if you read his description, earbuds. In the book, our protagonist’s wife always has them on, so a constant stream of noise was filling her ears.
Reading that hit my funny bone, because to the protagonist, this was a mind boggling, concerning thing to do, and yet we all know someone like that. We all know that one person who can’t exist in silence.
I know this may have been an assigned reading for you in highschool. It was for me. But I also know that at that age, I didn’t really appreciate it. It was a bit over my head at the time. Picking it up again proved to be a real treat. I think I might go hunting for some of my other old reads.
Who knows what new level of depth and joy the books will bring?
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