Iam, apparently, still on my nonfiction kick for the most part. I will finish up my re-reading of Caesar and Christ today, and begin a long-awaited re-read of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. After that, I think it is back to nonfiction, and here is some of the nonfiction that I’ve acquired around the holidays to fortify me.
- The Autobiography of Mark Twain (Volumes 1 & 2) by Mark Twain
- No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli1
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
- I, Claudius by Robert Graves
I can’t say this with certainty, but I am beginning to get the feeling that I write better fiction when I am reading nonfiction. I think when I am reading fiction, I am too liable to fall into the trap of trying to imitate the style of whatever author I happen to be reading.
In any case, I am looking forward to all of these books in the new year.
- I read this in college, and even wrote a paper on it, but I have no memory of it today. ↩
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You might be amused that I was looking avariciously at an old set of Gibbon at a local independent bookstore today. Didn’t pull the trigger, but nearly did.