What’s on your list to read in 2016?  I got a few fun books to read over the holidays, (see photo) and I still have a backlog from book-signing events and conferences.

First up is “Purity” by Franzen. It was a birthday gift from my fabulous mother-in-law, and I have kept ‘meaning to get into it.’

Every book I read about writing gives me the same advice–write and read a lot. I tried to put every book I read in 2015 on my Goodreads shelves, but I probably missed one or two. But, it looks like I made my 52 book goal for the year.  Most were mysteries or thrillers. What a surprise!

As a writer, I have a couple of standard responses to books I read.  Often I think “wow…this is really good. HOW did this writer pull me in?”  I spend some time analyzing the craft of the author and feeling inferior.  The other response is “wow…this is really crap.  How did this writer ever get published?” along with the more peevish, “I write better than this, so what’s off about MY STORY?”

Regardless of my response, I usually learn SOMETHING as a writer with every book I pick up. Reading without the active analysis is harder for me than it used to be, so I love it when I get so sucked into a story that I forget to pay attention to craft details. When I put such a book down, I have a moment where I think, “wait…how did that happen? I read a story and didn’t even think about how the author used a gazillion adverbs and it didn’t bug me at all…”

Here’s wishing you and yours a happy, safe, and word-filled 2016.