So yesterday I received two books in the mail. One was written by my poet friend and the other by our very own Dr. Cougar, my favorite second-oldest sister. I had to talk Cougar down a few months ago because she hated the cover so much. Poet friend had told us a similar story of a terrible cover that was rescued at the last minute by a painting by a friend. Cougar did not have any such last minute rescue. All I can say, as I look at the cover with its very obvious stock photos arranged in an uninteresting way, is that at least it isn’t bright turquoise or otherwise horribly tinted. That and Cougar’s first academic book has a dazzling cover, so suck it up and deal, cupcake.
Also on the table is the quilt book my friend wrote and Averil’s Alice Close Your Eyes (which also has a great cover). Over the weekend, I finished Alice, which was harrowing and beautiful. I had to put Alice down in the middle because it was so harrowing. But I picked it back up again! Upstairs I have an IndieBound Best pick novel by a woman I went to college with. I haven’t yet read the IndieBound pick. Will I read Cougar’s textbook? I will probably leaf through it. The book is not in my field, but I did help come up with a bunch of the chapter titles. My name is in the acknowledgments.
I am bad about reading books that people want me to read. It has to be the right book at the right time, otherwise I get cranky and resistant. This is not one of my better personality traits. In fact it makes me a big hypocrite because I’m always getting the bookseller gleam in my eye and matchmaking people and books.
Me: YOU MUST READ THIS NOW.
Other person: Um, I’m at work right now. I’ll look for it this weekend.
Me: That’s not quick enough. Quit your job. YOU MUST READ THIS.
Other person backs away slowly.
Confession time: Do you read books that your friends write?
Being at work is no excuse for me, but I’ve liked all your recommendations so far, indy.
Last year, the majority of books I read were by friends, or people I’d met, online or otherwise.
You, my friend, are my easiest mark.
That’s worth a blog post!
If I wasn’t, I’d be in the wrong business. 🙂
And at this point, everything is.
Like Sarah, a lot of the books I’ve read recently are by online friends, the two most recent being Averil’s Alice and The Moment Before by Suzy Vitello.
I always buy and read books by people in my circle. If we don’t support each other, what’s the point ?
the quilt book is out? Wow! Can you tell [author of quilt book] that I’d like to do a book exchange. She’ll read mine, won’t she? I will certainly read hers. Instead of going to work. Right away!
A former co-worker wrote two books, self-published. He does not believe in paragraphs. I forced myself to race-read, wrote a decent review and felt as if I had cheated on a test.
This is one of the reasons I’m horrible in a book club. I don’t want anyone to tell me what to read. Sounds too much like a homework assignment. Ugh.
Okay, that, and that I often say inappropriate things and become ridiculously defensive if someone dislikes a book I’ve recommended. But I digress…
Of course I read books that friends have written. I AM in a book discussion group, though, and that consumes a lot of my leisure reading time, so I might have one or two books by friends on the shelf to be read.
I read friend’s books, but my depression (and sometimes finances) makes me slower than usual. At the moment I’m reading Alice Close Your Eyes and Lisa Stowe’s The Memory Keeper.
I was lucky with my own cover. Averil agreed to let my sister use one of her photos to compose it. I think it works, so I just fret about the poems inside… and whether I used too many elipses.
Ellipses. If only there was spell check for comments…
If you can’t fret about poems, what can you fret about? 🙂
you can fret about the copy editing mistakes you find in your own publications. Aieee!
I do read friends’ books, fast as they can write them. It would be crazy to spend so much time talking about writing and then never read what comes out of it.
“Quit your job. You must read this.”
You had me at hello…
Ha! You are a case in point. I mailed you a book I NEEDED YOU TO READ without considering whether or not you were a person who was open to reading suggestions. DIDN’T CARE. MUST READ NOW.