There’s a meme going around on Facebook that asks you to pick 15 novelists who’ve influenced you and will always stick with you. You’re supposed to take 15 minutes to compile the list, tag at least 15 friends, and then post your note.
I did that, but then found that I wanted to talk all about the authors I chose – not part of the meme! Luckily, I have a blog where I can blather on as much as I want and no Internet Meme Police are going to stop me.
I already cheated a bit on my list anyway – a lot of them are nonfiction writers. But, they write narrative nonfiction which is sometimes called the “nonfiction novel,” so it counts, right?
In my Monday Tally a few weeks ago I linked to a website called Five Books. The website is a collection of book lists by experts on particular topics and has the tagline is “The best five books on everything.”
One of the reasons I was intrigued by the site is the idea of reading books on a particular topic or theme in order to build an expertise in something. This is a theme that runs through my reading – when I find a topic I’m curious about, I end up reading a lot of books on that subject until I get burned out on it (example: “back to the farm” memoirs). This love of themes is part of why I love putting together Narrative Nonfiction 5 lists.
But could I really be an expert on anything?
I got one of my first e-mails from a new reader yesterday, asking about literary journalism. I ended up writing a rather involved response, which I thought other people might find interesting. Here’s the question:
Hi! I just found your blog, it has been very helpful. I am trying to get into literary journalism, I have read a lot of Mark Bowden’s work. Can you suggest a few of the more well-known books in this genre to get started with!
And here’s a slightly edited and improved version of what I had to say (links go to my reviews, if applicable).
The Spring Reading Thing 2009 hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days. The challenge is pretty simple: write a list of books you want to read between March 20 and June 20, try to read and review all of your books, then post about your experience during the challenge sometime in June. I participated in Katrina’s [...]
