If you need ideas for books to read, I highly recommend hitting up a writing conference. I’ve never seen so many readers gathered in one place!
My top 5 books I’m dying to read (or re-read) post-FFW:
- Standing by Words: Essays by Wendell Berry, primarily for the essay “On Poetry and Marriage: The Use of Old Forms.”
- Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me by Karen Swallow Prior. This has been on my radar for a while, but it zoomed to the top of the list after hearing Karen speak at FFW.
- Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey by Luci Shaw. She was delightful at FFW and I haven’t read enough of her work. I’m especially excited to explore her use of metaphor, which she gushed about in session.
- Within This Tree of Bones by Robert Siegel. Siegel was described as an “astonishing” modern poet, but I haven’t read his work.
- Holy Is the Day: Living in the Gift of the Present by Carolyn Weber. Caro read an excerpt from this in session, and it was terrific.
Check out my full post-FFW reading list here.
The “Writing Both Sides” panelists also shared 8 “token writers” that have modeled doubt faithfully. I’ll share those for another day so as not to completely overwhelm you with suggestions.