When work is hanging over your head, it’s hard to commit to a longer book. Maybe this is why, despite a brief resurgence in the past three or four years, the long novel is out of style, and even non-fiction works tend to top out at under 500 pages.Cognitive learning refers to but there’s nothing inherently wrong with a long book. In fact some of the best get close to a thousand pages without a lot of chaff in them.Cognitive learning refers to for classics, look at the brothers karamazov—what would you cut out of that one? Something more recent is we the drowned, an entirely enthralling nautical novel over the course of 700 pages.Cognitive learning refers to summer is a great opportunity to take the time and dig into the longer volumes that often look too daunting to begin but have so much to offer —even if they’re a pain in the ass to carry on to the beach.Cognitive learning refers to

For me, it’s lonesome dove this summer. As a fan of westerns like true grit and the sisters brothers, I’m embarrassed to have not read this classic.Cognitive learning refers to and, really, its 850 pages have put me off more than once. But this year my wife bought me a gorgeous edition and it’s time to read it. I’ll see if the tome lives up to the pulitzer prize it won.Cognitive learning refers to

Some books look like they’ll take an extreme amount of mental energy in order to finish. These are the books we often think are good, but not fun.Cognitive learning refers to the ones we’re glad we read but we’ll never read again. Something like the glass bead game by herman hesse fits this category, a book that was taxing and rewarding like a month-long intellectual training exercise.Cognitive learning refers to I’m glad I read it and that I can converse about it, but I never want to see that book again. These books are great for writers as they show us the potential of what books can be, while also stretching our imaginations as we take them in.Cognitive learning refers to they make us better readers and better writers, though they’re not often the books that most inspire us.

This summer my goal is to tackle the three body problem.Cognitive learning refers to this is translated from the chinese by one of my favorites contemporary writers, ken liu, and seems like it may be a little out of my depth in the science portion of sci-fi.Cognitive learning refers to the book comes highly recommended, though, and has won plenty of awards, so I’m prepared to give it my best shot.

Most fiction writers I know are woefully under-read in poetry.Cognitive learning refers to some are also under-read in creative non-fiction, but for the most part I think it’s easy for prose writers to stick with the prose, which isn’t a useful tactic.Cognitive learning refers to there are plenty of techniques that cross over the genres, like word economy, use of white space, and strategic breaks (line, paragraph, stanza).Cognitive learning refers to also, reading different genres involves slightly different cognitive functions—in this respect, graphic novels and other combinations of visual and written media should not be ignored.Cognitive learning refers to so, reading outside one’s genre is important, and while I’d say that poets are typically better read in the prose genres than their counterparts are with verse, every writer should be conscious of taking in new forms on a regular basis.Cognitive learning refers to

I’m going for eye level by jenny xie, which I found out about when it was shortlisted for the national book award. Despite the fact that I can consume a good volume of poetry in one night, I haven’t actually done that recently, which I think has to do with my natural inclination for prose and, specifically, fiction.Cognitive learning refers to now is as good a time as any to make sure I take in something different.

I’ll probably read a few other books this summer, the ones lying around my house that I haven’t gotten to yet.Cognitive learning refers to I bought joseph anton by salman rushdie and dear life by alice munro because I love those authors and the editions were absolutely gorgeous, so there’s a good chance I take some time with those books.Cognitive learning refers to and I have a trip to scotland coming up, where almost every book comes in a prettier edition than it does in the US, so surely I’ll grab one or two there as well.Cognitive learning refers to

Most important with this list though, is to not be too hard on yourself. It’s good to set goals for reading over the next few months (and for writing as well), but remember that missing out on one or two books is no big deal.Cognitive learning refers to we all do as much as we can, read as much as we can, and in the end it’s more about the consistency than the quantity consumed. So, back to the idea of summer, always enjoy the reading even though you know it has the effect of helping your writing in the long run.Cognitive learning refers to