Books that fill me with joy/gloom: too many to name but first one that came to mind was Candy House by Jennifer Egan. I enjoyed it so much but when reading it with a would-be writer's perspective I couldn't get over how intricate it was, how deep each interweaving story went with such economic use of prose and how she never lost me as a reader.
Jun 14, 2023·edited Jun 14, 2023Liked by Hattie Crisell
Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Grey. Or any of her books, actually. They so deeply inhabit whatever historical period they're set in. They fill me with so much joy, that writing can be THAT good.
Nodding enthusiastically to this newsletter, Hattie. Every time I review a book I've loved I start to wallow in how unreachable it feels to me as a writer (a writer with no ideas, at that), and then I have to zoom out from the tiny version of me that could just give up and drown in that notion, and look at the bigger feelings that I want to take away from it; like awe and hope and encouragement. I like to imagine that the writers are throwing down the gauntlet when I read something great, challenging me to try to harder. If it's in me to love their work, maybe it's in me to respond.
I felt like this most recently because of Succession, and I wrote about this exact thing on Substack just yesterday! (It's a post for paid subs but I'll share the free link here for your members because I referenced your chat with Georgia Pritchett in the letter. Beware, it's for Succession enthusiasts only - https://katieclapham.substack.com/p/7cf062be-8dc6-479e-80a5-712e2f8708de)
Not a book, but I read a Hemingway interview where he said “the research a writer doesn’t do shows up in the holes in their work,” and I think about that a lot now— the absences of knowledge I have that someone reading the things I write will have, and how I’d better be careful as I describe the world. It made me realise that a lot of authors I find difficult are the ones who haven’t come to terms with these gaps that they won’t know about
Anything by Claire Keegan - she’s so good at writing powerful stories around very quiet characters. And I love how whole her books feel, despite being relatively short.
I’m reading Cursed Bread (thanks to your interview with Sophie Mackintosh!) and sometimes I have to pause just to appreciate how her imagination arrived at some of the scenes. The parts I love in the book are where I feel like Mackintosh followed a “what if...” scenario farther than an average writer would and the reader is rewarded because of that effort.
So the feelings you express in this newsletter have been on my mind lately too!
Books that fill me with joy/gloom: too many to name but first one that came to mind was Candy House by Jennifer Egan. I enjoyed it so much but when reading it with a would-be writer's perspective I couldn't get over how intricate it was, how deep each interweaving story went with such economic use of prose and how she never lost me as a reader.
Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Grey. Or any of her books, actually. They so deeply inhabit whatever historical period they're set in. They fill me with so much joy, that writing can be THAT good.
Nodding enthusiastically to this newsletter, Hattie. Every time I review a book I've loved I start to wallow in how unreachable it feels to me as a writer (a writer with no ideas, at that), and then I have to zoom out from the tiny version of me that could just give up and drown in that notion, and look at the bigger feelings that I want to take away from it; like awe and hope and encouragement. I like to imagine that the writers are throwing down the gauntlet when I read something great, challenging me to try to harder. If it's in me to love their work, maybe it's in me to respond.
I felt like this most recently because of Succession, and I wrote about this exact thing on Substack just yesterday! (It's a post for paid subs but I'll share the free link here for your members because I referenced your chat with Georgia Pritchett in the letter. Beware, it's for Succession enthusiasts only - https://katieclapham.substack.com/p/7cf062be-8dc6-479e-80a5-712e2f8708de)
Not a book, but I read a Hemingway interview where he said “the research a writer doesn’t do shows up in the holes in their work,” and I think about that a lot now— the absences of knowledge I have that someone reading the things I write will have, and how I’d better be careful as I describe the world. It made me realise that a lot of authors I find difficult are the ones who haven’t come to terms with these gaps that they won’t know about
Anything by Claire Keegan - she’s so good at writing powerful stories around very quiet characters. And I love how whole her books feel, despite being relatively short.
loved big swiss!
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Every word was a delight and I was utterly jealous of her writing style. Still one of my favorite books.
Okay I am in. Before I go out to buy this book tell me what Big Swiss as a title means? Carol
So enjoyed this post, Hattie. Enchantment, by Katherine May, is my newest book love. Really savoring it right now.
I’m reading Cursed Bread (thanks to your interview with Sophie Mackintosh!) and sometimes I have to pause just to appreciate how her imagination arrived at some of the scenes. The parts I love in the book are where I feel like Mackintosh followed a “what if...” scenario farther than an average writer would and the reader is rewarded because of that effort.
So the feelings you express in this newsletter have been on my mind lately too!