Having created my new home, a makeshift, all-encompassing, column on my website, I thought there’s no better time to delve into who I read. The writers that inspire my thoughts, my style and who accompany me these days whether through their online writings or the pages in their books. Their writing is ever-present in my work.
So I’m going to start this properly. I’ve just sat down with a cup of tea, which I truly believe is my lifeforce, and a piece of tealoaf. Arming myself with a plain, soft, stitched notebook and my current favourite fountain pen, a gold-plated Watermanm that is more than overkill, this is the first piece of writing that I’ve drafted by hand in almost a year. My writing style isn’t what I want it to be when I simply type, I’m hoping this might fix the problem.
So Who Am I Reading?
A lot of these days it’s the same kind of writer or the same topics, but I do try to vary my reading and branch out.
I find myself coming back to Jay Rayner, partially due to the books given to me by my brother, but also because his command of the English language and the food that he makes and, what I can only imagine, ravenously devours, pleases every aspect of my being. His columns for The Observer are inspirational to me not only as a writer but as a passionate foodie.
On the topic of food writers – Ella Risbridger inspires my palate and my lifestyle and relatively recently I just made her entirely inauthentic curry recipe. Nigel Slater, another food writer for The Observer, is a cook that I have favoured for ears and having recently read about his kitchen in A Cooks Book has made me entirely too jealous.
Matt Haig, author of fiction and non-fiction works including The Midnight Library, The Comfort Book and Reasons To Stay Alive is an author I’ve read and truly want to keep reading – I consumed those two latter titles just earlier this year and The Midnight Library will be my entrance to his fictional worlds. My thriller fiction consistently comes from Dan Brown, and Rupi Kaur provides my desire to read poetry. I’m going to try and read some more Alan Bennet in the near future, and I’m giving Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club a run for its money at the current moment.
So in line with my aspirations of becoming a more consistent and profitable writer I’m filling my time and attention reading. And despite times of lacking motivation or self-pessimistic tendencies towards my written word – I always find myself coming back to pen and appear. Therefore, it will work; it’ll pay off eventually. In the meantime, I’ve left links to all authors’ websites where possible and now I need to find some essayists to add to this list.
Need some books to read? Check out this post:
