As an editor, I know how much work goes into writing any type of book, so I can’t help but feel sorry for the books that I pick up after I’ve read a seriously good one.
You know the type of good books I’m talking about. The ones that have us in awe at the standard of the writing or storytelling. The ones that you want to cancel everything else for and the ones that you want to talk to everyone about. The ones that we hug to our chests when we finish them and the ones that become part of our cultural DNA.
For me, some of the excellent books include anything by Roxane Gay or Colson Whitehead, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, Shadowboxing by Tony Birch, Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly and Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner.
These types of reads kind of ruin me for other books. If I’m not mindful about what I choose to read next, I invariably end up disappointed and usually jettison the book about thirty pages in.
So, I’ve spent some time thinking about ways to work around this and make the reading journey across books a bit smoother. Some things that work for me include:
reading something really short
re-reading something I already know I like
reading something else by the same author that wrote the killer book.
If you’re a writer and on the hunt for an editor who loves words and stories as much as you do, get in touch.
Happy reading. Happy writing.