I read a compulsively.
Some of you know what I'm talking about.
At the breakfast table I read the cereal boxes, front
back and sides.
When I’m sitting in the doctor’s office or waiting for an
oil change I pick up any old magazine, regardless of whether I care about the
contents. (Sports Illustrated and Redbook come to mind)
And because I share the house with three members of the
female persuasion (four if you count the cat) I have read any number of chick
lit and mommy memoirs (as well as marketing books and children’s picture
books).
I also read a lot of books by choice. But it’s those rare
few books that I will go out of my way to recommend to others.
These are the books that had a powerful impact in some
way or another on my very inner being. Some are books from my formative years,
some I only recently was introduced to. Either way, Mason’s Book Picks will be
a running off-the-top-of-my-head list of those books which influenced me as a
writer and as a person.
They are in no particular order, honestly. I’m shooting
from the hip here.
I only recently discovered this book in my wife’s
collection. I remembered seeing the trailers for the movie back in the day but
never saw it. I’m glad I didn’t, because cracking open this brilliant dystopic
novel sight-unseen was an incredible experience.
The writing captivated me with it’s almost Philip K.
Dick-esque noir terseness. And the battle of ideals and ideas was very
enthralling.
Look out next week or so when I throw another Mason’s
Book Pick at you.
This was one of the first books where I understood for a writer how deep the love of language could go.
