“Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy way my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it’s a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it’s a way of making contact with someone else’s imagination after a day that’s all too real. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss.”
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
Nora Ephron (1941-2012)
Author of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY—and much else besides.
I am currently engaged in setting up a network of fellow authors and book bloggers—and have been much impressed by the fact that most seem to be women. We men are represented, of course, but we are noticeably a minority.
Why is this? I don’t know, as yet. My subconscious is working on the matter. As you may have read before, my subconscious does all the heavy lifting where my mind is concerned. I’m merely called in at the end to communicate its findings. My subconscious is pretty smart—but can’t type worth a damn.
What is it about women and books—and, now I think about it, what is about women and male writers? Here we are trying to focus on the noble art of worsmithing (courtesy of my friend, John Drewry)—with the dedication of Knights Templar (who were supposed to be celibate) and there you are distracting us with beauty, charm, and that inevitable frisson of sexuality which makes virtually all relationships between the sexes just that little bit more exciting—and not always a little bit.
Photo is of the wonderful Nora Ephron
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