Books

One of my favorite books which I keep in my emotional rescue pile; the one in my studio, next to the couch, was written by a woman who among other things won international swim records in her 80's. Her name is Brenda Ueland. It's called If You Want To Write. The book applies to anything that inspires you. When I first read it I thought nobody could be this happy and inspired. I dismissed its seemingly wholesome joy. But now I worship this book. For 25 years I've collected books on writing. Starting in college I developed a hunger to understand what painters think. Since most painters don't write, at least not as much as writers do I ended up with many books written about writing by great writers. I always want to read what creative people think, in fact I never tire of it. I have read the published diaries of Anais Nin and May Sarton, which I reread regularly, the collected letters of Tennissee Williams, a book of letters by Georgia O'Keefe. The letters of VS Naipaul, and I'm still hungry for more. I also never stop loving looking at books with big black and white photographs of dancers dancing. In bookstores I can never resist browsing cookbooks that have pin up photos of bread!