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Writing about Reading Across Genres


I am not writing much right now, other than work and poems on my other blog, obviously. But I am reading like only a grumpy old bookworm can. I am losing my temper when I am denied my reading.

I currently have a thriller, a collection of short stories, a fantasy, a scientific journal, a biography, an epic poem( …err, is it really that many? I checked, and it is!) and God knows what else. I seem to be back in the days before a graduation in English literature robbed me of the pleasure of reading. I fit in a lovely short story reading in the middle of writing this post too!

Reading books with different voices, locales, ideas and themes really helps….it kind of goes into a compost heap somewhere. When I am writing some of my own stuff, strange connections between diverse bits of info get wired together in my mind, and surprise me. Words of wisdom don’t hurt either.

I love being surprised by my own writing, it usually means I am doing well. For now, my writing seems to have taken a short hiatus. I am still content, reading some really convoluted short stories by Updike on the nature of love, seems to keep me from fretting over my temporary writer’s block!

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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2 Comments

  • Damyanti says:

    Reading is a pleasure, and some people forget that. I did too, for some time during and after my English literature degree. If you find pleasure in non-fiction, then that is your haven….I am of the mind that one should read anything as long as one is happy.

    It is good to branch out once in a while tho, and maybe if you try some good fiction you will find you like it?

  • Good for you.

    I have a very hard time making my self break out and read beyond a few narrow veins of interest. My bookshelves tend to be long rows of dry, history books punctuated with bits of silliness.

    It’s not that I don’t enjoy something different. It’s more that I can’t quite escape the event horizon created by the non-fiction, history telling, fact dense volumes that I seem to be unable to leave at the book store.

    I think it’s time for me to do some reading out side the gravity well.

    Turkish Prawn