Let's talk books

“You can't write without reading,” and for me, reading is the best way to travel, to transform myself and learn vicariously, to live many lives. Every book matters because each one has left me something I can use for a novel, or an argument, or in the sometimes arduous effort to understand.

I like reading on paper. I like the romance of turning pages, of touching them, of glancing now and then at the edge to see how much I have left, and I don't have the feeling that everything they contain gets lost in cyberspace or is kept somewhere I can't see or touch again if I need it.

When I finish a book I always follow the same ritual. I write down my impressions with the date on the back cover and place it solemnly on the overflowing shelves of my living room. I like having them on display. Each book is a conquest of knowledge that makes me a little wiser and a little more skilled.

And I think it's a good idea, now that we're getting to know each other, that we talk about books. Here are the latest ones I've been reading. I hope you like them.