Everyday Canvas

~I, Asimov~ and Reading

Prompt: “I had read with equal voracity the ‘good books’ in the library and the ‘low-class material’ in pulp fiction. What was it that influenced me in my writing, then?
I’m sorry. It was the pulp fiction.”
Isaac Asimov, from I, Asimov
If pulp fiction influenced Asimov the most, did any unusual or unexpected event, experience, or type of reading also influence your writing? And are your reading choices eclectic or specific?

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Just to clear the air, at the moment, I am reading I, Asimov (Thanks, ~Minja~) and this is a quote from that book. In the same vein, Asimov continues to say that his very first attempts at stories and sci-fi did end up sounding like pulp fiction, and only through his later and other reading he could inject some quality to his craft.

Still, I agree with him in the sense that reading anything and everything can help a writer. Most any writer will tell you that reading widely has been very helpful to his or her craft.

Even when I was very young, I read anything and everything. I read Russian Literature alongside cheap detective novels and comics. Even at my age, I have read Anne of Green Gables, the entire Harry Potter series, and all the Outsider books.

Then, I didn’t and still don’t read with the only purpose of elevating my writing. I read because I love reading all books, interesting books, surprising books, entertaining books. I recently finished reading Gerald Durrell’s Corfu trilogy alongside with two Stephanie Bond books, and a load of non-fiction. I can read Philip Roth, Virginia Woolf, or Paulo Coelho in one Kindle while I am in the middle of a Dean Koontz or Sue Grafton book in another e-reader, cellphone or laptop. In fact, at any given time, I have several books in my current reading schedule, together with magazines and other material I can get my hands on.

Granted, to me, some issues and subjects are more enticing to read about, but still, even in the books that may not be more to my liking, I find interesting passages, characters, and ideas. Even in the books, I don’t fully understand, like Cybertwists: Hacking and Cyber Attacks, I have found at least several very interesting passages.

Reading, as much as we can, helps because we learn empathy through it and become familiar with the idea of what exists in the world, and more importantly, we realize that the world can be made into a much better place.