One of publication’s more fun activities is being invited to write about the books that influenced you. I’ve written more than one of these roundups now, and I choose different books each time. Truly, many books shaped what I wrote, and how I thought about both my subject and my writing.
As far as Ghosts of the Orphanage is concerned, the books that influenced me have never ranged more widely across genre and intended audience. Here’s what I wrote about this idea for Novel Suspects:
Like nothing else that I have written before, Ghosts prompted me to revisit all the disparate genres and styles of writing that I have loved all my life. When I was reflecting on structure, or musing about character, or thinking about the million different ways that way one thing leads to another in a story, I reached for writers that I admired. Ghosts of the Orphanage is a nonfiction murder mystery, so I reread some of my favourite journalists. The story in Ghosts follows a huge historic arc, so I looked especially at the writers who weave close-up narratives into broader social change. It’s also a dark fairy tale, a small doorway that opens into a vast other world. That sent me back to some of the children’s book authors I have read, both as a child and as a mother to my children. Of course, Ghosts is also about the arcane, powerful, grim and funny experience of being catholic, so I reached for one of the funniest memoirists I know.
Read about the six excellent books I chose for Novel Suspects here.
Or just check them out:
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
How to Write: Advice and Reflections by Richard Rhodes
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
Lapsed: Losing Your Religion Is Harder Than It Looks by Monica Dux
The Journal Gazette’s “Titles most frequently borrowed from the Allen County Public Library in April.”
Just me, Harry, Paris, Jennette McCurdy, and a few wildcards. A lot to discuss at our next dinner party. Who doesn’t love libraries?
With thanks to Indiana’s Journal Gazette.
