2 Kinds of Books Every Writer Should Read

Improve your writing with these books

I woke up this morning determined to continue Rusell’s History of Western Philosophy I’ve been slaving on the past few days. I have made a google search on where is the right place to start on philosophy as I find some Sartrean and Nietzschean works to be mentally tedious — a fanciful way to say too much for my small mind.

But I love philosophy and have done a couple of few studies, and wanted to dig deeper — but something on my level. Some YouTuber suggested a few startups read, with Russell’s history of western philosophy as the best.

This morning wasn’t going to be like the others, I thought to myself. Where after reading just a few pages, I either doze off or get bored and toss it aside. This morning I was really in the mood to read something. But my annoying mind was yelling, “better get something fun and interesting to read, or I’ll bail on you.” No surprise! This has been our routine recently, (that is me and my easily bored mind).

Who was I going to fool? Few minutes on my google books I felt like slamming my tablet to the wall. But let’s be fair for a minute, it is not entirely my fault. I downloaded this ebook to study philosophy, but instead, I’m reading pages after pages of Pythogora and numerical numbers. Seriously?

Maybe the author thought a better background or history lessons could lay the foundation — but I do not have the patience. I was like “give me the flipping order I asked for, mate. I got your book based on what the title promised, but right now, I am learning no philosophy.”

Instead of giving up my morning reading routine, I decided to find another book, specifically a novel — since I have been looking forward to learning a new style of writing that is more attention-grabbing. I poured through my ebook collection — a collection I struggle to read. Who cares? I am more of a book collector than a book reader. However, I am determined to snatch my three hours of daily reading today.

I stopped scrolling, hummed and gave a sneaky look at “Half Girlfriend” by Chetan Bhagat. It suddenly occurred to me that an Indian friend has recommended this book to me just over a month ago. I hummed again and said, “maybe it was time to finally read this book.” I clicked on it and fired away.

Less than twenty minutes into it, I found myself drawn into the book — not just by the interesting story in the first chapter, but by the style of writing. It was so lively, conversational — like having funny chitchat with a friend. I thought to myself, “I need to read more novels.”

By the 4th chapter, I was experiencing varying moods — I was laughing, sulking, then saying, “aww.” It became clear I was so immersed in the book that I was experiencing the same emotions as the character. What creativity of writing? It felt so natural and easy flowing. I wanted to write like this. A bit of emotion here, and facts there — a little bit of humour and sarcasm sprinkled evenly. No wonder some writers do so well.

I felt for Madhav Jha (the main character of the book). He reminds me of my younger self back in high school — inexperienced in the affairs of love and women. Fear made me miss a lot of chances, and the few I manage to get, inexperience made sure I blew them all.

If only Madhav had focused on understanding himself as a man, rather than seeking stupid advice from fellow inexperienced friends like himself who didn’t know any better either. To get right with women and understand them, is to get right and understand yourself. Thought I slid some relationship tip in your back pocket. So you don’t blow up your chances like Mr Jha.

I was supposed to read for three hours, but at 12 pm I was still reading. The story was intriguing, but the style of writing was exceptional. Being a sulker for good writing, I had to dissect every nook and cranny of that book. And then it occurred to me, why I could spend more time reading certain books and not other books? That was where the idea for this article was born. So let’s get into the meat of the story.

The two books I read this morning gave me a clear understanding of the two types of books. I didn’t do any google search — so I did not term them. I am just gonna explain to you the way it hit me this morning.

The first style of books are like Mastery — by Robert Greene, Reawaken the giants within you — by Tony Robins, The audacity of hope — by Barrack Obama, I will teach you to be rich — by Ramit Sethi, The Secret — by Rhonda Byrne, and many more. Now I can imagine you giving me the look like “what’s the dude talking about?” These are wonderful books. Yes, they are. They are books that simply focus on the main point — trash it and get the hell out. I bet most of these books took you the sheer discipline to read through. I know some did for me.

The other types of books include the obviously Half Girlfriend — by Chetan Bhagat, Girl, Wash Your Face — by Rachel Hollis, The Subtle Art Of Not Giving a Fuck — by Mark Manson, The course of love — by Alain De Botton, and many more. These books are not more powerful than the ones on the list above, but they grab attention better and readers find them more interesting. I know I did.

Reading through Rachel Hollis, Chetan Bhagat, Mark Manson, I found new fun ways to word my thought. Injecting humour and little bits of sarcasm when appropriate wouldn’t hurt. The most interesting way of writing should be like talking with a friend, where you are relaxed and using every part of the brain — the intelligent part, the stupid part and also the wise part. Like I am doing right now in this article. Okay, it is not that great — cut me some slack. I am still learning.

So what am I trying to say? As bloggers, above are two kinds of book you should read and you should read them both because the first seeks to educate you and improve your mental capacity and technical know-how. The other group of authors serve as a good place to learn how to better craft your writing to produce contents that interest your readers in a strong and exciting manner.

It’s like the difference between why I can only spend 10mins watching Dr Phil but could spend the entire day watching Steve Harvey. I am black. Yeah, I know! But you’d agree, Harvey is freaking street-wise and funny. It’s hard to change the channel while he is on.

Finally, I guess what I am trying to say is the following; when you write,

• Be friendly,
• Be real,
• Write like you are talking to a friend,
• Don’t be afraid to use everyday words and sarcasm,
• Tell stories,
• Be funny.

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