My writing colleague Carl Selinger in the Write Group in New Jersey first told me about Francine Prose’s book. As soon as he got to the subtitle … People Who Love Books… I was in. I’ve always loved to read—for adventure, for escape, for information, for entertainment. Prose gave me rules for writing. Okay, I accepted there are rules. Then… she laid out the authors who broke the rules, with great success. Yes! I heard my dad’s voice echoing, “If you want to do anything, hang out with the winners. People who are doing what you want, and are successful at it.” He may not have been talking about writing, but the advice fit perfectly. Prose’s list of “Books to be Read Immediately” became my bucket list for reading.
