Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

You Write What You’ve Read

You Write What You’ve Read

I might add that in addition to the fact that you write what you’ve read, you also write what you’ve lived.

It’s true.

Enough studying and reading about economics, and I find the topic impossible to avoid.

Add to that the fact that it’s nearly impossible to remove your experience from your viewpoint – and you get this blog – an eclectic bag of books, cowboys, Saudi Arabia, economics, and rebellion.

McMurtry’s work is the same way with tales of cowboys, books, Hollywood, academia, and small towns.

Understand: Rereading books can be a special thing.

I could give several answers to that question but the simplest is that you write what you’ve read, to a large degree—and, just as importantly, you write what you will someday reread. I am now entering the time of rereading and am assembling the one hundred books or so that I keep with me to reread as long as I’m here.

-Larry McMurtry, Literary Life (Amazon)

All These Books

All These Books

“Have you read all these books?” is a great question for the owner of a large library.

I used to relish answering it with a (too) prideful: “Yes.”

But then life happened, and my rate of reading books fell behind my rate of acquiring books.

Now I use McMurtry’s response.

Q: “Have you read all these?”
A: “No, but I have considered them.”

Heaven help the people who read books without considering them.

Readers with large libraries often get asked whether they have read every book on the shelves—to which Susan and I have roughly the same answer: We’ve considered and consideration can vary from day to day and book to book. One can consider and not read or consider and read.

-Larry McMurtry, Literary Life (Amazon)

Sterling Terrell