Author: Molly Prentiss (Check out her debut novel, Tuesday Nights in 1980. Read more about Molly in our interview HERE!)
Molly Prentiss’s 3 Favorite Books
This was the very first book I read that made me think: I want to be a writer. It taught me so much about what it means to have a voice as a writer, and that a voice could be so distinct. I have my mother’s copy of the book that she read when she was young and living in New York, and it has all of her notes in pencil in the margin. The cover is falling off and the pages are yellow. It is probably my most treasured possession.
I read this book during grad school and it utterly changed my life and my writing. I couldn’t believe someone could pull it off: writing a novel in verse, about a small red monster, and making it not only pleasurable to read but so incredibly beautiful and moving. Carson’s use of language is pure genius, and it gave me the idea that everything that’s written should have poetry in it somewhere, that language should be rhythmic and considered, but there should be heart in the language; it should not be pretty for prettiness sake.
I read this book when I was in the thick of writing my novel, and studied it so diligently it was like taking a self-imposed fiction class. Egan’s use of form blew me away. It was another aha moment for me as a writer: that one could play and experiment on the page, and that the reader would trust it, and play along.
This post contains affiliate links! To learn more about the authors featured, please visit our Sundays With Writers series!