CJ Levinson: ‘books that have changed my life’
September 9, 2008 by Rob
Filed under Others Talking Books
In celebration of the launch of his ‘modern classics’ blog (which is well worth a visit) Sydney-based writer CJ Levinson (who is also the son of former Reader of the Week Kathleen), has compiled an excellent series post on his primary blog, on the ‘books that have changed his life’. The first part of the series focuses on the books that have had an influence during CJ’s formative years, while the second focuses more on the books that have shaped his philosophy.
These are excellent posts. Not only do they give a valuable insight into the reading mind of an emerging writer, they also reveal the books that must have had an big influence on CJ’s decision to become a writer himself. List highlights for me include:
- Stephen King’s On Writing – Part memoir and part writing craft instruction, I’m not personally a fan of Stephen King but like CJ I loved this book. The biggest tip I took from it was to make sure you have a room with a door on it, and not to open that door and leave that room until you’ve completed your prescribed writing target for the day. That single tip helped me massively when I was at university, and faced the endless bombardment of essays.
- Cormac McCarthy’s The Road – This is one of the books I read in my 50 Novels project and I’m pleased to see it had the same profound effect on CJ, that it had on me.
- Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea – Great to see that ‘Papa’ Hemingway made it on to CJ’s list. I’m hugely passionate about Hemingway’s ‘to the point’ style of writing (something I need to learn a lot more about
)). In my opinion, Mr. H is perhaps not quite as sublime in his writing as Steinbeck, but nevertheless he’s timeless and it’s great to see him having major influence on today’s young writers (geez I’m making myself sound about 90 )).
CJ also promises a third part to his series – ‘a profile of the three books that have had the biggest impact on his life’. I can’t wait!
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Rob, a self-confessed bibliophile, is without any hope of rehabilitation. He gets unnaturally excited over anything book-shaped, and if book sniffing were a crime then he would have been locked up years ago (which wouldn't bother him in the slightest provided his cell were lined with books)
