“The Reader as an Artist” and “How to Read Like a Writer”- Frida

The Reader as an Artist By Toni Morrison

1. Repeatedly describes reading as art instead of a skill.
2. She lets her imagination take over what she reads
3. She envisions what is there and notices what is not by reading and listening.

A quote I found really interesting is when it says “I don’t need to “like” the work; I want to instead “think” it”. What I believe the author meant by this is that she is in control of her mind, Therefore, all she needs to do is think by using her imagination. Often times, a reader like myself tries so hard to focus on what I’m reading and not really visualizing what it is I am actually reading. We get so caught up on trying to understand when we aren’t really thinking and seeing the bigger picture of what we read from the text.

How to Read Like a Writer By Mike Bunn

1. There are important connections between reading and writing
2. A single word from a text can make the reader feel or respond a certain way. It all depends on how the reader is processing the text.
3.  Examining what you are reading is very important because you may even pick up on a new writing technique the author used in his/her writing.

A quote I really found interesting is when it says “ The idea is to carefully examine the things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text in order to decide if you might want to adopt similar (or the same) techniques in your writing”. I can relate to this quote because often times, whenever I read something and come across good writing techniques, I try to always incorporate it into my own writing. By doing this not only am my gaining knowledge on new techniques, but it helps me develop my skills and turns me into a better writer. These techniques help improve grammar and punctuation.