Book Plug: Lauren Slater's Lying

Well, I'm back from the land of paper writing and absolutely must share a book recommendation: Lauren Slater's Lying. Have you ever read a book, listened to a certain song, or watched a sunrise and it's inspired you to go create? This nonfiction book was like that for me. After reading it, I had this insatiable desire to write, and I wrote one of the best stories I've produced in a while. But beyond moving me and moving me to write, here are a few things I love about this book:

- The honest, compelling, deep nature of the writing
- The way the author blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction
- Her insightfulness about God, herself, and the way the world works
- The structure of the book (four sections, each section based on a different phase of epilepsy)
- How she universalizes addiction of any kind
- Her awareness of her neediness
- The coherence between style and content from beginning to end
- The poetic quality of her writing
- The questions she raises concerning what is real and true, and what truth means

Even if you don't love nonfiction, this book is worth the read. The story is powerful, tragic, hopeful, deep, funny, and convicting all at once, and once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

"How odd that we are tethered to the truth of our bodies and yet, at the same time, utterly free to sculpt ourselves."

"There are two kinds of darkness, the first so full of breath yo know you are close to God. The second is the darkness of distance, of plugged-up tunnels and exhaust."