in Writing Exercises, Communications

Writers of Old Books Don’t Have Twitter Accounts

Reading an old book is interesting because you know the writer is long deceased. The book is like something frozen at one point in time, the story will never change to reflect the modern use of cell phones and you can’t ever contact the writer on Twitter to offer a review of their book.

I do like to look up writers when I am reading their books. I like to see what kind of internet presence they have, do they make use of their Twitter account (if they have one) do they keep their blog/ site updated about upcoming books and give readers tidbits about past books? Do they write a bit about themselves, telling us who they are and why they wrote the story they wrote? I like the odd note about their journey to get the book researched, written and then published.

You can’t do all that with a book written 100 years ago. The writer isn’t going to be answering your email any time soon. It’s a funny feeling, a little eerie/ spooky. Kind of sad too.

What was the last book you read which was older – so old it was written before you were born or more than 100 years ago? If you have never read an old book, why not?