Page 124 - Writes of Passage

from I CAPTURE THE CASTLE
When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it – or rather, it is like living it. It makes reading so much more exciting, but I don’t suppose many people try to do it.
Dodie Smith
Reading is not a passive activity. Using your imagination is creative. Unleash it when you read. Picture the scenes.
This extract is from I Capture the Castle, the first novel by Dodie Smith (1896 – 1990), who later became famous for her book The Hundred and One Dalmatians. I Capture the Castle was published in 1948, and written during the Second World War, when Smith was living in California, having moved from England, and was missing her home country.
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