Garden In My Pocket

Catching Up

2008-08-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since my last blog that when I typed "g" into my browser, it didn't even remember that I had ever been to this website! I would offer a longer apology and explanation, except there's so many other things that I need to get down to.

First and foremost, the books. While I have not been blogging, I have been reading quite a bit. A quick rundown of the books I've been devouring, in no particular order because I can't even remember the order anymore:

(1) The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee is one of my favorite books I've read this summer. Lee starts out by exploring the history of the fortune cookie and ends up delving into Chinese culture in America and how Chinese food plays such a big part of it. My favorite thing about the book is that it sheds a huge amount of light into a culture that is all around us. Definitely, definitely pick this book up.

(2) I got my hands on an advanced reader's copy of What Rhymes with Bastard, a memoir by Linda Robertson. Rarely would I say this, but I wish I had never touched the thing. It comes out later this week, and I have a feeling that it will be one of those books hanging out at the front of your local Barnes and Noble. But really, folks, don't waste your time, unless you're just dying to read another book desperately trying to make a ridiculously bad situation into something clever. I don't know why there's this huge trend in memoirs toward drug abuse, bad relationships, joblessness looked at through a lens of humor and confusion. I found the main character wholly unrelatable, and though I tried to stick with the book, I finally through it across the room at page 144, when she bumps into her estranged husband and starts the same cycle of verbal abuse and hatred all over again. Reading this book is the equivalent of spending a night watching A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, Denise Richards: It's Complicated, and Living Lohan. I didn't pick it up again after throwing it across the room.

(2) A memoir that I enjoyed much more was The Cactus Eaters by Dan White. The book recounts White's decision to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail with his girlfriend. Part journal, part history lesson, and part adventure story, the book is a surprisingly quick read considering it comes in at exactly 400 pages. You find yourself rooting for him, even as he makes some ridiculous mistakes. He also doesn't take himself too seriously, and makes the trail, it's history, and his relationship with others on and after the trail very real.

(3) Taft by Ann Patchett. Let me start by saying, I love Ann Patchett. Her novel Bel Canto is on my list of all-time favorites (I've read it twice,) and I have always found that she is a master at making her characters live and breathe off the page. What she does with Taft is pretty incredible, telling a story of race, marriage, drug abuse, and parenthood without ever making you feel like she's set out with a theme. I love her characters, and I loved the decisions her characters make.

(4) So I'm almost embarrassed to admit I read Marley and Me by John Grogan. It's one of those books I would snobbishly avoid, like The DaVinci Code or anything by Nicholas Sparks. But, as a dogowner and doglover, this book has been recommended to me many times. I picked it up just to waste ten minutes while waiting for someone at the bookstore, and after reading just ten pages, decided to buy it. While there are many cheesy scenes, the book still managed to strike a chord with me. I will admit that in the end, I was laying in my bed with my dog, and crying over Marley. And I'm refusing to be embarrassed about it.

(6) Another one you must pick up is St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell. This is by far and away the best collection of short stories I've read in years. There's a hint of the fantastical in every story, and many of them are nothing short of brilliant. This is definitely a contender for favorite book of the year, though there are still four months left to try to find something that surpasses Russell's work.

(7) One of my favorite authors is Tobias Wolff. His novel Old School is a somewhat romantic view of a boarding school, filled with students who love to learn and are passionate about their work. For booklovers, this is a fun one because it's set in the early 1960s and the students at this particular boarding school are given the opportunity to compete in contests with the rewards of meeting great authors of the time. The main character is writing, trying to win the opportunity to meet with Robert Frost, then Ayn Rand, then Hemingway. While the story is framed within the contexts of these individual contests, the setting is brilliantly drawn.

Beyond these books, I've devoured issues of the New Yorker, Paris Review, Granta, and One Story. So little time, so much I want to read.

Fun and Learning at the New York Times

2008-06-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

It started when I went to the New York Times website and saw the headline "When Ambassadors Had Rhythym" underneath a picture of Louis Armstrong playing his trumpet in the middle of a mob in Cairo. It was a feature about a soon-to-open photography exhibit about how the government used jazz musicians as ambassadors to improve the world's view of America during the Cold War.

Reading the article, not only did I have this huge sense of "Wow, I'm really learning something new today," but I was appalled by how our government used race in such a blatant way for their own benefit while at the same time denying rights to all. (And at the same time I wondered why I'm still capable of becoming appalled at such facts.)

This article had a slide show to accompany it, which was fantastic. Seeing the slide show made me want to travel to D.C. just to see the exhibit “Jam Session: America’s Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World." You can check it out here.

Of course, at the end of the slide show, the NY Times always teases you with a list of other slide shows they have, so I end up sitting at the computer for an additional 30 minutes just looking at the pictures. Though in a completely separate vein, another interesting one was Book Review's Booty. My favorite part is their plans for J.M. Coetzee.

The Mystery Guest by Grégoire Bouillier

2008-06-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Bouillier's memoir The Mystery Guest is unlike anything I've ever read in that it is so intensely personal, almost to an embarrassing degree. But I couldn't put it down. Bouillier details the abrupt end to a four-year relationship and the sudden reintroduction of his former lover into his life when she calls to invite him to be a "mystery guest" at a birthday party.

After the phone call, Bouillier seems to make us privy to every single thought he has before, during, and after the party. He lets the reader see his obsession with finding answers to his questions about his past relationship, and his process for actually coming to answers that satisfy himself.

The story is unique in that it is almost entirely exposition of his thoughts, but is still spellbinding in its own way. In the end, I'm sure everyone can see a part of themselves in Bouillier, whether they would want to admit it or not.

In The News

2008-06-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

What is reported on television and in our newspapers has been a topic of conversation more and more during the past few years. With a war and an administration embroiled in many questionable practices, it's interesting to see what is actually hitting the front pages of our newspapers.

Sherry Ricchiardi has a story in the current issue of American Journalism Review that confronts this issue head on. Ricchiardi writes about newspaper coverage of the war, specifically how it has all but disappeared. Why don't we care enough about this war to involve ourselves in it's realities? As someone who is always seeking out new, off-the-beaten-path reading, it surprises me how much I just accept what is handed to me in terms of news. Rarely do I seek out more information. I don't trust the news sources around me, but I'm not taking steps to further my knowledge either. And I'm pretty sure that this is the norm.

I struggle with the fact that information equals business. Just like clothing stores are going to sell what's fashionable using appealing marketing strategies, news organizations are going to sell stories that are "fashionable" and use appealing marketing strategies. And just like in the cases of fast foods and other consumer goods, neither the producer nor the consumer is taking responsibility.

Ricchiardi outlines why news organizations have neglected war coverage and poses many questions for her readers to think about. In the end, it seems the only solution for bringing war coverage, and hopefully more awareness of the war, is the fact that it will probably come up as a campaign issue in the coming months. Other than that, it seems that as far as the news goes, it will be business as usual.

For more information:
Read Sherry Ricchiardi's article here.

How You Should Spend 15 Minutes of Today

2008-06-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

"Patriots" by Patrick Dacey is an incredibly detailed snapshot of the relationship of two women who have been neighbors for years. Each woman struggles with her own demons, and Dacey tells the story with humor while exploring the sorrow of both characters. The writing is incredibly tight; he is able to explain the history of these two women in just 15 minutes.

Dacey also delves into the symbolism of the ribbons people stick on their cars, details one of the funniest arguments I've ever read, and has many great lines, such as this one the main character says after describing how her husband left her: "I'll tell you this, if my husband was shot dead more people would've come over and said how sorry they were."

"Patriots" is the second installment of BOMB magazine's Fiction for Driving Across America series. Listen to it here. While I enjoyed his reading, it did throw me a little bit initially when I heard a male reading the part and realized a full minute or two into the story that the narrator was actually female. Either way, it's a great way to spend fifteen minutes.

For more information:
Listen to the first installment of Fiction for Driving Across America

Proms

2008-06-18T05:18:00.001-07:00

The topic of prom has come up continuously in my life since yesterday. My students' prom is next Wednesday, in the book I'm currently reading a girl holds her own prom so she can dance with her ghostly lover, and one of my favorite bloggers recently covered prom as well.

Carrie Brownstein writes Monitor Mix on NPR's website. I've read and loved it from her first post. She opens this entry recapping a newspaper article about prom themes at Oregon High Schools. My own prom theme was "A Night to Remember," but I wish that I went to the school that had the theme "Jurassic Prom -- 65 Million Years in the Making."

Once you get past the list of themes though, Brownstein has some interesting things to say about how music effects us, especially when it comes to the traditions surrounding prom. Definitely take a look.

My Summer Lovin'

2008-06-16T06:05:00.001-07:00

I find that the most difficult thing in my reading life is resisting the urge to impulse buy books wherever I see them: on the $1 shelves outside of The Strand, lying on the sidewalk next to trinkets and old board games at a stoop sale, or anywhere else a book might be spotted. A close second in difficulty level is resisting the urge to buy magazines advertising books to read for the summer.

The summer lists are different from everything else in the way they are categorized. After all, it is the only season in which "beach reads" are highlighted above all else. Oprah has 27 she's recommending, NPR has recommended reads and excerpts from some of their favorites, USA Today has a summer books preview with a great layout, and even CNN is reporting on the reading lists that other magazines have released!

So, what better to do than add to the madness. Here's a little list of my own containing the books I hope to spend time with this summer.

(1) Reread Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, then follow up with March by Geraldine Brooks. March is about the father from Little Women, who was fighting in the Civil War. I loved Little Women as a child and have a cherished copy given to me by my grandmother, and I am always riveted by Geraldine Brooks' writing. Really, what better way is there to start of the summer?

(2) My next selection wins for both longest book for the summer and longest title. The Paris Review Book: of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, the Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953 is a collectin of work published in The Paris Review. I have read two short pieces from it over the last few months but would love to dig in and read every bit of it.

(3) Bottlemania by Elizabeth Royte. I loved Garbage Land for it's in depth exploration of a part of my daily world. I'm fairly certain that Bottlemania will do the same thing.

(4) Taft by Ann Patchett. I've read her novel Bel Canto twice. Her writing is absolutely wonderful and the path she takes you on is unexpected in realistic ways that makes you want to keep going back for more.

(5) Finally, I want to read The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. I've wanted to read this for ages and have finally purchased a copy. I love that it takes a look at something we all take for granted. The dictionary is such a commonplace thing that we never stop to recognize how amazing it actually is.

I'm leaving the rest of my reading options open because who ever really knows that books are going to perk my interest and inspire another impulse buy.

For more information:
NPR Summer Books 2008
USA Today Summer Books Preview
CNN reports

Fun Article in New York Magazine

2008-06-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not a huge follower of Broadway. Typically there are just a bunch of shows I've thought about seeing, and very few that I actually go to. Out of my entire time living in New York, I've seen one musical (compared to the six I saw on Broadway when I was living in a completely different region of the country.)

Anyhow, New York Magazine has an entertaining guessing game called Improbable Broadway Musicals: The Quiz! in this week's issue. Take a look and see how well you do. My performance was pretty awful, but not as awful as some of the ideas that really are going to be showing up on Broadway soon.

Darkmans by Nicola Barker

2008-06-10T07:42:00.001-07:00

It was nearly two months ago that my book club decided to read Nicola Barker's Darkmans, a story so strange that it has captivated me for over 600 pages. (I still have another 200 to go.) When Sylvia Brownrigg reviewed the book for the NY Times, she stated that "to suggest that this dazzling, complex novel has anything quite as conventional as a plot would be misleading."

As I near the end, I find myself continuously trying to create a plot out of the insane happenstance that drives the novel. On more than one occasion, I have thought that Nicola Barker must have manipulated the story to be able to use an idea for a character or a situation that she just loved. And even though there's plenty of nonsense, loose ends that refuse to be tied up, and a complete resistance to the structure I've been taught since grade school, I have loved reading this book.

It seems that one of the attractions of a book is the ability to hold in the plam of your hand a tidy, complete story where everything makes sense. Everything happens for a reason, everyone has motives that are initally clear or become clear over time, and frequently nothing insignificant happens. But Barker absolutely refuses to follow any of these rules.

On a brief hiatus from the novel, I picked up a Granta's Best Young British Novelists from 1993. Barker had a short story called "The Balance" in the issue. The story also broke all rules for structure and plot, but for me the story didn't work. It was confusing and oddly self-aware, and in the end, I didn't enjoy reading it.

Darkmans, on the other hand, works without fail. While there have been points that I have wondered "what the hell is going on here" or "where is Barker taking me," I have completely enjoyed reading it. Her characters are complicated and funny, and they drive the novel, even if you have no idea where you're going.

For more information:
Interview in which Nicola Barker says she doesn't think she would want to read her own books
Barker on being nominated for the Man Booker Prize for Darkmans

Reading A Speech

2008-06-08T18:50:00.001-07:00

You may know already that J.K. Rowling spoke at Harvard's commencement last week. What I somehow did not expect was that some Harvard graduates did not think she was of high enough caliber to speak at their commencement.

Harvard's previous commencement speakers have consisted of Nobel prize winners, political leaders, and business powerhouses. It's safe to say that Rowling will probably never earn a Nobel for her work, but does that actually devalue it?

I would expect deeper thinking from a Harvard graduate. It's absurdly short-sighted to write off her work as meaningless because it's children's literature or fantastical fiction. Even Harvard's president stated that "No one in our time has done more to inspire young people to … read." Really, is there anything more powerful than the reading we do as children? I wonder if anything those graduates read during their college experience effected them as much as the first time they encountered Where the Red Fern Grows or Anne of Green Gables.

Harry Potter roped in people of all generations, but especially captured the imaginations of children. In thinking about the structure of the Harry Potter books, what is most amazing is the complexity of the culture that Rowling created. She delves into politics, discrimination, and freedom of speech. That world is just as real as ours.

Better yet, and somehow denied by the graduates who couldn't appreciate their fortune in seeing Rowling speak, is that by allowing children to be part of such a complex world, she is pushing her readers to be the future Nobel prize winners, political leaders, and business powerhouses. Or, if they're lucky, the next J.K. Rowling.

For more info:
Watch or read J.K. Rowling's speech

Grieving

2008-05-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

When I am grieving, I find that I turn to books, stories, poems, anything with words to lose myself in. Tomorrow I am attending a funeral for a baby in the morning and a wake for the father of a coworker in the evening. While I'm at work, I find I cannot concentrate. There is a sadness to everything that is somehow made even sadder by the fact that it will pass. During a break in the day, I picked up this week's copy of The New Yorker and tried to find something to take my mind off the events of yesterday. Instead, I found a poem by Matthew Dickman called "Grief." One of the amazing powers of the written word is its ability to make the day you are dwelling in okay. As if the words are actually saying: "It's okay to feel this way or be this way." And while I do not feel better necessarily, I feel a little bit more accepting.

Short Story Obsession

2008-04-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

Recently I bought a bunch of old issues of Granta magazine online and have been reveling in my love for the short story.

It all started with the Best New American Voices 2008. I was about to get it on a whim, then I saw that it contained a story by Garth Risk Hallberg, whose book A Field Guide to the North American Family was one of my favorite reads of 2007. He also blogs for The Millions, which I read every time it updates. Anyway, buying the book suddenly went from whim to intentional purchase...and since then there's been no turning back. Every spare second has been spent with a short story.

While I devoured a few stories in the Best New American Voices collection, I have been completely overcome by the Grantas I purchased. I don't know how they are so consistently good. It's the same way I feel about the New Yorker and the Colbert Report. Day after day, week after week, or quarter after quarter, you can count on great writing and interesting choices. For now the Best of Young British Novelists 2003 is sitting on the coffee table, and a story by Ben Rice is calling my name. If you listen carefully, you'll probably hear it calling your name, too.

And I Always Wondered...

2008-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

From time to time I do buy a copy of a book with the "Questions for Discussion" section in the back. Typically I'll read one or two after finishing the book, all the time asking myself Who writes these things?

Well, Joe Queenan doesn't just set out to answer that question, but also tries his own hand at the task in this Sunday's NY Times Book Review. I was a fan of Queenan already, but this essay just doubled my love for his work.

Interview with Jad Abumrad

2008-04-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of the radio show Radio Lab, which takes on a variety of subjects (such as laughter, sleep, or as I recently blogged about society's reaction to the War of the Worlds broadcast.) This week, Boldtype's Toby Warner interviews Radio Lab host Jad Abumrad, who explains how storytelling is just like composing music. Take a look here.

Garden In My Laptop?

2008-04-02T15:16:00.001-07:00

I've been resistant to the idea of reading books online, and while I've been amazed by products such as the Kindle, I'm still pretty adamant about reading books while holding the real deal in my hand. Sure, I'll use the computer to read a few newspaper articles in the morning, random magazine articles, essays, blogs...but it's a little more difficult to curl up with your laptop and read for an hour (or several.)

However, today was the first day I visited Google Book Search. The homepage didn't show anything that I was all that interested in reading, so I looked for something I've been wanting to read for a while, the collection edited by Dave Eggers, The Best American Nonrequired Reading. The most recent edition I could find in my quick search was from 2003, but I was immediately able to access the whole text.

I'm sure there about a million arguments for why books should not be available online, but I have two things to say in defense of free online reading. First, it's highly unlikely that I would read the entire book online. What's far more likely to occur is that I will try it out, read a few pages or click on (one of my favorite features on the search tool) the "Popular Passages" link. If it piqued my interest, I would do one of two things: click on the link in the sidebar to actually buy the book OR go to the bookstore and buy it there, where I would probably succumb to temptation and purchase at least two or three other books at the same time.

Second, Google has better predictive software than anything I else I ever come across. I imagine a perfect Google world in which they find books that I might never find myself, recommending little known authors that become some of my favorites. Of course, this is just a little daydream. But if anyone can fulfill it, I think it's Google.

The Subway Chronicles edited by Jacquelin Cangro

2008-04-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to the NYC Transit Museum, I picked up a book of collected essays called The Subway Chronicles. I was especially excited to see that two of my favorite authors, Francine Prose and Calvin Trillin, has pieces in the book.

Overall, I was surprised by the consistent quality of the essays contained within this volume. The Calvin Trillin piece had me laughing (and only strengthened what I refer to as "my old man crush," brought about by his straight-forward humor and complete honesty.) "What I Feared" by Elise Juska was a great find as well.

The book was inspired by essays submitted to thesubwaychronicles.com, a website founded by Cangro in 2002. The website is also fantastic, complete with more essays, poetry, "Top 5" lists, and more. Click here to check it out.

I initially decided to just read one essay a day as a little treat to myself when I got home from work. However, on the third day, I just started reading it whenever I had the opportunity. Definitely a great find.

Interview with Jhumpa Lahiri

2008-04-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Jhumpa Lahiri is one of those authors I can't get enough of. I read Interpreter of Maladies shortly after it won the pulitzer and read The Namesake as soon as it came out. Now, she has another book of short stories that I can't wait to get my hands on. The Atlantic has an interesting interview with her in this month's edition. I find her attitude towards her work fascinating.

Last year when the movie The Namesake came out, I saw Lahiri and director Mira Nair speak about the process of creating the movie. As a writer, Lahiri is one of those people who I would love to emulate. And as a reader, I can't wait to go to the bookstore and pick up the new book.

The Dealbreakers

2008-03-31T05:15:00.000-07:00

An essay in yesterday's New York Times discusses the influence of a person's literary tastes on your decision whether to date them or not. As a person who would never date someone who said his favorite book is The DaVinci Code, I definitely related to the article. Of course, my book requirements haven't always worked out as anticipated, but it's probably just as good, if not better than any other way to judge the quality of a potential mate. Read the article here.

A Fine Line

2008-03-31T04:14:00.001-07:00

I like to listen to podcasts on my 30-minute walk to work. This morning's selection was one of my favorites, an episode of Radio Lab. This particular episode was about the 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds and why so many people would believe that the fictional story on the radio was really happening.

Before I go on, I want to mention a time when I heard a fictional story and believed it to be true. It was on another walk to work a couple months ago that I was listening to a story by Brian Udall on This American Life. It was a strange tale told by a man whose developmentally disabled brother keeps a pet armadillo. I happened to miss the little sentence at the beginning of the piece explaining that it was fictional, so by the end of the story (and the end of my walk to work) I was holding back tears, completely horrified at a particular scene in which the armadillo is nearly killed.

After the story concluded, Ira Glass closed the show and once again mentioned that the story was a fictional piece originally published in 1999. I suddenly felt tricked and quite stupid, but if anything, the little incident taught me that what the reader/listener brings to the table greatly influences their perception of the story. I was expecting another installment of the nonfiction work that I always hear on This American Life, so I believed everything, no matter how far-fetched.

Which makes me think that I would have been one of those people in 1938 who, after listening to the War of the Worlds radio broadcast, called the police and asked if I would be safer on the roof or in my fallout shelter. The Radio Lab episode does a fantastic job of recreating the world of 1938 and explaining why, given events of the time period, people would believe a story that many of them had read at some point during the previous 40 years. It goes on to address how Orson Wells updated the story for the infamous broadcast and the potential for such panic to occur again from fiction. Listening to the original broadcast is one of those things I've always meant to do but never gotten around to. I'm glad that I was reintroduced to it through Radio Lab, because I appreciate the circumstances much, much more. Take a listen when you have a little time.

For more information:
Radio Lab #403: War of the Worlds
Listen to Brian Udall's story Resurrection

How We Keep Our Books

2008-03-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

When I have a book that is especially inspirational to me, I write all over it. I underline, circle, bracket, and write out thoughts about certain passages. But I almost never dogear a page. For some reason, it seems wrong to damage a book in that way, while putting my pen to the paper seems like no damage at all. Sometimes I think writing in my books is almost like marking my territory, because these are the books I am the least likely to share with others. They become so private that I am far more likely to buy a friend a copy of the book than lend them my own.

I had a roommate in college whose religion taught her to respect all texts. One day, a textbook was on the floor of our cluttered dorm room and another friend actually stepped on it. My roommate gasped loudly and froze, then said a quick prayer of apology.

I have always been fascinated by this behavior, and wondered at our own disregard of all tomes. But today I was forced to wonder about a different way of viewing novels. I have never heard of "altered books," but apparently it is a thriving art. I found this altered books blog, which showed several examples of people turning the pages of novels into visual poems of a sort. I find myself less sad than completely intrigued, and also a bit interested in trying it myself...until I think about what book I would use. And my mind goes blank, because I can't actually imagine physically marking in a book in a way that covered up an author's words. I'm definitely curious to find out more about this trend.

A Word on Reviewer's Words

2008-03-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the NY Times blog Papercuts had a post written by Bob Harris called Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing. After just making a decision to stop reviewing books here, I thought it especially interesting that people who are paid to review books are having some of the same problems I was having. And I have to say, I couldn't agree more with the "deadly words" that Harris chose.

A Different Kind of Novel

2008-03-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

I have been extremely curious to pick up Graham Rawle's book Woman's World because it is constructed entirely from words cut from 1960s women's magazines. His idea is pretty unique, but the execution (from what little I've seen) is incredible. Nerve has a fantastic interview with Graham Rawle that increased my curiosity tenfold. Too bad I've already used up my book budget for the month...

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

2008-03-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

I don't think I would have ever come across this book if it weren't selected by one of the members of my book club. If you've been following this blog at all, you've probably noticed that I can get a little obsessed with structure. (To be perfectly honest, I didn't realize it myself until I started writing about it so much.) Well, this one definitely takes the cake on structure. If you're going to read just one book this year, I think this should be the one.

I don't want to give away what's going on in the story at all. Let's just say that it is an oddly complete history, unique in it's structure, and the only book I've ever picked up that deserved the jacket cover quote of being "ambitious." In fact, ambitious is the best word for what Mitchell manages to do. This book was unanimously loved in the book club, but I should point out that the start is a little rough as you try to figure out what the story is about. Push through, because it's completely worth it.

Finally, I'm always interested in what such works inspire in other artists: writers, painters, filmmakers, etc. One of the women in our group is a painter and printmaker. She said that she spent a lot of time trying to figure out what kind of cover she would design for a book such as this, but felt that the idea she came up with was impossible to actually produce. In a way, I wonder if Mitchell ever felt like this as he began writing this book. Either way, what seemed impossible he accomplished with astounding results.

Changes in the Garden

2008-03-22T04:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in quite some time, mostly because I've been thinking (against the better advice of Robert Olen Butler) about exactly what I want this to be. I have a ravenous love of books that I am constantly inclined to share with those around me. I deeply enjoy giving book recommendations, which somehow I connected to an enjoyment of writing book critiques. But surprise! They just aren't the same thing.

There is something about truly knowing a person: their tastes, the things that surprise them, the experiences they have had; that makes finding a good book for them especially challenging and interesting to me. I don't know that you would ever hear me make a blanket statement that no one should read a certain book, because I simply don't believe that. I think that all writing can touch someone, and just because it doesn't touch me doesn't mean I want to go online and recommend that no one go near it.

Furthermore, there are several instances in my life in which I have picked up a book only to put it down halfway through, then a year or two later pick up the same book and find that I cannot put it down until that last page has been turned. This happened to me with Life of Pi, which I couldn't get into at all the first time I tried to read it. Now it's one of my favorite books.

All this is trying to get to my main point, which is that this blog should be a place to celebrate writing and discuss events pertaining to writing and reading. I will no longer be offering my critiques of the books I read (because let's face it, it's just not my strong suit) but I will be discussing my favorite parts of the books I read, or what I was thinking about...though only if it's worthy of posting. I'm trying to get a calendar up with events around New York City that booklovers like me can attend, and maybe that will one day extend to other cities as well. Finally, I will continue to link to reading material that I believe to be exceptional.

These are the changes for now in the very young blog, so who knows what is to come. Either way, I'm excited to see this little garden grow.

Finally Getting to A Computer

2008-03-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

So my computer bit the dust last Friday, and I have still not replaced it. Fortunately, I have computer access for a few minutes. I could do an entire highlights post to make up for the postless days of this week, but instead I want to focus on one great story in The New Yorker.

Ian Frazier wrote a satirical piece called "By the Foot." As a city-dweller, the opening sentences immediately grabbed me: "I feel sorry for the people who still think of their places in terms of square feet. My partner, Scott, and I recently purchased Wyoming which we are in the process of renovating..."

The whole piece is fantastic, touching on snobbery, city economics, and even enviromentalism. Definitely take a look.

Short Chip Kidd questionnaire

2008-03-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

While I've always appreciated Chip Kidd's graphic design (his work is literally everywhere you look in your local bookstore,) I have never read his book. And now that the sequel has come out, I can't wait to read both books. New York Public Library has a short questionnaire he completed that you should take a look at.

Celebrate Great Writing

2008-03-01T05:21:00.000-08:00

March is Small Press Month, a time to celebrate the work of independent publishers. There are several events taking place in New York City:

March 6th, The Bowery Poetry Club marathon reading with 31 indie authors
March 12th, How to be Green before St. Patrick’s Day – Green Press Initiative
March 26th, Symphony Space presents “Stories from The Pushcart Prize”

For more information:
Small Press Month website
Recommended small press titles

When Truth is More Interesting than Fiction

2008-02-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

Wired magazine has an article this month about a Netflix competition to improve it's recommendation software. While it's not the dramatic pageturners many of us enjoy, it's absolutely fascinating how a competition with a 7-figure prize became a friendly competition amongst mathematicians, and how a psychologist might just top them all. Read it here.

What to Wear...I Mean, Read

2008-02-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

Jessa Crispin, aka Bookslut, wrote a review of The Meaning of Sunglasses in The Smart Set. But Crispin didn't just review the book, she reviewed the entire industry surrounding what women should wear. She makes an interesting point about how women are viewed in media, then links it to The Meaning of Sunglasses. Read her review here.

Beautiful Deal

2008-02-27T17:42:00.000-08:00

Random House is following in the footsteps of Radiohead with Charles Bock's debut novel Beautiful Children, allowing free downloads until this Friday night at midnight. Get it here. I didn't see Radiohead spur any trends on the music front, but maybe Random House's decision will make publishing houses think outside the box a bit. I'd be curious, though, to hear Charles Bock's opinion about all of this.

Another Great Interview

2008-02-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

Boldtype has an interview with Michael Chabon about his upcoming book Maps and Legends. I've read and loved The Final Solution and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, but Chabon is one of those authors that turns out so much work I can't keep up. The quantity and quality of his work is outrageous to say the least. I'm looking forward to this new book, which comes out with McSweeney's in May, especially since it's nonfiction. Check out the Boldtype interview here.

Great Interview

2008-02-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

The Millions has a fantastic interview with Barry Yourgrau, a short story author who recently published flash fiction for cell phones in Japan. There's been a lot of buzz about the huge success of cell phone fiction in Japan. This interview sheds some light on the phenomenon, gives a few suggestions for reading based on books that inspired Yourgrau, and discusses his process. Check it out here.

Latest Edition of One Story

2008-02-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

On their website, One Story is described as "a literary magazine that contains, simply, one story. Approximately every three weeks, subscribers are sent One Story in the mail. This story will be an amazing read."

I just received my first issue, a story called "Beanball" by Ron Carlson. The story is about a former baseball player, who after receiving a career-ending injury, became a baseball recruiter who travels the world looking for young prospective players. The main plot line surrounds a particular Guatemalan recruit named Alberto Molinas, but there are several smaller subplots contained within the story that make professional baseball seem both beautiful and grotesque.

The story is one that follows all the rules of good literature: plot twists, strong character development, a web of relationships that gets thicker and thicker as you progress through the story. And what is most amazing is how much story Carlson packs in to 61 pages.

You can only get the stories through subscription to the journal, but you can see an excerpt and author interview here. And judging from the quality of the first issue I received, $21 for 18 issues is a steal.

Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy

2008-02-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

Yannick Murphy has reminded me about the true power of language. She has structured her book, a fictionalized account of the legendary historical figure Mata Hari, as a series of events in separate times in Mata Hari's life. Part of the time describes Mata Hari's marriage, her relationships with her children, and later her life as a dancer and relationships with other men. The other sections of the novel are set in the jail cell in which Mata Hari is held after being accused of spying.

I don't typically enjoy anything that could be classified as historical fiction, but I couldn't put this book down. Murphy brought Mata Hari to life: her concerns, her love for her children, her reasons for making decisions. Murphy's ability to make a figure so legendary into a woman I felt I could sit down with and really talk to is astounding.

Yannick Murphy is another writer I have not heard of prior to finding this book, but she has three other novels, a book of short stories, and several short stories published in other magazines and journals. Yet another author I've found this year that I can't wait to read more of!

For more information:
Yannick Murphy's website

Still Reading

2008-02-22T11:35:00.000-08:00

On the plane back from Denver, I read a great essay by Ursula K. LeGuin in the February issue of Harper's. She writes about the supposed decline of the book, referring to books as if they were an endangered species. She then goes on to disspell this fear in many ways, mostly by using examples from history to explain how it was never the majority of the population reading literature in the first place.

She writes, "Reading is not 'interactive' with a set of rules or options, as games are; reading is actual collaboration with the writer's mind. No wonder not everybody is up to it."

In some ways, that statement might seem a bit on the snobby side, but it's not nearly as snobby as Steve Jobs' assumption that the Kindle (the electronic book reader from Amazon) is worthless because no one reads books anymore. Jobs, creator of all things i, apparently read one statistic in the paper without doing further research and thought the book was dead. Timothy Egan wrote a great blog about this for the New York Times.

I have to admit, in recent months I have found myself in quiet moments fretting about the book dying in my lifetime. I imagine cities without libraries and everyone walking around, eyes glued to their own little independent tv screen. But it amounts to so much nonsense. I think what's really happening is that in today's age we poll everyone about everything. And without poll results from past decades and centuries to compare to, we panic needlessly. Add to that the desire to have others love the things you love the most, and you can see how this little fear about the death of the book comes about. But for now, at least, I think the book is safe. Between Oprah and the huge amount of hype over the new book Beautiful Children and the fact that so many people are worrying about it's demise, the book seems to be as powerful as ever.

More On "Not Quite What I Was Planning"

2008-02-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

Lizzie Widdicombe wrote a great piece about the aforementioned book of six word memoirs. She managed to write about the book itself and the release party in only six-word sentences. Check it out here.

Lydia by Octavio Solis

2008-02-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

While I was in Colorado, I went to see the play Lydia by Octavio Solis, which is premiering at the Denver Center for Performing Arts. Immediately after seeing the play, I bought a copy of the script and have reread it twice.

The script is genious, and the performance was gutwrenching. I have never cried in the theater, but I found myself in tears several times and have never seen such a somber final bow, as a few of the actors were also in tears as they were walking off the stage.

Lydia was commissioned by the Denver Center. It is the story of a Mexican immigrant family's attempt to recover from the horrible accident that befell their only daughter the day before her quinceanera. The story uses magical realism to allow the daughter, who has suffered severe brain damage, to share her thoughts on the demise of her family since the accident two years prior. It fully explores the struggles of immigrant families, coming of age in America, and domestic violence.

On top of the love triangles, the family dynamic, and the addition of a maid to help take care of the daughter, the story delves into all aspects of sexuality (the play is for mature audiences only): the first sexual urges in childhood, sexuality of persons who are disabled, homosexuality, sexual relationships in later marriage, and even incest.

What is stunning about the way in which Solis created his story is that the audience is so involved in the lives of his characters, that one barely notices how much ground he covers. If I were to sit down and just list every theme he uses within his script, any editor would suggest cutting back. How is it possible to do such work in a mere two and a half hours?

Solis has done it, because the world he created is completely tangible. The family is grappling with many things at one time, like any family. If you're in the Denver area, you should see this play before it closes on March 1. Hopefully, the play will move on from the Denver Center to be performed all over the country, especially because it has generated a bit of very deserving Pulitzer buzz.

For more information:
Denver Center website
Review of Lydia in Colorado BackStage
Small biography of Octavio Solis
Review of Lydia in Denver Post

A Letter to Your Body

2008-02-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

Blogher, the community for women who blog, has created a very interesting writing project called "A Letter to Your Body." While the subject matter may seem to a bit outside of what I typically write about, the writing blogher is receiving is definitely worthy of mention here. It speaks to the experiences that millions of women have on a daily basis. What blogher did was see a common theme in the writing of women bloggers, and create a project to fully explore what is going on here. Isn't that what writing should be about?

Look at the project details here, and check out some of the entries they've published, too.

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

2008-02-21T09:09:00.001-08:00

Several years ago, a family friend recommended that I read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. After reading the premise of the novel, about a man who is deaf-mute and living in a small town in isolation due to his disability, I was excited to read it. However, I quickly found my mind wandering as I read and it was one of those books I ended up fighting my way to the end. In a strange way, it has been a book I enjoyed discussing more than I enjoyed actually reading.

So when another Carson McCullers book came heavily recommended, I decided to try again. This one is a bit shorter and explores one of McCullers' common themes of difficult adolescence. Though I struggled a bit to get through this one as well, I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The family relationships represented are rich and the children are accurate in both their humor and disappointments.

I think I struggle with McCullers so much because she writes in incredibly great detail. Chekhov once said, "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off." McCullers either never heard this or completely disagrees because her details, for me at least, frequently cover up the plot and characterization. While it works for some readers, it is precisely the reason that this is the last book by McCullers that I will read.

For more information:
Excerpt from NPR's Summer Reading 2007
Today in Literature

Reading On Vacation

2008-02-21T08:22:00.001-08:00

I have been traveling around Colorado for the past six days and am now back in New York, ready to write about all I had the chance to read on my flights and during little bits of spare time.

When I'm packing for a trip, I tend to underpack clothes, but overpack books and magazines. I always worry that if I only pack one book, I might not actually be in the mood to read it once I arrive at my destination. So this trip I took five books, four magazines, and two literary journals. And I was more than a little disturbed when the flight attendant stated "If for some reason we must evacuate the plane, please leave all carry-on items behind." I thought, Surely they won't notice if I just pick up my backpack before heading down the inflatable slide?"

What reading materials do you find essential for your trips?

Three Times

2008-02-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

I just read about Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser in my daily VSL e-mail this morning. In the hours between then and now, mention of the book has crossed my reading path twice more, and each time I have become more intrigued.

The project was started with Smith Magazine based on a Hemingway's response to a challenge to write a story in six words. His brilliant story was "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." I've never returned to a sentence as frequently as I have to this one. And from looking at some of the examples from the website, it looks like it's more than Hemingway that knows how to turn six words into a punch in the stomach or an utter delight.

Then tonight I stumbled across this NPR link which includes artwork that goes along with some of the six-word memoirs.

So, if you do three things today they should be, in no particular order:

visit Smith Magazine's website and look at the variety of unique writing projects they are coordinating
visit the NPR link listed above
go to the VSL website and check out some of their other recommendations

Staircase for Booklovers

2008-02-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

Architecture and home design are both things that I deeply appreciate, though I have little indepth knowledge about either one. My appreciation only increases when I see something like this. Take a look at the link, and be sure you scroll down to see all images. The third photo is my favorite. I've never wanted to hang out on stairs as much as I do now.

The Question: "Does Writing Change Anything?"

2008-02-13T11:16:00.001-08:00

In Issue 7 of the PEN American Journal, several authors write about the question: "Does Writing Change Anything." Considering how obsessive I can be about reading and writing and thinking about reading and writing, it's somewhat surprising that I never thought about this at all.

Antonio Muñoz Molina opens his essay with a description of seeing a woman on a train smiling as she reads Proust, and how he feels that she is a "silent accomplice, someone with whom I share a secret, a hidden treasure." I found myself smiling as I read his words, recognizing that feeling of being a part of a small, yet strong community within the big city. He describes seeing someone reading on a train as commonplace, but also a miracle.

Molina then takes quite a turn from the romantic aspect of reading to a more historical reality. "Very often, writers complain bitterly about the futility of their solitary endeavor, but our contemporary world, for better or for worse, was created by the writing of at least two self-absorbed graphomaniacs: Jean-Jacque Rousseau and Karl Marx."

This statement made me wonder if writing actually changes anything anymore. With the advent of radio, then tv, then the internet and youtube, it seems that writing is on the backburner of an old stove. Consider all work (literature included) that has made changes in recent years. The only one that really stands out is Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth. I can think of no book in this decade that has had that far-reaching of an impact. It literally opened up an international conversation and motivated people to make daily changes in their lives, both large and small.

While I'm certain that writing does make changes in small ways, I can't imagine any of it doing what Rousseau's or Marx's work did. It seems that writing is frequently an ignored avenue when it comes to making big changes these days. Sure, Al Gore wrote a book on the same subject, but his documentary is really the medium that was successful in drawing attention to an important subject.

I don't want to be a pessimist, especially because I feel frequently moved by reading and writing. However, I wonder if there will be something that revives reading in our culture: an author or story or anything remarkable that gets the public reading in masses again. At times, I feel like Harry Potter's hold on many generations could be our greatest hope. At other times, I find myself worrying that in my lifetime I will see the demise of widespread reading. And after reading Molina's essay, I think that as long as there are trains, there will be readers.

For more information:
Listen to Antonio Muñoz Molina read his essay
Listen to Salmon Rushdie read his essay on the same subject

A Different Type of Award

2008-02-10T05:43:00.000-08:00

Nobel, Pulitzer, National Book. But TED? What the hell is the TED? At least, that's what I was asking myself when I received an e-mail about it this morning. One website later, I'm addicted to the very ideas behind Technology, Entertainment, Design; a conference that brings people from these three arenas together to discuss thier thoughts.

The TED prize is also particularly unique. Three people are chosen each year. Each winner receives $100,000 and (to quote the website) "the granting of 'One Wish to Change the World.'" This is staggering to my mind. If I could get a ticket to anything this year, it would be to the ceremony in which this year's winners unveil their wishes.

Two of this years winners were people I had never heard of: Karen Armstrong and Neil Turok. The third winner is an author I greatly respect for both his literary work and his unique contributions to education. It's none other than Dave Eggers.

An interesting thing to note about all three winners is that each have published at least one book. In my love of literature as entertainment and enlightenment, I forget sometimes the very simple idea that literature is a way to share ideas.

In that spirit of sharing ideas, TED goes ways beyond the conferences. It has a blog and of course the prize, but it also has the wish-granting process. Take a look at the winners from the past to see what their wishes are. You can read about the plan for implementing the wish and even help grant it. If there's something I find more beautiful than literature, it's the sharing of ideas followed by real action.

A Favorite Blog

2008-02-10T05:24:00.000-08:00

One of the things I look forward to every Sunday is reading PostSecret, a blog that posts the anonymous secrets people send in on homemade postcards. I'm always interested to see what people consider a secret, and how they state that secret along with their choice of artwork.

This is probably one of the most widely-read blogs around, and rightly so. Now they've taken it to another level with this video filled with postcards related to Valentine's Day.

(If video won't play, click here.)

More on Oral Traditions

2008-02-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

I just learned about Elevator Repair Service, a theater company that produces Gatz. The show is a reading of the entire novel The Great Gatsby, but with actors, a set, and full narration.

For more information:
Elevator Repair Service website
Kurt Andersen's great interview with Scott Shepard, who plays Nick in the show.

A New Project I Love

2008-02-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

The Columbia Spectator, the daily newspaper of Columbia University, has a column that's been coming out for about three weeks called 50 States of Literature. Every Thursday they highlight another book that captures the essence of a particular state. So far, they've completed columns for Alabama, Michigan, and North Dakota. I am very curious to see what they choose for Arkansas (my homestate,) and wondering how they're going to narrow down the field for New York and California.

Back At Last

2008-02-09T06:33:00.001-08:00

I've been extremely sick all week, which means I haven't read or written. While I was laying in bed for days on end, I found myself wishing one thing over and over (besides that I get better immediately): that someone would just come and read me a story. Or read me a chapter from the book I had put down on Sunday night when hit with whatever virus I had. Or just tell me a story off the top of their head.

I've been thinking about oral traditions. An interesting trend has been emerging in the past few years in which book sales are decreasing but audio book sales are thriving. A few months ago CBS Sunday Morning did a piece on Jim Dale, the man who reads Harry Potter, and has made quite a name for himself doing so. There is such a market for audio books that many consumers are seeking out their favorite "storytellers." Even in the digital age, people still enjoy being told a story.

There seems to be a compulsive trend to record everything we possibly can, both digitally and in print. Even I am guilty of this, consistently trying to get a timeslot at the StoryCorps booth in Manhattan so I can record an interview with my mom. I like the idea of having a piece of family history that I can listen to for many years. I also frequently listen to StoryCorp's weekly podcast, and own a book and cd of their stories. Whatsmore, I listen to This American Life all the time, which if anything is an oral tradition that moves along with history as we are living it. I would argue that their stories are some of the best structured stories around today, complete with humor, morals, and people you can relate to or be completely shocked by.

When I was a kid, my mom had these mystery stories on tape that we would listen to. Now as an adult, I look forward to going to the Strand bookstore in December and listening to a reading of my all-time favorite story, A Christmas Carol. And when the boyfriend and I took at 2,400 mile road trip, we brought along the audiobook version of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. It seems that throughout my life, I have chosen to spend some of my free time seeking out stories to listen to.

Yet google "oral tradition" and look at what comes up. It seems that every culture is "losing" stories. Amidst this constant concern that "oral traditions" are fading away, we seem to be recreating old stories and creating new ones constantly. Our stories might not be passed down by grandparents or around a campfire or by a person in the community designated for such a task; but we still are surrounded by stories that speak about who we are as a society.

It might not be the definition of oral tradition in the, well, traditional sense, but isn't it the same thing? And how much of this is a sort of cultural evolution? I understand the argument that we are losing our connection with our roots to some degree, but I wonder if we might be undervaluing so much of what we are doing.

For more information:
StoryCorps website
Link to CBS story Voice Behind Harry Potter
Interview with Bill Bryson about Thunderbolt Kid
This American Life

Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje

2008-02-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to do something I rarely get to do: read a book in one sitting. I often feel like this is the way a book should be read, shutting out the rest of the world and just taking it all in.

Michael Ondaatje's first novel, Coming Through Slaughter, does two things extremely well. First, he is writing about Buddy Bolden, a little-known jazz trumpeter. His prose and the structure of the novel reads like jazz. There's no specific formula, but long and short bits, fast and slow, spare and descriptive...thrown together into something beautiful. Second, the point of view is constantly switching. Sometimes there are three different first person narratives on the same page. But Ondaatje does this so well that the reader always knows who is speaking.

Many critics call this the greatest novel ever written about jazz. Though he's more famous for The English Patient, who knows what will happen when the film adaptation of Coming Through Slaughter comes out in 2009. While this is the first work of his that I have read, it is clearly a very strong novel. The mixture of fact and fiction captured me from the first page.

However, the story lost some of it's steam toward the end. As stated in the original review from the NY Times in 1977, "When asked how he could see his sculptures in a block of stone, Michelangelo is alleged to have said that he simply chipped away everything around the image until it emerged. A novel like "Coming Through Slaughter," made up of shards of various techniques, works in just the opposite way. The author gives us all the broken pieces and leaves it to us to infer the final form."

Overall, a good read, especially with a full afternoon to pass.

For more information:
NPR story: Two Films Unveil a Lost Jazz Legend
Brick Magazine, Literary Journal edited by Ondaatje

The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing

2008-02-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

There are few things better than finding a new favorite author. Clearly, Doris Lessing isn't an author whose books are hidden in the back of bookstores, especially considering that she just won the Nobel Prize for Literature but she is still a new discovery to me.

The Grandmothers is actually a collection of four short novels: The Grandmothers, Victoria and the Staveneys, The Reason for It, and A Love Child. All of the stories except for The Reason for It were based on stories that had been told to Lessing over time by different people she had encountered. This is not one of those collections in which there are one or two fantastic stories with other less-fantastic stories interspersed simply to fill the pages of a book. Each of these stories stands on its own.

The title story is one I will definitely come back to. It most interested the writer in me in that I want to study exactly how she made the story unfold in such a way. She builds a picture of the grandmothers and fathers of two little girls, then completely destroys it, and finally rebuilds it again, along the way making you question your views on sexuality, marriage, love, and social expectations.

Victoria and the Staveneys announces itself as a story of race and class, and how these issues are dealt with within one family. The moral dilemma a mother faces, all the while knowing what decision she will make, is handled extremely well by Lessing. While not my favorite story in the collection, it was still quite good. The themes pertaining to race she visits in this story are ones that she frequently explores.

The story I spent the most time with was The Reason for It. I don't know if this would be classified as science fiction, but Lessing does create an entirely new society with its own politics and history. While reading this story, I found myself wanting to arrange a discussion between Doris Lessing and J.M. Coetzee. In one part of his book, Diary of a Bad Year, his main character makes an argument that it actually does not matter who society is lead by, because (to put it tritely and to seriously shorten his argument) it's all the same in the end. In Lessing's story a society is torn apart because of the chosen leader, but by the end of the story I wondered if she had come to the same conclusion as Coetzee's character.

The Reason for It is another story that I will revisit, which is especially interesting because it is a bit outside of what I would normally consider reading. One of the story's greatest strengths is how the main character comes to view the society's leader over time. He knew this leader as a child, and he comes into contact with him again shortly before death (at over 100 years old.) To see him struggling with the question of how to judge a person's action is fascinating. He states at one point: "Beauty is a terrible thing: but it is dangerous too for a person to be seen as the sum of his or her admirable qualities."

The final story is called A Love Child. This story takes place during the war and expertly shows the trials of James, a young man caught up in politics and poetry in Great Britain who is called to fight in World War II, but ends up in India maintaining Britain's colonization. This tale is one of the best character stories I've read in ages.

The best part of all of this is that Doris Lessing has an extensive body of work. The last time I was so inspired by a writer was when I read The Keep by Jennifer Egan. Within a month I had read her other two books, and now I just wait for new work from her. It will take years, though, for me to exhaust Lessing's body of work. And I am definitely looking forward to the task.

For more information:
Interview with Doris Lessing about The Grandmothers
Audio Interview with Lessing in 2006
Article in which Joyce Carol Oates meets with Lessing
Audio of Lessing reading her work

Giving It Up

2008-01-31T05:59:00.000-08:00

A question I always wrestle with as a reader: When do you stop reading a book that is not engaging to you? There are times when I'm not connecting to a book but I cannot give up on it. I will take weeks to get through it, all the while gazing lustily at my stack of books to-be-read. Last year I fought for nearly a month before finally admitting that I just wasn't interested in reading Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead or the much-touted Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. (Not that I have anything against war novels: I loved Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, and the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker...which I plan to revisit this year.)

Anyhow, I often don't know what to do when I get into the situation. I've heard of people having a 50-page or 100-page rule in which the book is set aside if deemed not worthy by a certain pagecount. I think I have finally enacted this for myself. Right now, the book I am setting aside if Princess by Jean P. Sassoon. I feel bad about this for many reasons, such as the fact that it's a bestseller that relates the true story of women's oppression in Saudi Arabia in a way that is accessible to a broad audience. Or the fact that someone spent many long hours crafting a story that I am deciding to ignore. It's not a bad book, it's just not the right book for me right now...(why do I sound like I'm breaking up with the book?)

The worst part about it, though, is that it was a recommendation by a friend whose literary opinions I highly respect. I worry that I am committing some heinous social crime by putting down a book that a friend endorsed. But I just went to the library and picked up several books I had on reserve...and I can't help myself. I feel almost as if I'm being beckoned by the library books across the room, and I am now making the decision to "cheat on" Princess. And I'm almost not even sorry.

For more information:
An entertaining opinion

Don't forget to answer the survey!!

Esquire Magazines "The Napkin Fiction Project"

2008-01-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

Esquire's recent assignment to 250 writers might just have made me a regular reader of the magazine. Their idea in their own words: "We mailed a simple cocktail napkin to writers from all over the country--some with a half dozen books to their name, others just finishing their first. In return, we received a wealth of stories."

The best part of this project, other than the fact that you can read all the stories for free here, is how many writers it can introduce you to in mere minutes. I was surprised by how few names I actually recognized. And I was even more surprised by the quality of the stories. The breadth of subject matter was interesting, as well as how many authors incorporated the napkin and/or bars into their stories.

Three of my favorites were Dynamite Eyes by Craig Davidson, Untitled by Charlie Yu, and Untitled by Julianna Baggott; but I think it's worth it to check out all the stories.

In Dreams Begin Responsibilities by Delmore Schwartz

2008-01-29T04:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my boyfriend requested that I read the short story In Dreams Begin Responsibilities by Delmore Schwartz because he is in the process of adapting it into a short film. The story opens up with "I think it is the year 1909. I feel as if I were in a motion picture theatre, the long arm of light crossing the darkness and spinning, my eyes fixed on the screen."

As the story continues, you realize the narrator is watching a movie of his parents' courtship. One of their dates is playing on the screen in real time. The dual setting of the story is perfection: the narrator in the movie theatre and the young couple on a date at Coney Island. To master setting is one thing, but to master two settings simultaneously is what makes you want to return to a story over and over again. Somehow, in a mere eight pages, Schwartz creates two worlds and an entire family's history. The ending is perhaps bordering on cliche, but also somehow necessary. And the title has multiple meanings, which I appreciate.

The thing I loved most about the story is the universal, yet rarely touched upon theme. Who doesn't want to know what their parents were like as youth in love? Schwartz really shows what that would be like knowing so much of what happens next, which is especially interesting considering how in our culture so many stories stop when the couple falls in love. Writing like this is also intriguing to me in the way it connects people. Schwartz first published this story in the now defunct Partisan Review in 1937, and just through reading the story, 1937 doesn't feel quite so far away from today.

I'm curious to see how the story is translated to film by my boyfriend, and I know that film adaptations of books and stories will come up here on more than one occasion. Thinking about the story as an adaptation makes you read it in a much different way. If it were not for this film project, who knows when I would have even heard of Delmore Schwartz, which is surprising because of how often he and/or his work have been referenced by musicians such as The Velvet Underground, U2, or Lou Reed. Dennis Brennan explains in the first link below why he wrote the song "Delmore Schwartz," and I agree with him wholeheartedly. Schwartz's stories should be more widely read today. So pick up the book.

For more information:
Scroll to Number 7 to see what inspired Dennis Brennan to write the song "Delmore Schwartz"
PBS Article on Delmore Schwartz
Poems by Delmore Schwartz

Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee

2008-01-28T05:43:00.000-08:00

The first few pages of Coetzee's new book Diary of a Bad Year were, at best, difficult to get through. The structure of the book is quite different from anything I've ever read. In the beginning, each page is separated into two sections, with the top section being a short essay describing a "strong opinion" on a specific subject (such as democracy, the war on terror, and pedophilia), and the bottom half explaining the narrator's encounters and lust for a woman who lives in his buildings. After several pages, each page is suddenly split into three sections, with the additional section narrated by this woman the narrator is attracted to. Needless to say, I spent a bit of time thinking: "What?"

Looking back, though, it actually was not that long before the format of the story completely drew me in because of the links between the three sections. It's almost as if Coetzee were writing a book, while allowing two characters to comment on the writing page by page. I kept wondering how much of this was Coetzee? Was he expressing his own opinions? (Why would he do otherwise?) Was he the male character? And the main question: Why write a book in such a way? Why not just write a book of political essays? Instead, he has two genres wrapped into one book, literally dividing the book in two. Then I realized that I would not typically read his book of political essays. Sure, I read the paper, and I read the New Yorker every week. But even I rarely get past the leads on the exhausted supply of political rancor and word-twisting. Would I read these opinions if it were not coupled with this rather ordinary tale of a woman and a man?

The book also shows the reality of a person's thoughts compared to that person's life. Here, on paper, the man is presenting educated, well-thought-out ideas about the greatest concerns of the present; but his spare time is completely used up with this lust/disgust/budding frienship toward a woman. Is this who we are: the inherent differences between thoughts and actions. And even Coetzee (or his narrator) asks what we should do? Do we just vote, just watch, sign petitions, what?

And even beyond this, Coetzee is changing the way I read. Instead of reading each page, then moving the next page, I begin to read by section, because on page 42 he suddenly starts having each section move to the next page mid-sentence. It's as if once I become accustomed to the unusual way in which he has arranged the book, he makes subtle shifts and changes until I am in fact a new kind of reader.

The surest sign that this book was fantastic is that I have written all over it: underlined sentences and entire paragraphs, asked questions in the margins, circled items I want to do further research on. I have discussed it with anyone who will listen. In the end, I still have many questions. I would love to sit down and talk with Coetzee, who seems to rarely if ever sit down to talk to anyone about his writing. But want to ask him why he made so many of his choices. And while I will probably be rereading this book in the future, I also wonder if I got so caught up in the carefully constructing structure of the novel that I missed the point somewhere along the line.

For more information:
New Yorker review
About the Author
Publisher's Weekly Article

Reading the Poptimist

2008-01-27T08:14:00.000-08:00

While not the most well-written entry on this Pitchfork blog, Tom Ewing has some interesting thoughts that seem related to my last post. He discusses what makes music "stand the test of time," while also introducing an idea I have never thought about: "standing the test of space."

I am very concerned about female authors' work standing the test of time, and even Ewing admits that male musical artists are much more likely to stand the test of time. The test of space, which Ewing's colleague defines as "simply asking us to consider how music fits into a life, or a society or a group of people-- what it's being used for, in other words, and how potently it fulfills that use. As opposed to one question implied by the phrase 'test of time,' which is 'how does this music fit into history?' That's not in itself a terrible question, but really it's best applied when there's a history to fit into."

You could ask the same thing of writing today. There are some authors, such as Stephen King, who many would not consider great literature but who will surely stand the test of time. (And, on a whole different subject for another day and another blog, I do hate that his writing is taken less seriously because it is genre-specific.) At the same time, I think there are several very strong male writers in literature who will be taught in university classes to my own children: Franzen, Chabon, Roth, Coelho, DeLillo, Ondaatje, Diaz...the list goes on and on.

My concern is that their female counterparts: Jennifer Egan, Barbara Kingsolver, Ruth Ozeki, Dara Horn, Nicole Krauss, Banana Yoshimoto, Alison Lurie, Marilynne Robinson and more are being pushed out by novels that stand the test of space (which happens to be the warped world where only shoes and sex matter to the twenty- and thirty-somethings who are trying to make it in the city) but are extremely unlikely to stand the test of time.

Does one have more value than the other? I would say probably no. Except that these novels that are being pushed back to make room for the highly publicized chick lit books are able to stand both tests.

My final thought on this was a comment on a little perusal of a book I bought on a whim called "The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books." While the book surveys several female authors, the top 20 picks from the lists created by literature-lovers only contain one female author. I have to wonder if this is because after the elementary school years we are exposed to a smaller number of female authors in education. If anything, it is frequently our education that informs our habits and reading tendencies. How do we bring value to female authorship without relegating it to its own class or genre?

Going back to the Pitchfork blog, Ewing makes an argument that forcing art to fit the test of time takes the idea of investing in art a little too far. But when it comes to the discrepancies in gender representation, I think it's important to analyze what we, as a culture, consider a good investment to be.

Women In Writing

2008-01-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

My senior year in college I took a Women Writers Survey course. On the first day of class, the professor (with the fantastic name of Dr. Lawless) asked us to name all of our favorite female authors. Beyond thinking of my favorite female authors from my youth, I was stumped.

Since that time I have made a diligent effort to read many female authors and have found many favorites. However, there are still two issues at hand: ONE - in 2002 there was still a need for a Women Writers Survey course because women are not fully represented in the "canon" and TWO - I have to make a "diligent effort" to find female voices outside of the genre of chick lit.

I have a good friend at work who I always discuss books with and share recommendations. Last week he was reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith, which he picked up because he said he realized he never read female authors. He argued that it wasn't intentional, but for some reason female authors never arrived in his stacks of books to be read. So now he, too, is making the "diligent effort" to find female authors who write what could be called literature.

What's interesting to me about all of this is that the problem is so pervasive that it almost seems nonexistent. Just as "home economics" was created so women could have their own subject to study as an excuse to go to college, it seems chick lit has been created so women could have their own subject as an excuse to write. While I do not want to discount the value of chick lit, it seems hardly memorable. Will our children's children really be reading Bridget Jones' Diary or one of the books from the Shopaholic series?

What I want is a group of female voices represented in literature that will be read for generations, like Vonnegut or Faulkner or Hemingway. What I'll get...well, it depends on more "diligent effort" by more people.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

2008-01-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

My reading took a huge turn from the serious to the seriously fun over the past three days. Christopher Moore, an author I had never heard of until a chance conversation in a bookstore, takes on the subject of death in his novel A Dirty Job.

His wit, random social commentary, and hilarious characters are reminiscent of Tom Robbins, another favorite author of mine. This is not the type of book that is going to make you view the world in a different way, think about deep concepts (even though it does discuss the soul quite a bit,) or inspire new direction in life.

Instead, I think it does something few books do in the literary fiction canon I am so fond of: it gives pure enjoyment. It's not mindless enjoyment: you have to be paying attention to catch many of the little jokes sprinkled throughout, but following main character Charlie Asher through years of confusion and consternation about his new job as "Death Merchant" is the closest thing to racous enjoyment that a book could possibly provide.

If you so desire, then go ahead and stick your nose high in the air and read your hoity-toity literature. But know, that you're missing out.

As for me, I'm about to move on to some hoity-toity literature myself, gearing up to read J.M. Coetzee's latest book. But not before I reserve a few Christopher Moore books from the library...

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

2008-01-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I read Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks and fell in love with her intelligent way of opening up the real world to me. Not a fictional world made up of believable people, but a shockingly different world than my own that truly exists.

After reading positive review after positive review, I picked up People of the Book, her latest novel. Here she has mixed fact and fiction in a breathtaking manner. The world around me seemed to stop as I followed the trail of the Haggadah, a Jewish text that does exist and has a mysterious past of its own. Brooks poses a possible history of the book and brings to life the fictional people who had the book as a part of their worlds.

In some ways, this work differs from Brooks' other works in that it reads much like a "pageturner." Each chapter ends with a sentence that leaves you grasping for more, always on the edge of your seat. There is something about the pageturner that bothers me a bit: I don't know if it's the fact that it fits the layout of the Nancy Drew novels I read as a child and I feel that I surely must have grown into a new story structure, or if it's that I feel as if the author is trying to trick me into reading more. I want to say, "Did you really have to do that? Did you think I would put the book down otherwise?"

However, it was something I could forgive Brooks for because her writing is so damn good. And it wasn't just the writing. I am the kind of person who can be stunned by a good idea. I can appreciate the concept the author has created even if they ruin it with bad writing. But Geraldine Brooks has the writing skill to back up a unique idea. And these are the ingredients for my favorite kind of reading.
A final bit of the book that has stuck with me is a paragraph narrated by a young boy who has been given the job to create a portrait:

"It took me three days. I had stared at the old man, trying to see him as I had learned to see an unfamiliar plant, emptying my mind not just of all other plants I had painted before, but of all my assumptions about what a plant is--that it has a stem, that leaves come off at such and so an angle, that leaves, in fact, are green. Just so, I looked at the face of the butterfly man. I tried to see it as a pattern of light and dark, void and solid. I made a grid on the page in my mind and divided up his face as if each square of the grid was a separate thing, containing its unique information."

As an avid reader and an aspiring writer, I loved this description. It is how I strive to write. And I have a feeling that it is just how Brooks works as well.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

2008-01-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

Last year I started off 2007 reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I loved that book, and thought I couldn't go wrong starting off 2008 with Ishiguro again. I finished The Remains of the Day over the weekend.

I loved Ishiguro after my first encounter with his work, and reading this book only made that love stronger. The setting, main character, and type of story is all together different from Never Let Me Go. I am astounded that the same author wrote both books, and wrote them so masterfully.

As I was thinking about this, I started to wish that I had recorded my thoughts while reading Never Let Me Go. Which lead to the idea to start recording my thoughts. I am so touched by the books I read, the worlds that authors open up to me, but I worry that I may miss connections and, dare I say, epiphanies simply because I have forgotten certain aspects of my reading experience.

So here we are. This is to be the place where my thoughts will be brought together and, hopefully, where conversation will ensue. Anything I read will be considered fodder for thinking, therefore it will be fodder for the blog. Maybe in the end this will turn out to be some sort of failed experiment, but at the moment it gives me comfort to be able to lay out the journey I take and enjoy so much as a reader.