February 2012
6 posts
Monday Word Count
Last week’s total: 2692
This week’s count: 1508
Total: 4200
Not too bad considering I finished some quilting deadlines. Now, let’s just hope it doesn’t take me three weeks to finish reading Stoner. Although I’ve hit a wall with it - Edith is making me tense.
3 tags
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Her name was Rita Achenbach. She was short and feisty with tussled brown hair. She walked and talked fast - in a hurry, very busy, and always purposeful. She was tough but emotional and always cried when we talked about the Vietnam War. She smoked - Marlboros I presumed. I saw her husband a few times. He drove an old Ford Bronco, wore white t-shirts and a cowboy hat and mustache without irony in a...
1 tag
Monday Word Count
Last week’s count: 2008
This week’s count: 684
Total: 2692
In defense of my numbers, I am working with a few quilting deadlines…Oh, the excuses never end!
“In the University library he wandered through the stacks, among the thousands of...”
– from Stoner by John Williams
A confession
I often think about my reaction to my writing after becoming a mother. This is how it felt. Thankfully, it no longer feels this way:
But now no music was in her mind. That was a funny thing. It was like she was shut out from the inside room. Sometimes a quick little tune would come and go - but she never went into the inside room with music like she used to do. It was like she was too tense....
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Monday Word Count
This week’s count: 530
Total: 2008
I’m not quite sure the point of this exercise other than to make myself feel badly for not writing more. I’m hoping public shaming* will force me to make more time to write.**
*As if anyone reads this.
**Yes, I’m going to put the blame not on me but the rest of my life. I don’t want to feel too badly about it.
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Monday Word Count
To keep myself in check, I’m going to start documenting my weekly word count:
1474
(Not bad considering last year’s total was close to zero. And, yes, I know it’s Tuesday.)
January 2012
6 posts
Weekday reads
I’ve hit a bit of a wall with The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and am in need of a good distraction. I’ve got a few tabs open in my browser just waiting to be read*:
A long article from The Atlantic on Joan Didion. It’s by Caitlin Flanagan. Could be interesting or enraging. I’ll try not to be too biased.
Guernica considers how book design will affect the future of the printed...
Why I keep books
Recently, I saw that Granta had published a story by Jon McGregor. I instantly clicked on it because I loved both So Many Ways To Begin and If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things. I liked his books so much that I read them just about back to back, something I rarely do - there’s just too many new books to discover.* As I clicked over to Granta I realized that the story is a reworking of a...
Then Again by Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton’s Then Again had such great potential. I was very intrigued by the pairing of her mother’s journals with her memoir - what a tribute to her mother and an interesting way to gain perspective on her life. I’ve always enjoyed Diane Keaton’s persona in movies. I think the first movie I saw of hers was Baby Boom and of course I fell in love with her in Annie Hall....
Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver
I loved this book.
I should probably end my post right now as to avoid embarrassing myself with how much fawning I may (will) do about Where I’m Calling From. I read this book knowing I would like it - I’ve read a few Carver stories in my years. I didn’t know that I would love this book, that I will probably read this book, and other Carver collections, over and over and over...
2012 Reading Resolution
I guess it’s fitting that I write about my goals for 2012 on New Year’s Day. After I’ve had a few too many glasses of Prosecco, I feel the need to cancel out the tired feeling of drink weighing me down, to restart, exercise, eat better*, and do something with myself. That something is to write more.
I can’t be a writer without being a reader or a reader without being a...
December 2011
4 posts
Design as Art by Bruno Munari
As I am becoming more involved in my other hobby, I am thinking more and more about design. It influences how I plan future projects or patterns I’d like to follow or imitate. As a quilter, the object itself is functional but to create it is (or, in my case, attempts to be) art. The question of form and function are always on my mind.
I think I was led to Bruno Munari by way of...
My year in reading
I used to relish end of year lists, but now I just skim the NYT 100 book list and do my best to keep up with all of the excellent ‘A Year in Reading’ posts at The Millions. I decided to check out my goodreads page and take a look at the books I’ve read this year - a shameful few. And now, because I can’t help myself, I’ve been thinking of that typical December...
The ones I will keep
As I reflected on my previous post, I started thinking about the books that I will never give up. What makes them shelf-worthy? This isn’t a list of my favorite books. Some of the reasons I would keep books are purely sentimental: books that I read as a child or, later, books that opened my reading (and sometimes myself) to adulthood.
my childhood Roald Dahl collection
my high school copy...
Book Purge
For most of my life I’ve been collecting books. Maybe collecting books isn’t the right word - it’s more like hoarding them. My collection of books isn’t too bad, not in the thousands, but definitely in the hundreds. I still have some of the books that first made me a reader: a real, ‘this is who I am’ kind of reader. A faded Matilda by Roald Dahl is patiently...
November 2011
1 post
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Some thoughts on Seattle after reading In Utopia...
In October of 2009 my family and I moved from Philadelphia to Seattle. It’s been two years and I still feel a bit in limbo, as though it’s been my first day here for years. I was excited to move to Seattle because of the novelty, its newness. Although, I’m not sure why I wanted to leave Philadelphia. I loved Philly - I still love Philly - although it’s very easy to say that...
May 2011
1 post
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Reading Round-Up
It’s been so long since I’ve read these books that I can’t quite give them a proper review. In fact, I’m not sure why I’m writing about them at all. Two reasons, really. One: I need to write. About anything. I’ve fallen out of the habit of writing and I need to force myself back in. I don’t want to lose my sense of language and its connection with my...
February 2011
1 post
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2011 Reading Resolution: A little late to the...
So I’m two months late, which shows you how dedicated I am to resolutions. When I get to them, I’ll get to the them. I am somewhat determined to keep my 2011 reading resolution, however. For quite some time I was a book hoarder. I have since given up on buying books for the sake of buying them. In fact, I’ve given away a lot of my old books (sorry, non-fiction, your always the...
January 2011
1 post
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Freedom by Jonathan Frazen
Ahh, Freedom! What to say about Freedom that hasn’t been said already? Truthfully, I don’t really know what was said about it since I’ve given up on reading book reviews. (I barely have time to read books let alone articles about books.) But I do have this to say about the book: I didn’t not like it. Yes, I know, quite passive - a non-statement, really just a state of...
October 2010
1 post
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Reality Hunger by David Shields
It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a book that really made me angry. I’m surprised I finished Reality Hunger by David Shields because throughout my reading I wanted to throw the thing out the window. Usually when a book makes me feel that way I stop reading. I felt compelled to finish it like it was a train wreck. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t not be angry -...
April 2010
2 posts
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Faulkner reads "As I Lay Dying"
Thanks to Condalmo, I can listen to William Faulkner reading As I Lay Dying. I already have audio of him reading his Nobel Prize speech. It always feels a bit surreal to listen to authors read, especially one of my favorites (not to mention, dead). It alters the relationship that was already created between myself and the text, although not always in a negative way.
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Plain and Simple by Sue Bender
When I was in college I started quilting. I went to a small state school in rural PA and was surrounded by Mennonite and Amish communities. I was always impressed by the simplicity and beauty of their quilts. I never really thought of their lifestyle because I was so used to seeing plain clothed men and women in horse and buggies. They were part of our larger community. It wasn’t until I...
March 2010
1 post
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Rabbit, Run by John Updike
For some reason I have avoided reading John Updike. I don’t have any real reason other than it just seemed so obvious to read him, like reading Joyce Carol Oates (another confession, I’ve only ever read her essays in the New York Review of Books and none of her fiction for similar reasons: I’m sure she’s good and I’ll get to it someday, maybe). At any rate, I had...
February 2010
1 post
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The Backlog
So it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve even debated whether or not I should continue this blog but I’ve have twoumbrellas for five years now and I just can’t part with it. Besides I really like writing my thoughts down about the books I’ve read and (as I’ve said many times before) I’m forgetful - sometimes even forgetting what I’ve read...
December 2009
1 post
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Where I'm calling from...
I picked up The Other City by Michal Ajvaz on a whim from my awesome library and discovered in this book a strange, mysterious, yet uncannily accurate description of my ongoing adaptation to west coast living. Here’s long excerpt:
Can there really exist a world in such close proximity to our own, one that seethes with such strange life, one that was possibly here before our own city and...
September 2009
2 posts
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Moving to Seattle
For many years I have called Philadelphia my home. I fell in love in Philly; went to grad school in Philly; had my baby girl in Philly; it is where I lived. In just about a week, my family and I are leaving our home to create a new one in Seattle. There is so much happening now: so much to coordinate with a cross-country move. (The picture above was taken on our one-day - and unsuccessful -...
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I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett
I can’t believe after writing 17 (!) books, I had never read Percival Everett. Where have I been?? What else have I been reading?? And why?? I know I’ve taken myself somewhat out of the literary loop, but, I was really embarrassed to not have read any of his books or, worse, had ever heard (gasp)* of him. Shameful, yes, I know. Fortunately, after reading I Am Not Sydney Poitier I no...
August 2009
4 posts
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Junot Diaz on writing the body
Guernica has an interview with Junot Diaz:
Well, I mean, I’m writing about the Caribbean. The reason we’re all in the Caribbean is because bodies were enslaved and bodies were made into machines and bodies were made into incubators and bodies were turned into permanent—at least for people who were living in the moment’bodies were turned into permanent destiny. Our bodies were used to enslave us...
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Poor People by William T Vollmann
It is rare when a book affects me. Yes, each book I read is an experience, per se; there is a relationship between two sensibilities. Often, that relationship fades as time passes as new books are read and new voices heard and some are just, well, forgettable. However, reading William T Vollmann’s Poor People was like getting a good slap in the face. I had a previous experience with...
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A few good author events
happening at the FLP coming up and into the fall:
Ralph Nadar
Lorrie Moore
Marjane Satrapi
Howard Dean
Richard Russo
Richard Dawkins
Jeanette Walls
Jonathan Safran Foer
Lydia Davis
Lydia Bastianich
If you’re in Philadelphia, be sure to check out the calendar. Where ever you are be sure to support your local library!
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On Writing/Reading Reviews
I spend a lot of time reading. I love to read. In fact, when I was thinking about a career for myself, I would think, “What job could I have that would allow me to read all of the time?” Often, some sort of night-watchman would always seem dangerously appealing for a little, bookish lady. So, I thought again, and decided a high-school English teacher could work. And did - for a few...
July 2009
2 posts
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The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball
A while back I was doing some book reviewing* and I had heard some buzz about Jesse Ball’s The Way Through Doors (who knows from where at this point) and so I thought I’d put it on the list of books to review. A friend of mine happened to have it so I moved it way up the list and borrowed it. Truthfully, I didn’t know much about it other than the word ‘storyteller’...
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Bonk by Mary Roach
It’s been awhile since I’ve read some non-fiction until I recently read Mary Roach’s Bonk. Well, I shouldn’t say ‘read’ because I didn’t finish it. This was a recent find at my local library and I thought, “What the hell. I’ve heard of Mary Roach. I like sex. This could be interesting.” I realized three library renewals into it that I...
June 2009
3 posts
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Random
If you’ve never read Infinite Jest but always wanted to, now’s your chance - it’s an Infinite Summer (and you’ll have a support group!). I wish this was going on when I read it. Once and done for me (for now) I’ve still got Cervantes and Proust to tackle. (via)
Speaking of DFW, hipsterbookclub has an essay by the woman who designed some of his books. From my...
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Colum McCann on Ulysses
Happy Bloomsday! Colum McCann has an essay on reading Ulysses.
The messy layers of human experience get pulled together, and sometimes ordered, by words.
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The Necessity of Influence: A Conversation with...
I recently finished Damion Searls’ What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going**, which I loved. Amazon’s book blog, Omnivoracious, has an interview in two parts. I highly recommend it.
**Update: Here’s my review over at WFTC.
May 2009
2 posts
5 tags
Another shameless personal plug
I’ve got another review up at WFTC. It’s Mary Gaitskill’s Don’t Cry. Here’s a bit:
I’ve only ever read two of Mary Gaitskill’s story collections: Bad Behavior, her first (published in 1988), and Don’t Cry, her latest. Both are highly charged works of fiction — strong, full of sexuality, intensity, and intelligence. After reading both of these collections, I have come...
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Where to File?
The NYT has a fun essay by Geoff Nicholson about food and eating in literature.
I’ve realized that the moments of literary eating I like best are the ones in which the characters suffer because of their food. In “Gravity’s Rainbow,” for instance, there’s an early scene in which the wartime inhabitants of a London maisonette enjoy bananas served in myriad forms, including mashed bananas “molded in...
April 2009
3 posts
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Free Library Festival
I know it’s a bit late, but I went to the Free Library Festival a few weeks back. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the size this year. Usually the vendors stretch all around the library but only one block had vendors:
There was still a good offering of local university presses and bookshops. Harvest Books was giving away free books (which means you couldn’t get anywhere...
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Colson Whitehead at the FLP
Mark your calendars: Colson Whitehead will be reading at the FLP on 05 May 2009 at 7.30 (FREE at the Central branch). While I wasn’t too thrilled about Apex Hides the Hurt I’ve heard good things about John Henry Days and others…so, don’t take my word for it.
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Personal Plug
My review of Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun at When Falls the Coliseum is up. Here’s a bit:
There are so many things that could be potentially cliche about Nami Mun’s Miles from Nowhere: the title, the cover, the characters, the plot — just about everything. The main character, Joon, runs away from home when she is twelve. Her father has left the family, which drives her mother to...
March 2009
5 posts
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Philadelphia Book Festival is now the Free Library...
Check it out. The dates are 18-19 April. The new logo is cool, too. There’s a pretty long line-up of authors scheduled, including: Joyce Carol Oates, Joe Queenan, among many others.
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feeding claire
With having the Parasol around, I find my personal time has become somewhat limited. So I decided to divide my time a little further by creating another blog: feeding claire that’s dedicated to feeding my daughter, of course, but also my adventures in being a new mom. If you’re interested in food and have kids, feel free to give it a look-see…
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Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
There is something intriguing about delving into the secrets of art. That’s one of the reasons art is so attractive to humans: its inability to be explained. Somehow it has the ability to interpret our surroundings and give some meaning to our reality. Of course, there is also art that completely destroys our notions of reality and challenges us to rethink our perceptions. The creative...
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John Cheever + John Updike
NYT posts the entire episode of the Dick Cavett Show with John Cheever and John Updike together as guests.
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More from around the blogosphere
I’ve been quite busy lately with freelance work that I am slacking a bit on original posts/content. So here’s more from around town…
A “crisis of belief”: The WSJ wonders “Will this crisis produce a ‘Gatsby’?” and discusses literature, the Depression, and Sherwood Anderson:
In particular, Anderson found the people he met to be imprisoned by...
February 2009
10 posts
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AL Kennedy on Writing
Over at the Guardian AL Kennedy is blogging about “why it’s pointless telling anyone that writing isn’t worth it”.
I set off on my wonky career path during the Thatcher years when unemployment was so massive that a non-proper job didn’t seem any more foolish than, say, working in a bank. Now that so many of us dream of bitch-slapping bankers up and down the high...
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Reading Recession
On a previous post I lamented my deluge of reading material, especially magazine subscriptions. Too much input! I was starting to feel guilty that I couldn’t read all of the articles and yet still feeling guilty that I didn’t subscribe to more. (Oh the reading paradox!) But the recession has hit - I have let most of my subscriptions lapse and I am starting to feel a drought. I am left...
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Around the blogosphere...
Here are few interesting links from (as always) much better sources:
Laila Lalami points to a new(ish) John Cheever story at Five Chapters.
Black Garterbelt warns us of Eric Carle’s blue horse. Since Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is on the Parasol’s daily reading list, I was very intrigued.
Over at The Millions an Obama sentence is diagrammed…Thank you, Sister...