booktalk

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Title: booktalk

Published:: 30.09.07

Category:: booktalk

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Marya 01.10.07.07 / 8am

Ok, before anyone goes any further, they must take themselves to the bookstore (or their favorite online book-buying thing) and buy anything at all by David Foster Wallace. Last night I finished “Consider the Lobster and Other Essays,” and officially 1) practically died laughing, and 2) was made to feel unbelievably unsmart. This 2) was not reflective of my better self; so I got over it and pretty much broke my brain trying to Totally Get what he was saying. If you haven’t been to grad school or college lately, which I certainly have not, you will find your brain very rusty on some concepts and may need to do some brain stretches as you go. If you’ve never been to grad s./college, then get ready to expand your knowledge in a big way. There is a certain satisfaction to gasping and staggering along intellectually and finally Getting At Least Some of It.

But the really wonderful part is just the exhileration of his madcap prose and hilarity and deadpan/absurdness (I am totally making up words) and the feeling that you are reading an entirely original mind.

He’s the author of Infinite Jest and several other books, tho my favorite are his essays. His “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” (title piece about his kind of bizarre, for Harper’s, assignment to cover a cruise [??], during which he becomes freaked and alarmed and kind of existentially cross and begins going everywhere in his Spiderman stocking cap) is delicious and gives you a whole new perspective on the form (essays).

Next up, a book whose title I am forgetting that my friend Erica sent me and that I am too lazy to go look at to see the title.

Marya
Ashley 02.10.07.07 / 7am

I am currently reading The Kite Runner and just finished The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory which was a really scandalous love story…I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read more of her books.

Ashley
Rachel 02.10.07.07 / 11pm

i like the new blog!
Jodie 09.10.07.07 / 4pm

I’ve started reading controversial conservative Ann Coulter’s newest book, “If Democrats had any Brains, They’d be Republicans.” I’ve just graduated college and am starting to grasp political concepts and I’m getting excited about solidifying my opinions to vote in the next election. Liberals hate her, and some conservatives do also, but she’s hilarious and very straight-forward as she shines light on the haze surrounding politics.
stacy 13.10.07.07 / 9pm

I am in love with William Faulkner! My freshman year in college, I took a Faulkner class with a professor I didn’t really like, and I didn’t really respond to the writing, so I dropped it. But, because I am a writer from the South writing a book about being from the South, I decided to go back and read all the great Southern writers. I got out my book of Flannery O’Connor short stories (great, great work — she is one of my heroes) and revisited it, and then I decided to take another stab at Faulkner. I remember thinking The Sound and the Fury was rambling and incoherent, so I decided to start with that one. I’m currently in Mexico for 7 weeks, so this is quite literally my beach reading. I am just totally blown away. I think it may be the most brilliant book I’ve ever read, and Marya, I keep wondering if you were influenced by it when you wrote Center of Winter. (It’s told from the POV of four family members in four different sections.) I also brought As I Lay Dying, and that one’s next. I am so excited by his writing now, half a lifetime later, and it’s so strongly influencing what I’m writing myself.

Other books I’ve read recently and really enjoyed are The Lobotomist by Jack El-Hai, Her Husband (story of Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath) by Diane Middlebrook, and The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon. It’s so nice to have finally finished the research reading I had to do for the book and be able to read for pleasure again!
Marya 15.10.07.07 / 3pm

Hello readers!

Stacy, you caught me out. Faulkner is indeed part of the cacophany of voices I hear when I’m writing. The forward motion catches me up, the letting go of some of the strictures of traditional storytelling always keeps my mind alert to the underside of what he’s trying to say. In an extremely wide leap of association, James Joyce got under my skin early in my career and I’ve never quite been able to shake the associative stream. And yes, Faulkner’s four-POV-voice made me think it was possible to show the object from several sides and see it whole in a different way.

Haven’t read Lobotomist yet, need to. And Middlebrook is about the best biographer I know (ok, the new Einstein biography is better than any biography I’ve read). Middlebrook gets shit because she has focused on a certain often-lumped-together group of writers who are women, but I don’t care.

On the matter of writing: “Madness” is now out of my control and floating in the publishing stratosphere, which is a little like sending your child to the moon, though I would much rather have a book than a child, far more manageable, though no one reviews your child. Things here in Mpls so insane, emails out my ears, that I finally bailed and went up to the lake to lock myself away and get some writing kicked out. Thusly the new book is an actual lacuna of a thing, complete with physical pages and everything. Could be awful, likely is, and what I’m writing now is almost certainly never going to see the light of day, but I had such a good time up there I’m skipping town again in a few days. Maybe I’ll never return. Maybe I’ll live on mac and cheese and apples for the rest of my life and become a Cormac McCarthy hermit. Sadly, I will never be Cormac McCarthy, but one can always wish.

About as obscure a thing as I can recommend: “Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia” (Orlando Figes). If you’re at all into intellectual history and cultural movements in massive complex continents over thousands of years, you’ll like it.

Cheers!
stacy 15.10.07.07 / 7pm

Oh my god, Marya, Cormac McCarthy! I just recently started Blood Meridian, but I was reading a bunch of other stuff at the time and I’d checked it out from the library, so I had to return it before I left. I plan to buy a copy when I get home. It’s brilliant and gorgeous and terrifying — The Judge is one of the best characters in 20th century fiction, as far as I’m concerned — and I can’t wait to dive into it and give it my full attention. Maybe I should stop trying to read half a dozen books at once…hmm, now there’s an idea.

Diane Middlebrook is great — her bio of Anne Sexton is one of my favorites. (Anne Sexton’s To Bedlam and Part Way Back is where the title of my book comes from!)

And god, Faulkner…I really don’t know why The Sound and the Fury is not considered the Great American Novel. The first section, Benjy’s section, is one of the most perfect things I’ve ever read. Caddy smelled like trees.
stacy 15.10.07.07 / 7pm

Oh, and don’t start The Lobotomist until you have two or three straight days to devote to it — I couldn’t put it down, and I’ve given it to two friends since then and they couldn’t either!
Marya 30.10.07.07 / 8am

Oh, you people. And you say you’re readers! Ha! Why is this the loneliest thread? It’s the one I like the best, anyway. Go get the people from the other threads and tell them they have to start talking about books. If you aren’t reading books, how do you SURVIVE?

My own booktalk of late: spent some more time up north writing my little brain out and came upon a slight hitch: my brain malfunctioned and I couldn’t write. Felt like I had a brick wall in my head. No matter how long I sat at the computer, I just wanted to crawl under the desk and be left alone. Some people call it writer’s block; I call it your brain overriding your will. I’ve never much liked the flowery “creative process.” I like to believe that when I want to write, I will write, and I will write exactly the scene I’m planning to write, and I can go along on a very specific schedule and kick out a book one-two-three. Of course, three books down, and it’s never happened. I finally gave in and realized that the book was going to come of its own accord. Also, I realized I had no real idea of what I WANTED to do with the book. So I hid under the desk. Now I have emerged, and am approaching it from a different angle. I hate this: I just read and read and read and do research and follow all these tangents, and gradually, without being aware of it, I gather up all kinds of material and ideas and get a sense of what I’m doing and what I need to write, and eventually I write. It’s like walking around in the dark bumping into things. Everyone tells you “trust your process.” I hate that. Very vague. Sadly, also seems to be true.

Devouring Dennis Johnson’s “The Tree of Smoke.” He’s amazing, the language alone is enough to make you want to read each sentence over and over just to revel in it. Another of his I love is “Jesus’ Son.”

I hear “Smoke for Elephants” is popular. Anyone read it?

M
Joy L. 30.10.07.07 / 11am

Do you mean Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Marya? In any case, I haven’t read either book, but I saw Gruen speak awhile back at a conference, and she told a story about how in order to stop procrastinating about writing that book, she put a desk in a closet of her house and every day, she would go in there, shut the door, and put on noise-reducing headphones to force herself to write. I could so relate. Like right now, for example, I’m supposed to be writing and I’m looking at your website instead.

As for reading, I recently finished Lady Chatterly’s Lover by DH Lawrence. I ignored Lawrence before, so I’m slowly going through his work–read Women In Love earlier this year. I was surprised how contemporary Lady Chatterly’s Lover felt in parts, especially the stuff about capitalism and the modern age, how working for money numbs you and all that. After reading that, I started Anna Karenina, got distracted, read about three-quarters of Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis (which I really liked and will finish) and now seem to be reading Helen of Troy by Margaret George. I don’t usually read books like that, but it’s entertaining and well-structured. I predict I’ll finish it and then go back to Tolstoy, but you never know…
Jen 01.11.07.07 / 3pm

Ok, this recommendation is definitly not en par with DH Lawrence, but I want to draw y’all’s attention to an interesting little novel called “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn. It’s a detective story with a twist: the protagonist is a cutter. A cutter who covers practically every square inch of her body (except her face). It was a really good read. I liked the fact that the author did not write the main character in such a way that we just see her as mentally ill. She is a fully functioning member of society, with a job and responsibilities and intelligence and beauty. But the author does not downplay the cutting either; there are consequences to it (like one a-hole boyfriend who freaks out and wants nothing to do with her anymore; and the cutter’s inability to have healthy close relationships with anyone, actually). Anyway, I think I’ve stopped making sense in this “review”. But check out the book. It’s in trade paperback format now.
Celia 02.11.07.07 / 8am

I just finished “Open Me”, by Sunshine O’donnell. I loved that book. It reminded me of a song and I couldn’t put it down.
Jennifer 05.11.07.07 / 5pm

Hi Jen - I read “Sharp Objects” earlier this year. Although I found the concept of her covering every inch of her body except for her face and that spot of her back a little unrealistic, I found the book to be very well-written. It was also quite creepy.

Right now I’m reading “The Nature of Monsters” by Clare Clark. I like morbid tales!
cat 06.11.07.07 / 3pm

I’m a sucker for anything biographical/autobiographical at the moment - I’m reading ‘Ted Hughes in Letters’ and a study of Sylvia Plath’s art and poetry called ‘Eye Rhymes’, both of which are wonderful. And on a less nerdy note, I’m also re-reading Douglas Coupland’s ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’. Has anyone read it? I churn through it at least once a year, and each time I notice something new. It’s clever.
Joy L. 08.11.07.07 / 10am

Cat — I heard Ted Hughes’ letters were good. Are you liking them? I read an excerpt from that book of Hughes’ letter to Plath’s mother right after she died–very sad. On that note, I recently read “Lover of Unreason” about Assia Wevill, the woman who broke up the Plath/Hughes marriage. It is actually a terrible book, but also fascinating in that it brings a lot of new details to light about the whole situation. I never seem to get tired of that particular literary tragedy …
Shelbie 14.11.07.07 / 5pm

@Stacy:
The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon was one of the most incredible books I have read. it was absolutely amazing. They way Brent exposed a whole new subject on [attempted] suicide and its aftermath was great.
Diana 16.11.07.07 / 5am

I used to read a lot as a child, but I became lazier and only read things I had to read for high school. The book I am finishing reading is well… yours (Marya Hornbacher’s).
I was working at my college library (a job I do not have any longer as I have withdrawn from the semester and you are required to be a student in order to have a student job) when I came across the “Wasted” book. I was actually checking it back in with a bunch of others. It was mixed in with several materials someone had returned about eating disorders. I found the book completely by luck really and it is even more miraculous that I actually opened it and started to read it. I was curious for numerous reasons. I didn’t really get beyond the first few pages until after I withdrew from the semester a few weeks ago. I’ve read it on breaks at my cashiering job at Wal Mart and I’m nearly finished with it.
I’m not sure how I feel about it entirely. However, I have underlined a bit in it and I laughed at one part of it… which is something very nice because little makes me laugh actually. It’s sad, I know. It’s the part of the book where you meet the guy in the cafe… and he tells you “My name’s Dave.” and you reply “GOOD.” I just found that amusing as hell.

The last book that I really thought about to some length at all was the typical cliche of adolescent interests…. Catcher in the Rye. I know I’m not as well read as the rest of the people commenting on here, but I have actually almost finished a book that I actually chose to read and not one I had to read because a teacher required it. For me this is an accomplishment. I had to close the book this afternoon when it was getting rather detailed about the veins but with the wisdom teeth removal. I’m sure it was intended to make the reader understand how awful that must have been, but I had to go back to work and I was nearly ready to jump out of my skin if I kept reading that portion.

I will be finished with the book soon.
It’s very well written, as I’m sure everyone on here agrees.
I can’t personally relate to a lot of it because my issues were not those of an eating disorder. However, I understand how hard it must have been to articulately describe what you went through and continue to go through. I admire that because I wish to do the same one day. I hope to write something that coherently describes my own situations of the past and present. Well, maybe. I’d want to write to reach others too… not just for the sake of writing. I’m sure Marya has reached many people with the book. I look forward to reading the other book out of hers…. the one with “Winter” in the title. I’m very bad with names. Hm… and of course in April ‘08 it says the new book will be out too.

I finally know of an author I like. Marya Hornbacher. How nice. I’m 23 and finally found at least one thing I like. I’m going to buy a few copies of the Wasted book and give them to some people for gifts. I really think it’s a fabulous book and what’s even nicer is that it’s true.

I will start to read more again.
I have decided that reading is something I really enjoy and have gotten back in touch with that quality of myself.

Keep reading everyone.
Shelbie 18.11.07.07 / 9pm

Has anyone read Bloodletting by Victoria Leatham? It reminds me so much of Wasted. It’s just like it, but about cutting. I definetley recommend it
Brandy 20.11.07.07 / 10am

I’m sorry to disagree with Shelbie, but Bloodletting was an awful book. It was poorly written and, no doubt, written out of a desire to exploit oneself. Wasted, on the other hand, has literary value as well as a compelling story. If you like memoirs, here are a few suggestions: The Furies by Janet Hobhouse (a must-read), The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison, and The Lover by Marguerite Duras. Each is not only compelling, but also beautifully written.

Just because someone has a story to tell doesn’t mean she is qualified to write it. Leatham is not a writer. She is a hack. I apologize for sounding like a snob (which I know I do), but I just get so fed up with people who don’t write because they need to, but write simply to make money.
Brandy 20.11.07.07 / 10am

Oops. I screwed up that last sentence.
Shelbie 20.11.07.07 / 10pm

I don’t think you sound like a snob; you were just expressing opinion.

I really appreciate your opinion [even if i don’t agree with it]. I was wondering what exactly you didn’t like about it. [Sorry I really like discussing books with people.] I really would love to hear more on why you don’t like it.

-Shelbie
[literary analysis freak]
cat 22.11.07.07 / 4pm

Joy - the ‘Ted Hughes in Letters’ book is incredible. Quite dense in parts…and a lot of it is particularly concerned with his thought/writing processes, very complex…the Sylvia/Assia angles are included, obviously, but I think the main focus is on his writing, so it’s not the best book to read if you’re looking for something specifically about the Ted/Sylvia/Assia story (although if that’s the case, I recommend Diane Middlebrook’s ‘Her Husband’, which is amazing - I think someone else mentioned it in an earlier thread…I hope that wasn’t you, otherwise I seem a bit dumb!) but I would definitely recommend it if you’re at all interested in Ted Hughes as a writer.

I just finished Iris Murdoch’s ‘The Bell’ - a friend recommended it, and it’s the first Iris Murdoch novel I’ve read . I loved it. It’s everything a novel should be - and it’s because of the writing rather than an intricately complex plot. She advised I should read ‘The Sea, the Sea’ now - so that’s next on my list! Has anyone read it?

Shelbie/Brandy - I’ve read ‘Bloodletting’ also, and I have to say that I think it suffers because of rather lacklustre writing. For me, it wasn’t ‘intellectualised’ enough - and by that, I mean that where ‘Wasted’ (which I’m using as comparison because, presumably we’ve all read it) was emotional and honest and brutal and naked, it was also intelligently written, and there were plenty of quotes (scientific, literary, etc) and statistics to evidence Marya’s points…I suppose what I’m saying is that it was balanced. ‘Bloodletting’,in contrast, felt merely emotional - ‘I’ve suffered through this, and this is what happened’ - which is fine, I think, for personal release, and I’m sure others will find solace in it. But for me, it just lacked something. Finesse, maybe…I don’t know.

Anyway. Enough rambling from me. Hope all the Americans here have a great Thanksgiving weekend…I’m from the UK, so we don’t have Thanksgiving here…but I’m going to the Christmas markets tomorrow, which should be fun - mulled wine, mittens and merriment. Lovely!
Marya 24.11.07.07 / 10am

Hallo luvs,

Well, thank God at least YOU are reading. The great irony of being in prep for a publication is that suddenly you, the big writer-reader, have not time to read a damn thing. So it is a huge relief that you’re keeping your collective nose in a book.

Ok, whoever’s reading Murdoch, I adore you. I adore her. My favorite (lord, talk about nerds) is Existentialists and Mystics. If you want to totally overwhelm yourself for a couple of weeks, give that a try. It’s philos/crit, not a novel, but I just love it. I read it whenever I want to feel smart. Not because I get it, but because I’ve gone so far as to open it.

The Lover, Margurite Duras: a HUGE favorite. So crystaling, the little orbs of language and image placed carefully and perfectly all over the page. And the story, so elliptical and surreal. I love it love it love it. One of the best love stories ever. Duras also has a couple of books on writing that are wonderful. Practicalities and Writing (two separate books) are both wonderful, about the thought/sese process of writing. Her philsophy’s not half bad either; useful if you want to get a sense of the late-20th century philosophy of language.

Chomping at the bit to get back to the novel-like-amoeba-shaped-thing that I’m pretending to write; odd, since before this work hit, I was hating it and dragging around like a slug complaining about having to write it. And right now I’m hopping around with excitement on a project abuout art criticism here in Mpls. Very fun.

About to reread American Pastoral (Philip Roth) which should be interesting, again.

Poetry readers out there? Anyone? What are you reading?

Cheers,
M
Kate 24.11.07.07 / 2pm

Ah, yes, poetry! Right now I’m reading Sharon Olds “The Dead and the Living.” I just bought Billy Collins “The Art of Drowning.” I’ve also been searching for any of Natasha Trethewey’s collections–I’m waiting for the order to come in at the bookstore down the road. I’ve been trying to break out of my habit of rereading Anne Sexton’s collection over and over.
Brandy 25.11.07.07 / 1am

I am definitely a poetry reader. Favorites include: Plath (of course), Sidney Wade, W.S. Merwin, Vincente Huidobro, Neruda, the Symbolists, Celan…the list goes on and on.

Oh, a quick suggestion - go out immediately and buy Sarah Kane’s complete works. “Crave” and “4.48 Psychosis” are absolute masterpieces. BTW - she is a playwrite.

I will expand my argument about Bloodletting another time. I am exhausted.
Brandy 25.11.07.07 / 11am

Shit! I know I am going to sound like an opinionated sow, but Kate, please step away from the Sharon Olds. Her first collection “Satan Says” is acceptable, but her other works are simply crap. Yes, she is good at formulating similes and such, but her work is some of the sloppiest around. Her line breaks and stanza breaks are all wrong, plus she refuses to trim the fat. Also, her obsessive confessional style is far from original. Sexton has been there and done that - and she did it much better. Basically, Olds is riding the crest of her fame, and that is all.

Now, let us discuss Billy Collins. He is little more than a pop poet, which is precisely what poetry doesn’t need right now. He tailors his poetry for his audience. It’s completely dumbed down. That’s not what poetry should be. That’s what kills poetry. He dangerously skirting Hallmark territory.

Now that I have come off as a complete asshole, let me give just one suggestion: Wallace Stevens. If you buy the collected poems of Wallace Stevens, you won’t regret it. He is brilliant! I suggest the poems “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” and “The Snowman” just for starters. He’s somewhat metaphysical and a bit difficult at times, but well worth reading. I swear, I just want to lick his words.

Then again, he might not be your taste. You seem to be into the confessional writers. If that’s the case, at least read Sexton or Merwin (though Merwin is more surreal than confessional) or Plath or Lowell or…wait! Read Mary Oliver’s collection “American Primitive.” That’s her best one, and I think you’ll really like her. She is slightly sentimental, but her writing as taut and disciplined.

On a different note, I’ve noticed you’re reading Philip Roth, Marya. Might I suggest “The Professor of Desire?” It’s awesome! There is a whole Kafka theme. BTW - Janet Hobhouse, the writer of “The Furies” had an affair with Roth in the eighties. He’s in her memoir. Basically, she is the only woman Roth ever maintained any respect for because she left him before he could despise her. Then, she died, which made her even more appealing to Roth. The man has serious issues when it comes to women. Ask his ex-wife, Claire Bloom. Now, I am just rambling. Sometimes, I get too excited about certain topics because I have no other outlet.
Kate 25.11.07.07 / 2pm

Sexton and Plath are definitely favorites of mine. Their collections are tattered and torn because I’ve taken them everywhere with me.
Brandy, you don’t come off as an ass hole at all. You’re opinionated, what the hell is wrong with that? =] I’ll give Wallace Stevens a try. My creative writing teacher had been giving me names, and like a good dog he says Fetch and I run.
I’m writing all of these names down, and I’m off to Barnes and Noble with all of my giftcards.

I’m posting a Natasha Trethewey poem I think is really neat. I enjoy the structure:

Myth by Natasha Trethewey

I was asleep while you were dying.
It’s as if you slipped through some rift, a hollow
I make between my slumber and my waking,

the Erebus I keep you in, still trying
not to let go. You’ll be dead again tomorrow,
but in dreams you live. So I try taking

you back into morning. Sleep-heavy, turning,
my eyes open, I find you do not follow.
Again and again, this constant forsaking.

*

Again and again, this constant forsaking:
my eyes open, I find you do not follow.
You back into morning, sleep-heavy, turning.

But in dreams you live. So I try taking,
not to let go. You’ll be dead again tomorrow.
The Erebus I keep you in — still, trying —

I make between my slumber and my waking.
It’s as if you slipped through some rift, a hallow.
I was asleep while you were dying.
Saskia 26.11.07.07 / 10am

As unoriginal as it is, I am also a sucker for Plath and Sexton though I am sometimes not quite sure if I really get the gist of their poems (I am German, and I have a lot of translating to do before I can make an effort to get the point). I also love Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman and Dylan Thomas (I am currently spending quite a bit of time on the Complete Poems of the latter two). One of my favourite poets is Edna St. Vincent Millay who was actually the first woman to win the Pulitzer for her poetry; I think one of her best poems is her sonnett “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”:

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

So sad, but so skillful. I wish I was that good.

For those of you who cannot afford to buy every book they’re interested in (like me - my amazon.com wish lists - yes, I have more than one! - are obscenely huge) I’d like to suggest the following links:

http://www.bartleby.com/
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

This was kind of a long post, I hope I didn’t bore or annoy anyone.

Cheers,
Saskia
Brandy 27.11.07.07 / 10am

Hey, Kate! I’m glad you posted this. Would you like me to give you my critical opinion of the poem?
Kate 27.11.07.07 / 4pm

Go for it! =]
Diana M. Pomerantz 28.11.07.07 / 7pm

“Desiderata” google it if you’ve never read that poem.
cat 30.11.07.07 / 6am

I always, always have some poetry on the go. ALWAYS. Right now, it’s ‘The Complete Works of Ted Hughes’, simply because I’m reading his collection of letters as well, and it’s interesting to look up the poems as they’re referenced.

Marya - it was me who was reading Murdoch (’The Bell’). I loved it - I’ve just ordered ‘The Sea, The Sea’ and ‘The Black Prince’; I’ll let you know how I find them.

Also, can I ask - did I imagine it or did you once say somewhere that you were considering publishing some of your own poetry? I know you mention writing poems several times in ‘Wasted’…

Hope everyone’s doing well, and all the Americans here had a nice Thanksgiving X
cyberwaif 30.11.07.07 / 11am

ooh poetry! I was at a book sale at the local Lit & Phil’ society at the weekend and got a copy of Tennysons complete works (I know far from contemporary-but I do love him!) -its inscribed in the front and dated 1890 yet is still in prime condition-unfortunately too snowed under with textbooks to devote any time to it at the mo!
Marya (or any one else here!) I’m interested to know- have you read “Women who Run with the Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes ? (not sure if I spelt the name correctly) if so what did you think ? if not I’d recommend checking out and hearing your opinion. I discovered it years ago and its one of those that has just stayed with me- if you guys get what I mean?
laura 02.12.07.07 / 8pm

hi i’m new to the site, but not new to life. Can anyone help me with walking through the website?
Marya 05.12.07.07 / 11am

Hey all, and welcome Laura! I think the website is pretty easy walking. Here’s the books board; talk/read about what you’re reading, get ideas for what to read, talk about writing, get ideas for what to write, complain about a terrible book, crow about a good one. The whatever whenever board is just for shooting off your mouth. Or telling us what’s on your mind, other than eating disorders and mental health; we like to keep our brains on track of the wide world too. Eating disorders board, talk about eating disorders, Wasted, get some support, support someone else. Madness board, talk about your own or someone else’s mental health/illness, talk about minds and thoughts, state your case. When Madness comes out, put your thoughts there. K? And pretty soon, there will be a Madness page. And the tour schedule will go up. Look on the Whatever page for today’s note about the cities I’ll hit.

As for reading: poems poems poems. I have this killer book (KILLER BOOK): “Women Poets from Antiquity to Now: Selections From the World Over,” eds. Aliki Barnstone and Willis Barnstone. 35 countries and continents, starting with Sumerian poetry and reaching all the way to Leslie Scalapino, who teaches at my alma mater, New College of California. Read her “Epilogue: anemone.” Read the whole thing. Epigraph: “Someone will remember us.” Sappho. Intro: “The earliest known writer in the world was a woman—Enheduanna, a Sumerian moon priestess from the middle of the third millenium B.C.” A moon priestness, no less! And some of her writing survives on carved cuiniform tablets. Whoosh. Get this book.

Here on my desk there seem to have landed twelve books of poetry that I am reading all at once. The essential poetic text of my life (ok, tied with the Yale Shakespeare, which weighs as much as Shakespeare the Cat, who people always mistake for a dog): “Contemporary American Poetry,” ed. A. Poulin, Jr., 4th edition. My friend the poet Thom Tammaro (killer poet!) tells me, because I am out of it, that since this edition’s publication in 1985 (good lord) there are obviously more editions; presumably those are not in seven pieces, as my edition is. I am however very attached to it, and may not replace. Also key: “Modern Poems,” eds. Ellman and O’Clair, second edition (doutless in its 49th edition by now). Why I like anthologies: lots of writers. Nuff said. You can go running off on all sorts of their roads and find all kinds of new things thru their eyes.

Mentioned this on the whatever board: Like a nitwit, I am writing a poem. Someone asked if I am thinking of publishing a book of poems. I’ve been thinking about it for 15 yrs. No sign of book of poems yet. Still trying to get one or three right. I am picky. I go through long dry spells with poetry; the three I’m working on right now are the first poems I’ve written in two and a half years. Those were the first I’d written in three years. At this rate, it could be a while before the book. Deal: if I publish soon, I’ll post and let you know.

Off to the pome.

love,
m
Kayla 08.12.07.07 / 7pm

Okay, so I wrote down titles/authors many of you mentioned in my handy-dandy sketchbook which I lug around everywhere, and searched the local library.
I was extremely unsuccessful, however I did manage to find a copy of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.

I am neither thrilled nor disgusted with the book as of yet. It has a cold feeling to it, like that of Alice Sebold’s The Almost Moon. Unlike The Almost Moon, however, this book is yet to reach me on any level and does not show the same wealth of insight and empathy that Sebold can display.

Three titles that you mustmustmust read:
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Set This House In Order - Matt Ruff
You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers

- K
allison combs 09.12.07.07 / 11am

hallo all, does anyone know of any inspirational reads for chemical dependency? or addiction? i am searching for something before i go into treatment….i know they will have SOMETHING along that line there but if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. thanks!
cat 10.12.07.07 / 6am

Hey Allison…you could try James Frey’s ‘A Million Little Pieces’. I’ve never been chemical-dependent, so I don’t know how well it works on that level, but it’s really well written and informative.

Hope that helps…and good luck with treatment! XXX
Shelbie 10.12.07.07 / 9pm

Ooh James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces was really good, though wasn’t there a big controversy because some of the things he said were inaccurate [read: total bullsh*t].
allison combs 11.12.07.07 / 8am

shel, i agree. i used to have the book but my friend has it now…is he coming out with anything else? also some others that are good are Little Girl Lost by Drew Barrymore (she was in treatment as a teen), and Smashed…although at the moment i can not remember the author….and the one by Caroline Knapp….Drinking: A Love story. I hope i have that title right….
Shelbie 11.12.07.07 / 8pm

Smashed: Story of Drunken Girlhood is by Koren Zailckas.
My sister bought it and she loves it.
Its an autobiography about the first time a girl drinks until she about a senior in college.
allison combs 12.12.07.07 / 10am

thanks for letting me know! it is really great!
Brandy 12.12.07.07 / 11am

Yeah, there was a controversy about James Frey. It was not truly a memoir. Much of the “memoir” was total fiction. He admitted that he intended to publish it as fiction, but couldn’t get a deal. So, he called it a memoir - and, because our society is so fixated on “reality,” he got a deal.

I really think memoirs are the way to go if you want to make money in this business anymore. True readers are dwindling at a frightening pace. It seems the only thing people can stomach nowadays are things “based on reality.” Maybe it’s because actual reality (funny that I have to qualify it) has become so surreal. I swear, you can find far more reality in a Francis Bacon painting than in a reality show.

*Steps down from soap-box*

Anyhoo, I’ve been reading the poetry of Paul Celan, coupled with his bio. He has this one brilliant poem titled , “Psalm.” That poem alone made the collection worth reading. He’s considered a surrealist poet (which doesn’t hold much water these days among the academics), but I also think he is a neo-romantic, or at least a precursor to neo-romanticism.

Question: has anyone ever read Vicente Huidobro? He’s not well known in America, though he was very influential among Chilean poets. Neruda admired him very much. He has a collection called, “The Poet is a Little God.” If you can find it, read it. It’s so different and fresh. My ex-professor, William Logan (a.k.a. the most feared man in American poetry) completely dismissed Huidobro as unimportant, but that’s only because Logan is a very conservative poet. Advice: never listen blindly to your poetry profs. They don’t know everything.

Also, Kate, I haven’t forgot about the poem. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to think. Sad, I know. I’m a moody bastard.
Melissa 12.12.07.07 / 11pm

Um, hello. I’m new. I guess this is the section for those of us who are readers so, here goes.

Has anyone read Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer. I know, I know, not nearly as cerebral or academic as some of the other stuff out there, but it is an amazing love story. Any other fans?
Mike 13.12.07.07 / 12am

Brandy,

Have you ever read Consilience by Edward O Wilson?

He does a great service to the insight of Bacon and plenty of others. I get the impression you’d like it if you haven’t already read it.

:]
Brandy 13.12.07.07 / 10am

No, I haven’t, Mike. I’ll certainly look it up. Thanks for the suggestion. I’m always looking for new reading material.
Kate GC 18.12.07.07 / 6pm

I’m a huge fan of Augusten Burroughs’ stuff. I noticed Marya had Possible Side Effects up on the main website–one of my faves of his, in particular “Debbie’s Requirements”, “The Sacred Cow”, and “Beating Raul”. They never fail to crack me up, even as they make me feel slightly evil for laughing. I also love his memoir Dry, but I found Running with Scissors more than I could handle, intensity-wise.

I think, though, if I could only choose one author’s work to be stuck with on a desert island, it would be Toni Morrison. I know Beloved and The Bluest Eye have become required reading in a lot of high schools now, and I love them dearly, but my absolute favorite is Sula. It’s just so rich, both in language and story, that I could read it a million times and not get bored.

Lastly, on a completely unrelated note, if you haven’t read Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, do yourself a big favor and pick up a copy. I was dragged into reading it kicking and screaming by my father, convinced it was just another dry and dusty tome on the Civil War, but it’s just incredible. Breathtaking imagery, and just an amazing piece of writing. Plus it has a romantic subplot, which I’m always a sucker for.
admin 20.12.07.07 / 10am

All,

As mentioned, I’m still wallowing in those anthologies, reconnecting with some of my favorites & those that knocked me upside the head when I was just starting out immersing brain in a poetry bath. Marge Piercy, Robert Hass, Roethke, Carolyn Kitzer this week…and at a reading last night, someone read Anne Sexton’s poem “Christmas Eve,” as usual not the most uplifting, but beautifully done.

Also last night, heard a KILLER poet at a reading last night. He seems to have a chapbook published—Michael Walsh. I’ll see if I can find out where to get it, and then you must read. Such gorgeous, precise, shot through with humor and pathos—for the acadmics among you, let’s all say “pathos” real serious-like and sound important…I must say I am not afraid of William Logan, to my regret, and have no idea who he is; I am sure this is very out-of-touch and intellectually gauche of me, but alas, so it goes. Ignorance perhaps is bliss, and allows us to wallow in the poems like we like to do.

Getting back to the fiction & nonfic. reading in a couple of weeks, to keep brain in prose while writing prose. Actually kicked out a little essay this morning, so at least I’m still thinking in long lines. Actually, weirdly, am spending a lot of time thinking about the long-line poem these days, and pretending to write one, reading C.K. Williams & A.R. Ammons on this—Ammons’ “Garbage” is brilliant, and a must read on both social-thought and poetic levels. Find.

Working on the poems — have found myself wandering into the territory of prose poem lately, as have a few other poets I know. It seems to be a virus. Such a weird & amorphouse form, so hard to define, hard to answer, hard to write, but I think really really good for thinking about the intersection of poetry & prose (obviously, duh), and the way writing of any kind needs to keep tight, and so clear it makes your teeth hurt. Prose needs to have that same tension to have the same impact, methinks…

Blast all, I have to go to therapy. For pete’s sake. And wouldn’t it be nice if we could all go floating around in our heads. Nah, not really. We need to live body & soul & brain in the world, or how the hell to we mediate/understand/write into the world? (I stole the phrase write into the world from a book of the same title…as usual can’t remember author…Terrence something? Will post when I am not too lazy to go downstairs and LOOK!)

Cheers!
m
admin 20.12.07.07 / 10am

God, that last post was so pathetically full of grammatical errors & typos I’m blushing. So sorry.

M
Mike 21.12.07.07 / 1am

No apologies necessary. Its actually nice to see someone so typically diligent with their writing get lazy sometimes. It is a cute mental image to imagine you blushing, though. Have you read “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation”
By Lynne Truss ?
cat 22.12.07.07 / 3pm

Ha! I have, Mike. I’m a grammar/punctuation fiend. Seriously. (In England, all our pubs seem impervious to the apostrophe so that we are overrun with bars like The Queens Arms and The Kings Head and The Eagles Nest…it drives me absolutely bonkers).

I bought my best friend, Steven , a copy of ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’ - he got as far as the introduction, which quoted a poorly constructed sentence and then said something like, ‘If you can’t see what is wrong with this sentence, you should probably put down the book now’. So he did. And hasn’t gone back to it since.

I just finished Ian McEwan’s ‘Atonement’ - incredible book. Gorgeously written…and the ending, while not dramatic in a literal sense, was heartbreaking. I asked my Mum to get me more of his books for Christmas… I’m not holding my breath, though, as last year I gave her a THREE PAGE book list, and got a single book. Bless her.

Hope everyone is reading lots, feeling festive and having a grand old Christmas thus far X
Stacy 29.12.07.07 / 4pm

Helllooooo Ms Marya of the fluffy hats! Happy New Year to you and your furry family! As requested, I’m postin’ ya some booktalk.

I’m about 1500 words away from done with my memoir, and in an INSANE FRENZY that some might be inclined to call hypomanic but is more akin to I WILL BY GOD FINISH THIS BOOK IN 2007. There’s another book burning in my heart — one that’s been building my whole life but very suddenly became clear and pressing — and I want to finish this so I can work on that!

My agent and her boss read all but the last chapter this past week. Both really liked it and didn’t have that many edits. My former agent says my publisher is notorious for serious editing. So I have no idea what to expect!

What was the timeline for you from when you turned your books in to when you saw them on the shelves? What were some of the highlights along the way? How long did they take to edit?

Man, I’ll be so glad when I’ve already been through this once…hmmm, also what I said when I got my first tattoo.

More smoking, less sleep,
Stacy