Let the Great World Spin

Currently I am only reading books on my book list (primarily self-complied so I can't complain) so yes, all of them are multi-points-of-view things. I'm trying to learn how to do it. Along with trying to learn how to write, in general.

I have recently finished Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, a tale ostentatiously about a man who walks on a tightrope between the Twin Towers. It's told from multiple points of view (obviously) and it starts out not being about the tightrope walker at all. Which I kind of liked. These stories or chapters, depending on if you want to argue the point of it being a novel or not, are about Irish brothers in New York city, their messy lives, love, obligation, passion, fear. It's late in the book before we meet the tightrope walker (before that, he's been noticed, but not in a life-changing way). The chapter with the tightrope walker is breathtaking, as are many other parts of the novel. But for me, it didn't come together as a linked collection, or novel in stories, which is what I was expecting. And I'm not sure each section, on its own, is satisfying enough to be a stand-alone story. I wanted something more threading the story together, more emotional impact from one person's experience to the next. This is probably just a taste thing. And, really, I liked the book. I just didn't love it.

Before Let the Great World Spin, I read Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. I really like Anne Tyler--most of the time. She's had a few misses (Saint Maybe) but overall you can count on her for a good story. This novel is also multiple POV, told from different members of a family. It worked for me, because it was about a single, central family, and because the structure of the novel felt like a family telling a story. And, Tyler did an expert job of weaving things in, mentioning something here, again there. She doesn't over-saturate her work, and this isn't the kind of novel that's going to make your head ache from thinking, but it's a good, solid story.

I also read a craft book: The Gotham Writer's Workshop. I've read a lot of craft books. I mean, A LOT and this one I liked. It felt like there were some fresh ideas, some good exercises, and a ton of very solid, very readable information about technique. I would pick this up if you're a would-be writer.

I am currently reading Love Medicine by Louise Erdich. I know, I know. Where have I been? So far, I'm loving it!

First post of 2013--Not because I haven't been reading.

So, I did my first MFA residency earlier this month and my brain didn't explode. Although I think it came close. I also gained two pounds despite the fact that I hauled myself out of bed at 5am every day to get some exercise (must have been the peanut butter and fluff stashed in my room). I digress. The residency was fabulous--so full of precise, helpful insights into my own writing as well as the writing of others (which helps clarify my own). It was also incredible to spend evenings listening to faculty and past student readings, as well as graduating student readings during the day. My brain whirled and churned and thanked my lucky stars I was among such company. I will also admit to the healthy (or unhealthy?) amount of self doubt being among such talent caused my fragile writer-ego. In a blur of wanting to write, I wondered if I could, really.

I came home, digested, worked out harder and longer (goodbye 2lbs), and read a book. Have I ever mention how happy reading makes me? Well, it makes me downright delirious. And, reading something good puts me over the moon.

I just finished Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides (I know, I know, where have I been?) and I loved it. It's dark, and weird, and a little gross in some places (maybe more than a little) and say what you will about the "We" narrator, I think Eugenides handled it like the pro he is. It made me feel like not just a reader, but a part of this dysfunctional community. And that made me laugh at the darkly funny parts, and mourn deeply for the Lisbon girls. 

Up next, I "have" to read Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Have I mentioned that I love graduate school?

Christmas Gifts

Let me just say that I LOVE getting and giving books for Christmas and for years, because I owned a bookstore, I never got any. (I mean, other than the hundreds I bought myself!) I no longer own a bookstore but still I get very few books, probably because I read so much no one dares get me anything.

Although last year for my birthday my husband bought me My Last Supper by Melanie Dunea. It's a great coffee table book if you love food as much as I do (which comes in a very close second to books, so books about food are always an excellent thing in my mind). It's a really beautiful, if not slightly morbid, collection of chef's and other foodies' imagined last meal, complete with recipes.

I love giving books. It may be a little late for this but you can always scurry out to your local bookstore and see if they have these titles:

For kids and tweens: The boxed set (if you can find it) of The Chronicles of Narnia. I still remember getting it for Christmas from my mother's cousin--I must have been about seven. I remember burrowing under my covers and reading the whole set start to finish, and then reading it again. Maybe this isn't the hottest new thing kids are into, but if you've got a kid who loves fantasy-type books and they haven't read it, I'd bet it would be well-received.

For my mom: I like a well-written mystery, one that is character-driven and not too gory. I like Julia Spencer-Fleming's series which start with In the Bleak Midwinter.

For my husband: Who likes true-crime stuff, I like Howie Carr's The Brother's Bulger. About Whitey and his gang, it's a great read.

For anyone who likes to cook: My favorite, most-used cookbook is The Joy of Cooking. You can't go wrong with a classic.

Speaking of which, I would give a classic like To Kill a Mockingbird or Middlemarch to just about anyone.

And if you know someone who writes, or wants to write, my favorite is by far Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird.

I'm sure I'm forgetting many of my favorites to give and get. I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Of course, a gift certificate to your local bookstore is always good, too!

Reading like crazy

Between vacation (many hours on a plane) and required reading for my MFA, I have been reading like crazy. Devouring books. Ignoring all else, including housework, which I often use as a distraction from writing. But, truth be told, I enjoy reading more than I enjoy writing (until I get to that really golden writing spot where things start to come together) so all this reading isn't really suffering for me--and it's been good stuff:

I finished The Best American Short Stories 2011 (I was surprised by how many I had read elsewhere but I loved every single one of them all over again) and plunged into Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach. McEwan is the master of the single day (Saturday) and of tiny, intricate details that make up a moment, and a life. These characters, newlywed and flushed with anticipation, stumble, and flounder, and because of the era in which they live and their particular social class, they can't seem to gain their footing. I'm fairly emotional when I read, but at the end of this book I was sobbing into my cocktail napkin. I'm sure the guy to my right thought I was some kind of nut job.

Then, onto "required" reading which I put in quotation marks because while it was assigned, it's so far been highly enjoyable. First up, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude. How have I not read this before? It's like a long Grimm's fairy tale, sweeping and dark, full of mysterious characters and circumstances of Biblical proportions, with time folding and unfolding. It's a story that should be hard to follow but because Marquez is a master, it's nothing but delight.

And then on to Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons which is an older one of her books and also one I hadn't read (although maybe I did, I can't say for sure). It captures perfectly what Tyler does best--the minuscule hurts and forgiveness of a marriage, the fumbling through life. The main character of Maggie was maybe a little too sweet, a little too bumbling and meddlesome, but Tyler still manages to keep her human, with motives that are understandable, even if her actions are not. My favorites by Tyler are Back When We Were Grownups (I also think it's a fantastic title) and Ladder of Years. I'd suggest reading those over Breathing Lessons but it will be interesting to find out why this one was selected for the workshop.

It's getting on to be winter now, and there's nothing I love more than curling up with good reading. I'd love to hear what you're reading!

Best American Short Stories 2011

So, I bought this and promised myself I wouldn't start it until we were on the plane. We are not on the plane and I'm halfway through...

My favorite story so far is Caitlin Horrock's The Sleep. In some ways it reminds be of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery although it isn't creepy like that. It just has the same feel--this decrepit small town, this one idea, everyone sort of falling into it. And the characters--for a story in which the major action is sleeping, the characters are really identifiable. When the story started, I thought, oh, sleep, what a wonderful idea. But then, there are all these layers, and subtexts, and people's motivation for sleeping and staying awake--it's all so beautifully crafted. The story could have veered off into a fairy tale but Horrock keeps it grounded with the characters, which is something I struggle with and deeply admire in other writers.

I'm going to order her collection This is Not Your City.

Gone Girl

For the first time in a very long time, a book gave me nightmares. Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl is so creepy, so well-plotted, so full of unlikeable characters (my favorite kind) that it literally kept me awake at night, wondering what they were going to do next. 39-year-old rich girl Amy goes missing on the day of her five-year anniversary and husband Nick Dunne is the prime suspect. Told in alternating points of view from Amy (via her diary) and Nick, Flynn very carefully crafts a story in which the reader truly can't decide which character is worse. I can't say much more about this book without giving a lot away, which would ruin it. Don't read this book if you're looking for a hero or a happy ending. Read it if you want a mystery that doesn't rely on cheep tricks but unfolds as we discover more and more about these deeply-flawed characters.

A month!

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted. I've been reading, but mostly books about writing. I finished Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer as well as John Dufresne's The Lie That Tells a Truth. I would recommend both for beginning or more advanced writers. Although Dufrensne offered more practical exercises and specific tips on the story, I liked the voice in Prose's a little better, maybe just for where I'm at with my own writing right now. I would call both essential for the writer's bookshelf.

In between all that, I've been reading a lot of short stories and the best one I've read recently is from the Five Chapters website: http://www.fivechapters.com/2012/limbs/ This is really good. And creepy.

Speaking of creepy, how is it possible I'd never read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery?" I know, shame on me. It was referenced all over the place in both writing books so I figured I'd better get to it. I read it yesterday and I'd say the hype is much deserved. (if you can call it hype after it's been out for years and years...maybe just hype to me because I hadn't read it?) Anyway, it's really worth the read if you, like me, are one of the only people on earth who haven't already done so.

I suppose I would be remiss to not mention my own story, Butterflies, selected to be excerpted on-air for NPR's three-minute fiction and featured on their website: http://www.npr.org/2012/09/29/162018250/butterflies

Right now, I'm about halfway through Chris Cleave's Gold. I'm a little disappointed. So far, it doesn't have the emotional resonance as Little Bee. But then, I know a lot of people who didn't like Little Bee because they felt it went too far...but I guess I'm partial to books that go too far.