tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64394423219632528632024-02-19T05:33:13.622-08:00The Book BlogLorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.comBlogger254125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-68776049374931356922013-12-31T08:20:00.002-08:002013-12-31T08:20:42.909-08:002013 in Books.This year I read about 145 books— very close to last year's 140. The best book of the year was I.J. Kay's _Mountains of the Moon_. I carried that one around the house for an hour after I finished it. Could not put it down. Special merit in the list is marked with an asterisk.<br />
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<span class="s1">Achebe, Chinua - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Things Fall Apart</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Aciman, André - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>Harvard Square</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Amis, Kingsley - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Lucky Jim</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Amis, Martin - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Information</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Amis, Martin - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Yellow Dog</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Anshaw, Carol - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Carry the One</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Arvio, Sarah - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Night Thoughts: 70 Dream Poems</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Atkinson, Kate - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Life After Life</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Atwood, Margaret - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Handmaid’s Tale</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Auster, Paul - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The New York Trilogy</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Barth, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>The Sot-Weed Factor</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Bellow, Saul - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Ravelstein</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Berg, Elizabeth - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Dream When You’re Feeling Blue</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Berg, Elizabeth - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Last Time I Saw You</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Bolaño, Robert - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Woes of the True Policeman</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Brunt, Carol Rifka - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Tell the Wolves I’m Home</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Burroughs, William S. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Nova Express</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Cather, Willa - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*O Pioneers!</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Catton, Eleanor - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Luminaries</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Chbosky, Stephen - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Perks of Being a Wallflower</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Cozzens, James Gould - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>By Love Possessed</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Currie Jr., Ron - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">DeLillo, Don - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Point Omega</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Díaz, Juno - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>This is How You Lose Her</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dick, Philip K. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dickens, Charles - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Great Expectations</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Didion, Joan - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The White Album</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dos Passos, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>1919</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dos Passos, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The 42nd Parallel</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dos Passos, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>The Big Money</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dos Passos, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Midcentury</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dos Passos, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Three Soldiers</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Dreiser, Theodore - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>An American Tragedy</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Duffy, Bruce - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Disaster Was My God: A Novel of the Outlaw Life of Arthur <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Rimbaud</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Eco, Umberto - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>On Literature</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Egan, Jennifer - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>A Visit From the Goon Squad</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Englander, Nathan - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Fitzgerald, F. Scott - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>This Side of Paradise</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ford, Richard - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Canada</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ford, Richard -<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Independence Day</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ford, Richard -<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Lay of the Land</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ford, Richard -<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Rock Springs</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ford, Richard - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*The Sportswriter</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Forster, E.M. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Howard’s End</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Fowles, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Magus</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Fuentes, Carlos - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Death of Artemio Cruz</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Gaddis, William - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>JR</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Gaiman, Neil - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Ocean at the End of the Lane</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Gogol, Nikolai - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Dead Souls</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Grafton, Sue - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>A is for Alibi</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Green, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Fault in Our Stars</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Greene, Graham -<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*The Quiet American</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Heller, Peter - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*The Dog Stars</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Homes, A.M. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>May We Be Forgiven</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Isherwood, Christopher - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The World in the Evening</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Jeffers, Robinson - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Selected Poems</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Jin, Ha - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Waiting</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Joyce, James - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kafka, Franz - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Trial</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kay, I.J. -<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Mountains of the Moon</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kingsolver, Barbara - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Flight Behavior</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kundera, Milan - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Unbearable Lightness of Being</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kushner, Rachel - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Flamethrowers</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kushner, Rachel - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Telex from Cuba</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Le Clézio, J.M.G. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Lessing, Doris - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Stories</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Luikart, Marcy - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>River Braids: A Novel</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Manchester, William R. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><u>The Death of a President: November 1963</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Mankell, Henning - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Before the Frost</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Mann, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Magic Mountain</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Maupin, Armistead - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Tales of the City</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McCarthy, Cormac - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McCarthy, Cormac - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Child of God</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McCarthy, Cormac - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>No Country for Old Men</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McClanahan, Scott - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McEwan, Ian - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Atonement</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Bushwhacked Piano</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Cadence of Grass</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Driving on the Rim</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Keep the Change</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Ninety-two in the Shade</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Nobody’s Angel</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Panama</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>To Skin a Cat</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Some Horses: Essays</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McGuane, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Sporting Club</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">McInerney, Jay - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Story of My Life</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Meloy, Maile - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Meloy, Maile - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Liars and Saints</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Menand, Louis - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Metaphysical Club</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Merwin, W.S. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Migration: New Selected Poems</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Miéville, China - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Looking for Jake</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Miéville, China - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Railsea</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Miller, Henry - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Tropic of Cancer</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Mitchell, David - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Cloud Atlas</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Oates, Joyce Carol - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>We Were the Mulvaneys</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Pamuk, Orhan - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Silent House</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Plummer, Toni Plummer - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Bolero of Andi Rowe: Stories</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Potok, Chaim - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Chosen</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Potter, Russell A. - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Pyg: The Memoirs of Toby, the Learned Pig</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Pynchon, Thomas - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Gravity’s Rainbow</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Riggs, Ransom - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Roy, Arundhati - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>The God of Small Things</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Rushdie, Salman - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Joseph Anton: A Memoir</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Rushdie, Salman - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Midnight’s Children</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Russo, Richard - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Empire Falls</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sacks, Oliver - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Hallucinations</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sáenz, Benjamin Alire - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Salter, James - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Hunters</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Salter, James - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>A Sport and a Pastime</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sandford, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Rules of Prey (Lucas Davenport, #1)</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Saramago, José - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>The Stone Raft</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Saunders, George - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>CivilWarLand in Bad Decline</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Saunders, George - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Tenth of December</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Schulz, Monte - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Naughty</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sedaris, David - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sexton, Linda Gray - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Shriver, Lionel - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Big Brother</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sinclair, Upton - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Jungle</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sloan, Robin - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sterne, Laurence - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> <u>*</u></span><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span><u>The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Tartt, Donna - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Goldfinch</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Tartt, Donna - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Secret History</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Tervalon, Jervey - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Serving Monster</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thompson, Jean - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Year We Left Home</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thoreau, Henry David - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>*Walden</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Tolstoy, Leo - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Anna Karenina</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Torrey, Beef - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Conversations with Thomas McGuane</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Tyszka, Alberto Barrera - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Sickness</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Updike, John - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Rabbit, Run</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Voltaire - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Candide</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Walls, Jeanette - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Silver Star</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">West, Nathaniel - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Winter, Isobelle - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Weather</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Winter, Robin - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Future Past</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Winterson, Jeanette - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>Lighthousekeeping</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Wolitzer, Meg - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Interestings</u></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Yan, Mo - <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><u>The Republic of Wine</u></span></div>
Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-81176270121881054002013-11-20T09:15:00.001-08:002013-11-20T09:15:55.269-08:00The Follow-up...Of course, is that adding all those elements of disaster (person rejected, drought imperils the farm, government oppression, tornado), are settings, not story. Story is the action and reaction of human beings, and it had better not be just what we expect. Yes, seeing the rejected person accepted, the mustachios-twirling villain thwarted and then vanquished, the town rebuild, all these things are satisfying, but they're too easy.<br />
<br />
Give us a great human character (no, not a "good guy"). We don't need to like or sympathize with them. That's nanowrimo bullshit. We don't need to admire their epic struggle against corporate America or whatever (have you read Franzen's <i>Freedom</i>? Remember any of those "good" cardboard characters? On the other hand, do you remember Anna Karenina, the worst person in the world who only ever killed one person, herself?<br />
<br />
Drama happens inside a human being. It is active, not reactive. The worst moment in your character's life should not be running from a tornado. Ideally it could take place while they are sitting quietly on their sofa, alone, thinking. Or in the moment after they hang up their phone, or see a picture, or hear one word. And it will hit your reader while they are sitting quietly on their sofa, alone, reading.<br />
<br />
You don't have to send a tornado to impact your reader. You have to send true drama. Know where it lives.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-30340730641688382832013-11-20T08:59:00.002-08:002013-11-20T08:59:58.521-08:00The World You Can't Write.Can't write seriously, that is. Cannot use in literary fiction (the Serious Stuff). Can use only in satire or humor or tragedy. I hate to tell you, but it's big chunks of the real world. Nobody has ever pulled it off.<br />
<br />
What aspect of the real world? I know you've read a lot or you wouldn't be writing. Have you noticed that the real world is slowly (and sometimes in leaps) getting better in some ways? The last place you'll hear about it is in serious fiction. Even in reality, on the news, they'll file it under "human interest" or in a last cheerful story before the sign-off— one minute after twenty-two minutes of disaster interspersed with prescription drug ads to help you deal with the world as presented. But then they don't want you going out in the scary world. They want you to hide at home and watch television.<br />
<br />
We are getting better in many ways in our dealings with one another. The latest improvement is gay marriage in the U.S., and the larger spreading acceptance of the LGTB community. Homophobia is becoming the unacceptable stance. And we're making moves to ensure that people in this country who get sick don't have to decide between bankruptcy and death.<br />
<br />
We are getting better in many ways in our dealings with the world. Both the physical world (anybody else old enough to remember leaded gas smog and seeing people toss litter out their car windows?), and in our dealings with the rest of humanity. We are just beginning to realize that people who don't speak our language are not barbarians.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Yeah, but...</span></div>
<br />
Global Warming<br />
Drone Warfare<br />
Racism<br />
Child Abuse<br />
Hunger<br />
Disease<br />
Fracking<br />
On and on...<br />
<br />
Yep. The world is still a tough stage on which to play. Humans can be shits. But of all the things you can say about the world in fiction, you cannot say it is getting better without your work descending into the absurd and ironic. The character who is happy and satisfied is missing something. <i>The Truman Show</i> and <i>Wall-E</i> are examples (movies often make obvious the messages that are subtle in fiction). He who laughs last has not been told the terrible truth. The character who thinks he has it good is headed for a fall. Poor Mr. Karenin and Mr. Helmer in their happy marriages. If only they knew!<br />
<br />
Who can write the story of the gay man finding acceptance and make it a serious story? They must add some other tragedy. Nothing ludicrous— he then is diagnosed with melanoma or a tornado destroys the town and scatters the good residents. His story without a redeeming disaster might be folksy, it might be heartwarming (god help us), but its is a chicken soup story, not literature.<br />
<br />
So there's the challenge, writers. Why must we, and literature, and the news all reject the good? Perhaps at the core, information and language exist primarily to warn us, to provide survival tools. The good, the reassuring, is cast ever into the lighter fare of entertainment and romance. The unnecessary.<br />
<br />
Maybe we are still growing up. Still getting better. Is that sad or hopeful?Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-42572337171403037252013-07-27T21:51:00.001-07:002013-07-27T21:51:01.109-07:00Words and Music, Part 2.About time to get back to this, don'tcha think, o two or three followers of this mighty blog? By the way, and in keeping with the idea that great writing must be heard in the head to be appreciated, I've stumbled upon a book I can only read at about thirty pages <i>per hour</i>. Because it is mostly dialogue, and quite adversing dialogue at that. William Gaddis' <i>JR</i> is worth the time spent on the stage of the brain. On the other hand, I just got through an audiobook that was so bad that it dragged and was loathsome even played at double time. Not something I wanted in my head, but I futilely hoped the main character would be horribly killed to death before the end. No such luck.<br />
<br />
So where am I going with this idea of listening to writing? Straight to Ireland. I mentioned James Joyce's <i>Ulysses</i> in our first installment of this idyll, because I experienced something reading that book for the first time that I had never experienced before. I loved it, was struck by the language, but could not tell you why. I loved it even when I did not understand it. There is poetry in that book, but it took me some time to realize that there is <i>music</i> there.<br />
<br />
Ireland is a place of poetry and music. They ain't had it easy and everybody knows it. Yeats, Irish himself, said, "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart," and yet in Ireland it hasn't. It hasn't crushed them, or their poetry, or their prose, or their music. And I claim that you can hear music in their language, spoken or written.<br />
<br />
I think if you put an Irish writer in a functional MRI there's a pretty fair chance that a chunk of their language center will be on the right side of the brain. This is true of the Japanese, possessors of their own beautiful language and spectacular poetic and prose traditions, home to the oldest novel in human history. They keep their vowels on the right side of the brain. I think the Irish, like the Japanese, keep part of their language where the rest of us try to hold on to music.<br />
<br />
That is a huge part of great writing. The writers aren't merely writing language. They are also writing music, and we are dazzled by the tune.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-4407927268289101522013-07-18T16:41:00.004-07:002013-07-18T16:41:52.527-07:00Is Self-Publishing the New Query Letter?I belong to a Facebook community that is mostly populated by self-published writers. The major problem they have with their books seems to be how to find readers. No surprise there; that's every writer's problem. Yesterday, though, something occurred to me. Most of these writers accept the challenge they have taken on, and fight the good fight. Some of them are surprised at just how hard it is. A very few are angry about it. They've heard the success stories. Failure doesn't make the blogs and writing magazines, after all.<br />
<br />
It's the anger that has my attention, because it reminds me of other writers who, as their query letters to agents fail steadily to attract attention, also become angry. And then you see the Facebook posts: "Nobody reads query letters!", "Agents just delete queries!", and "It's a scam!"<br />
<br />
I am endlessly intrigued by assumption.<br />
<br />
In any event, all this got me thinking that, just as query letters used to be the canary in the coal mine for a writer's hopes and dreams, now the entire book is being hazarded. Hazarded and, in most cases, killed. To be perfectly honest, most of these books were not going to find a golden future no matter what, but some were. In my opinion (hey, it's my blog; what were you expecting?), a good book has a much better chance of finding a golden future via query letter than by being set loose in the wild-wild-west of self-publishing.<br />
<br />
Give your book a chance.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-10689311971681902542013-07-01T20:38:00.001-07:002013-07-01T20:38:11.277-07:00Words and Music, Part 1.<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I’ve been pondering writing, as I am wont to do. More so because the Santa Barbara Writers Conference just happened a month ago. Going to the conference is like receiving a writing and reading booster shot. The writing booster might be expected, but reading?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The truth is that I read better after the conference. I read more carefully. I read more slowly, which is inconvenient, but it is what it is. After the conference my giant boxes of books from the fabulous Chaucer’s Bookstore arrive, but I don’t go right for the newest books. I tend to pull from the bottom of the stacks the toughest books. The ones I put off reading before the conference. The ones with the fierce reputations, the ones with the tiny type, and the poetry.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">When I started my goal of reading one hundred pages a day I looked at the few books of poetry languishing on my to-read stack, looked at all the white space on most pages, and thought they would be a breeze. Not so. Poetry turned out to be the slowest read in the stack. I didn’t know it at the time, but realizing that fact would feed into some ponderings I had about writing. I haven’t got it all worked out, but I have three related ideas, and here’s part one.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Why does it take so darn long to read good writing?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This goes against what many agents and editors and even writing teachers might advise. Many of them want writing to flow swiftly off the page, the language plain and easy to digest. Practically invisible. “Kill Your Darlings!” writers are told. At times it sounds like “kill anything good!” At times I think writers follow that advice too well.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Plain writing makes easy reading. Clean simple writing lets me get through my daily reading in two hours. Less if I don’t care what’s going on in the book. But a good story, utilitarian, straightforward writing? No darlings? Two hours.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So why does great writing take twice that long? Why am I inching through W.S. Merwin’s <i>Migration</i>? Why did James Joyce’s <i>Ulysses</i> take weeks (the first time)?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I realized I wasn’t just reading them. I was hearing them.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Saint Ambrose was an odd duck. He had a habit so unusual that Saint Augustine remarked on it: he read silently. For most of history, all reading was aloud. Nobody knows if Ambrose’s lips moved when he read, but he wasn’t reading aloud. Here’s my question: was he still hearing the language? Did he have an internal narration running?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">When I read great writing, I need to hear the language. That is what’s taking so long. If the language is great, I am hearing it aloud in my head. If the writing is ordinary, the meaning is going in directly, at whatever speed I can maintain. I’m not hearing it. I’m just reading it.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I don’t know if this is something that came from listening to many, many audiobooks. It might be. I can switch up “narrators” in my head if I wish. But only the great writing gets this treatment.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So there’s the problem: the better the writing, the slower the read, because I’m hearing it, not just reading it. I’m not certain what a functional MRI would find, but I bet my auditory center is up and going when I settle in with Merwin or Joyce. And maybe my music center?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">That leads to Part 2 & 3 of my little contemplation. Joyce, the Irish, and music.</span></div>
Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-50314716809358770652013-06-15T09:03:00.003-07:002013-06-15T09:03:50.657-07:00Mystery Indeed.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6V3g5ofIiurAZYb0yr-b4q286EqxtMkdRZt87dwt7ZVLj6JzxH1mlfMHSX_ZYtoE6VSS3KVy_mR38TuD5B8jSj_RBuuWQrPGLV_l_K0mrKS9h0KOT3mCXeNskd4ZW_TLSgsxDmWN85M/s1600/mystery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6V3g5ofIiurAZYb0yr-b4q286EqxtMkdRZt87dwt7ZVLj6JzxH1mlfMHSX_ZYtoE6VSS3KVy_mR38TuD5B8jSj_RBuuWQrPGLV_l_K0mrKS9h0KOT3mCXeNskd4ZW_TLSgsxDmWN85M/s320/mystery.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
<br />Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-12322935778329824092013-01-10T21:17:00.001-08:002013-01-10T21:17:59.116-08:00The Final Question...Why write?<br />
<br />
Does anyone know?Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-7379817512860090452012-12-31T15:39:00.000-08:002012-12-31T15:39:55.570-08:002012 in Reading.I was not completely successful in my goal to read one hundred pages per day all year. I missed a couple of months. I missed about a month between the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and Christmas, and I missed November when I went to New York for Hurricane Sandy relief with the Red Cross. For more information about that adventure: <a href="http://imgur.com/a/3n4A3">http://imgur.com/a/3n4A3</a><br />
<br />
As to how many books were read, even I was surprised in the end. I had been wondering if I would reach three figures. I reached 140, not counting a handful I got halfway through and couldn't finish. I plan to continue with the same pace of reading next year. Hopefully I won't be derailed by a hurricane. Here's to 150 in 2013!<br />
<br />
Here is the list of books I read. There are asterisks next to my favorites, or at least those that made a lingering impression. My single favorite is probably Malcolm Lowry's <i>Under the Volcano</i>. My least favorite was Kenzaburo Oe's <i>A Personal Matter</i>, for the completely loathsome and boring main character. Had I not been trapped without something else to read it would be on the unfinished list. Some on the unfinished list will be attempted again. We shall see.<br />
<br />
Reading, 2012:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Agee, A Death in the Family</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Martin Amis, Lionel Asbo</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Mika Ashley-Hollinger, Precious Bones</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Baldwin, The Cross of Redemption</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Russell Banks, The Lost Memory of Skin</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">John Baskin, New Burlingame</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Josh Bazell, Wild Thing</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">John Bockman (editor), This Will Make You Smarter</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Richard Brautigan, A Confederate General from Big Sur, Dreaming of Babylon, The Hawkline Monster</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Richard Brautigan, Willard and His Bowling Trophies</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Kevin Brockmeier, The Brief History of the Dead</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Geraldine Brooks, Caleb’s Crossing</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Christopher Buckley, Thank You For Smoking</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Blake Butler, Nothing, A Portrait of Insomnia</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Blake Butler, There is No Year</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Italo Calvino, The Castle of Crossed Destinies</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Italo Calvino, Numbers in the Dark</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Truman Capote, The Complete Stories</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Lee Cataluna, Three Years on Doreen’s Sofa</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Michael Chabon, Telegraph Avenue</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Dennis Cooper, The Marbled Swarm</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Miles Corwin, Homicide Special</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Miles Corwin, Midnight Alley</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Douglas Coupland, Life After God</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Gould Cozzens, The Just and the Unjust</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Mark Z. Danielewski, Fifty Year Sword</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Randi Davenport, The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Samuel Delaney, Dhalgren</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Don DeLillo, Underworld</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Joan Didion, Blue Nights</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Joan Didion, Slouching Toward Bethlehem</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">John Dos Passos, The 42nd Parallel</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*Bruce Duffy, The World as I Found It</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Louise Erdrich, The Round House</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Frederick Exley, A Fan’s Notes</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Elyse Fenton, Clamor</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ford Maddox Ford, Parade’s End</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Amy Franklin-Willis, The Lost Saints of Tennessee</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*Tana French, Broken Harbor</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*Jack Gilbert, The Dance Most of All</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Allen Ginsberg, Howl</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Graham Greene, The End of the Affair</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Johan Harstad, Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Larry Haun, A Carpenter’s Life</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Christopher Hitchens, Love, Poverty, and War</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Christopher Hitchens, Mortality</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Amanda Hodgkinson, 22 Britannia Road</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">P.D. James, The Children of Men</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master’s Son</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Denis Johnson, Fiskadoro</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Jones, The Thin Red Line</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">MacKinlay Kantor, Andersonville</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Bel Kaufman, Up the Down Staircase</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Philip Larkin, Collected Poems</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Mark Leyner, Sugar Frosted Nutsack</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">David Lipsky, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ross Lockridge, Raintree County</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Federico García Lorca, In Search of Duende</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Norman Mailer, The Deer Park</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Henning Mankell, Italian Shoes</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Katherine Mansfield, Collected Stories</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Eli Maor, E: The Story of a Number</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Gabriel García Márquez, The Autumn of the Patriarch</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Gabriel García Márquez, Collected Stories</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Yann Martel, Life of Pi</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Richard Matheson, I Am Legend</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Harry Matthews, Cigarettes</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">D.T. Max, Every Love Story is a Ghost Story</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Cormac McCarthy, Cities of the Plain</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Cormac McCarthy, Suttree</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Herta Müller, The Hunger Angel</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Haruki Murakami, 1Q84</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Tim O’Brien, Going After Cacciato</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Tawny O’Dell, Back Roads</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Kenzaburo Oe, A Personal Matter</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">James Patterson (Mark Sullivan), Private Games</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Richard Price, Clockers</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Eric Puchner, Model Home</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Eric Puchner, Music Through the Floor</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ernie Pyle, Here is Your War</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ross Raisin, Waterline</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Roger Rosenblatt, Kayak Morning</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Kay Ryan, The Best of It</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Carl Sandburg, Selected Poems</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">William Saroyan, Human Comedy</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Vikram Seth, Golden Gate</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brookyn</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Patti Smith, Just Kids</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Zadie Smith, NW</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*S.L. Stebel, The Collaborator</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br />
Wallace Stegner, All the Little Live Things</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*Wallace Stegner, The Spectator Bird</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Wallace Stegner, On Teaching and Writing Fiction</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Patrick Süskind, Perfume</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Colm Tóibín, The Empty Family</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">John Updike, Pigeon Feathers</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Simon Van Booy, Everything Beautiful Began After</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">David Foster Wallace, Oblivion</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">*David Foster Wallace, The Pale King</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Mikey Walsh, Gypsy Boy</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jess Walter, Beautiful Ruins</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jess Walter, The Zero</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Bailey White, Mama Makes Up Her Mind</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Bailey White, Quite a Year for Plums</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">William Carlos Williams, Paterson</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Daniel Woodrell, The Death of Sweet Mister</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Daniel Woodrell, The Outlaw Album</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Unfinished</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ramona Ausubel, No One is Here Except All of Us</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Teju Cole, Open City</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Justin Cronin, The Passage</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Fannie Flagg, I Still Dream About You</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding</span></div>
Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-53349333116775238432012-08-11T00:09:00.001-07:002012-08-11T00:09:16.988-07:00Why We Do This.I was in Costco today getting new tires on my mother's car. I had to make a quick stop on the way in to town and the tires squealed. In the dry. Unacceptable. New tires. It is what my father would do. So I had time while waiting to browse the entire Costco in that pathetic, single-person-in-Costco manner. In my cart: salt and a box of wine. I was there so long that I got an email from Costco about their fall specials on my iPhone.<br />
<br />
I had a chance to look at the book tables three times. They do carry some good things. I had read the good things. On my second pass a girl was searching the other side of the table; she was maybe fifteen. Suddenly she says, shouts: "They have it!" I don't notice that she's with anybody, so I smile for her happiness. She's grabbed, <i>is hugging,</i> a book. I think it's the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy, but I'm not sure of titles or order. She says, "I can finish it today!" She dances around. I smile. Because this is great.<br />
<br />
Dream of this, writers. This is why we do this.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-28168752360602830092012-08-07T22:58:00.002-07:002012-08-07T22:58:29.204-07:00Don't Do This.<a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/08/07/comedian-joan-rivers-protests-outside-costco-in-burbank-over-alleged-book-ban/">http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/08/07/comedian-joan-rivers-protests-outside-costco-in-burbank-over-alleged-book-ban/</a>Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-30041663282970730282012-08-04T20:28:00.003-07:002012-08-04T20:28:58.029-07:00Past Due Review.If you in any way enjoy mysteries, reading, books, Ireland, and being completely engrossed in a fantastic story with great, complex characters, proceed immediately to your nearest purveyor of fine literature and purchase Tana French's <i>Broken Harbor</i>. What a spectacular read! And if you also like Irish accents, get the audiobook. This book exceeds all possible expectations of possible goodness.<br />
<br />
I think that about sums it up.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-24751107021553132962012-07-30T17:47:00.000-07:002012-07-30T17:47:05.827-07:00Kindle.An idle thought, but if one does not own an e-reader, one does have an excuse for not purchasing the e-book that everyone one meets seems to have "published" on Amazon. Just sayin'.<br />
<br />
Plus, here is an excellent way to destroy a valuable and interesting career:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-new-yorker-after-making-up-dylan-quotes-for-his-book/">http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-new-yorker-after-making-up-dylan-quotes-for-his-book/</a><br />
<br />
Hope he knows how to make fries.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-90099516927701693152012-07-25T22:14:00.003-07:002012-07-25T22:14:33.712-07:00Man Booker Longlist.It's out! The longlist for the 2012 Man Booker, and for once I haven't read any of them. Research to be done:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://manbooker.co.uk/news/2012-longlist-announced">http://manbooker.co.uk/news/2012-longlist-announced</a>Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-69133706504112224712012-07-24T22:23:00.003-07:002012-07-24T22:23:59.837-07:00Oboy!New Tana French book out today! <i>Broken Harbor</i>! Plus, simultaneous audiobook release. I'm already four hours into it. Great story, great mystery, great writing, Irish narrators. So much win!Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-84567418147352518062012-07-21T00:22:00.001-07:002012-07-21T00:22:17.629-07:00Vague Late-Night Idea.Hey, I'm old. 9:15 p.m. is late to me.<br />
<br />
What if all writers and would-be writers pledged a certain page count of reading to be done every day? Not my hundred pages, necessarily, because other people have jobs and children and pets and friends, but fifty or twenty or ten. A good thing, I think.<br />
<br />
Oh, and the book I was on about and finally finished was James Patterson's (via Mark Sullivan) <i>Private Games</i>. I think this book was written in a month and Mr. Sullivan did not enjoy the process. I think this book must have been written to sabotage Mr. Patterson's book mill— much as the plot involves the demolition of the modern Olympic games— out of contempt for what the games have become.<br />
<br />
I refuse to believe this book was written this way on purpose.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-83118539158633103932012-07-19T20:38:00.003-07:002012-07-19T20:38:34.114-07:00Speaking of Paid Reviews...The Kirkus Indie Review service will run you $425. $575 for express service. Here is a review for one of the most successful self-published books of the year (so I am informed). See if you can spot the bit in this review that made me laugh out loud:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/darcie-chan/the-mill-river-recluse/#review">http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/darcie-chan/the-mill-river-recluse/#review</a><br />
<br />
For that kind of money the author should be able to proof-read the review before it is posted.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-88417887173909131892012-07-18T16:38:00.003-07:002012-07-18T16:38:52.993-07:00A Self-Publishing Ramble.But first, the Relay went great, thanks for asking. I came third in lap count and got a (virtual) trophy. In twenty-four hours I ran the equivalent of 210 miles. I also watched the entire Harry Potter movie series while this went on, and made a discovery: I had always been annoyed at Harry in the last three movies. He seemed whiny and incapable of seeking help. Having seen the movies all in series, I have transferred my annoyance to Dumbledore. He scarcely seemed to be the same character from one scene to the next, to say nothing of one movie to the next. If I had been Harry showing up in the otherworldly King's Cross, I'd have punched him in the face.<br />
<br />
Anyway.<br />
<br />
So this is happening today: a pay-for-love review site has been exposed for what it is, and they aren't happy:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/07/18/cash-for-coverage-chick-lit-si.html">http://boingboing.net/2012/07/18/cash-for-coverage-chick-lit-si.html</a><br />
<br />
I struggle with the idea of self-publishing. Well, no, I don't; I don't like it with fiction, and that gets me in trouble. But I don't want my work going down a path I don't follow as a reader and a book buyer. I only buy self-published books written by friends. There are just too many books to read even if you're only reading the award winners, the new books by known writers, and the well-reviewed books from new writers. Heck, I just subscribed to the <i>New York Review of Books</i> like an idiot, and I have a four-foot stack of to-be-read books right now. And then there's the preview list for the second half of 2012 from The Millions...<br />
<br />
Oy.<br />
<br />
So I am not out browsing for random self-published books. Even if I were, frankly, I am a damn picky reader. My mother sent me a book recently (I'll review when I finish it), thinking it would be an easy read because it's a big commercial thriller. Well, no, it isn't easy, because the writing is distractingly poor. Some of the sentences...<br />
<br />
I can't read indifferent writing. And what do I fear in spending ten or twenty bucks for a novel that the writer alone feels is worthy of being published? Right. Indifferent writing. And I don't want to send my own baby floating down that river.<br />
<br />
Self-publishing has developed into a dark twin of commercial publishing, with writers sending themselves on "book tour," calling local bookstores trying to arrange signings, and outfits like the one above selling glowing reviews for a hundred bucks a throw. Over on the Bewares and Background Checks forum on Absolute Write, this is called "Published Author, the Role-Playing Game." I don't want to play. And, as in the realm of screenwriting, I loathe the people that are getting rich helping others pretend. Or worse, fooling them into thinking this is the real thing.<br />
<br />
I hope most writers are choosing this deliberately. As I've been told repeatedly, it's hard to get an agent, so why not? But shouldn't it be hard to get an agent if your work isn't there yet? Why would you still want your book out there if that's the case?<br />
<br />
Sigh. I don't know. I can't even get a "no thanks" out of the last agent I queried and am soon to put that book on the shelf while I start the next (once I get the tile guys out of my house). I don't query enough, I know, and am easily discouraged.<br />
<br />
Can I somehow convince myself I'm wrong and I should put the new book, the old book, and the next book out myself? Will that be giving up on what was the goal?<br />
<br />
What's the right thing here?Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-46431039259965739782012-07-12T21:16:00.000-07:002012-07-12T21:16:33.096-07:00The Strangest Scheduling Cheat Ever.There may be a slight cheat in the resolution this weekend. Reading one hundred pages per day? I may massage the required two hundred Saturday/Sunday pages just a bit, because:<br />
<br />
Relay! <a href="http://rflofsl.intuitwebsites.com/">http://rflofsl.intuitwebsites.com/</a><br />
<br />
This Saturday and Sunday are the Relay for Life of Second Life. Yes, this is the big fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Last year it raised $375,000. This year $400K? Who knows.<br />
<br />
I haven't mentioned it much here, but Second Life is a virtual world where I operate several businesses and make actual real money. I first joined in 2007, the day after I sold the book. I thought I'd just use SL to promote the book, but, well, things happen. One of those things was my first Relay. Now I wouldn't miss it. Last year I was #10 on the list of "Most Laps Completed." This year, more laps!<br />
<br />
In short, I may have to shove some of Saturday's reading off onto Sunday, if I can stay awake Sunday. The Relay starts at seven in the morning Hawaii time and ends, logically, at seven in the morning on Sunday. I shall be watching all the Harry Potter movies in the interval.<br />
<br />
Anyone wanting to join in, please do. I shall be the glittery, glowing purple squid avatar. My name in SL is Rusalka Writer. Don't be a stranger.<br />
<br />
That has to be the oddest post in the history of this blog.<br />
<br />
<br />Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-17170359084526641582012-07-10T16:26:00.002-07:002012-07-10T16:27:10.607-07:00Say What You Will......about the rest, but the review of <i>Gravity's Rainbow</i> is a riot:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/article/lone-star-statements">http://www.themorningnews.org/article/lone-star-statements</a>Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-55199038011392300042012-07-09T22:15:00.002-07:002012-07-09T22:16:39.553-07:00So. All This Reading...Did a bit of math last night. Assuming the average book page has 250 words, and I'm going through at one hundred pages a day, not counting extra reading and audiobooks, just how much reading am I doing?<br />
<br />
Note that I give myself two weeks or so off for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and other travel, so let's say I'm going to read 35,000 pages this year.<br />
<br />
That is the equivalent of reading the bible every month, month after month, year after year.<br />
<br />
So what happens to the brain?<br />
<br />
—I can read anywhere. I am not distracted. Reading is now Thing #1 to my brain.<br />
<br />
—I can detect voice much, much better than ever I could before. Not only can I readily tell the difference between any two writers; I can tell the difference between early Writer X and late Writer X.<br />
<br />
—I need to read early in the day. If I wait to read until late in the day my eyeballs fall out. I need to start reading by six in the morning. I also need to see my eye doctor more frequently. I have reading glasses, but wearing them makes me fall asleep.<br />
<br />
—My brain is completely addicted to constant reading. I just finished <i>Raintree County</i> by Ross Lockridge Jr., a great American novel that is actually a great American novel. Setting out across this vast work, feeling Fitzgerald's boats beating back against the tide, I learn writing, I learn voice, I learn the story of my nation, the story of my however-many-times great grandfather Henry William Clark, corporal of Company F of the 27th Connecticut Volunteers who fought at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg...<br />
<br />
I learn to read again.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-17840838962297710252012-07-08T12:26:00.000-07:002012-07-08T12:26:08.401-07:00#250!Post two-fifty, apparently. Considering the year's festival of reading, there can be no better thing to say about writing than this:<br />
<br />
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<br />Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-45093641865401965682012-07-07T22:14:00.000-07:002012-07-07T22:14:44.248-07:00Dear Anonomi,I do not wish to purchase Xanax, Cialis, or the like. I shall be temporarily disabling anonymous comments, if I can figure out how.Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-2459490429070300642012-07-06T21:45:00.002-07:002012-07-06T21:45:13.506-07:00Unhappy News of a Great Mind.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18749389Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6439442321963252863.post-27908753612318246672012-07-05T19:45:00.002-07:002012-07-05T19:45:59.927-07:00Bactine!http://www.salon.com/2012/07/05/thank_you_for_killing_my_novel/Lorelei Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.com0