In a recent post on his blog, Mark Charan Newton linked to an essay on writing manuals by Richard Bausch published in the Atlantic, “How to Write in 700 Easy Lessons“.

Bausch deplores them, and justifiably so given his experience with an unnamed how-to publisher and would-be student writers who fail to read. And this is the main thrust of his argument: many people seem to use these guides as ends in themselves rather than studying actual works of literature. It’s a fair point.

That said, I read Stephen King’s On Writing over the weekend, and I rather enjoyed it (even the parts where I groaned, however clichéd,  in horror and disgust).⁽¹⁾ It’s a great read, though my favourite in the literary memoir genre is Pierre Berton’s The Joy of Writing. Prior to reading this I didn’t realize how funny he could be.⁽²⁾  Joy is also immensely informative. I pulled it off the shelf again while writing this and have now become sucked into re-reading it, for sheer pleasure.

Both of these books offer insight into how they got started – not just in writing, but in life. Both are filled with lots of practical advice, with examples. And both encourage aspiring writers to read. A lot.⁽³⁾ Continue reading »

Popularity: 5% [?]

Footnotes:

1. Should I be surprised at how graphically King can render such images? Probably not, but I haven’t read King since I was a teenager. Reading this makes me want to read him again. [↩]
2. Then I saw him smoke a joint on Rick Mercer. [↩]
3. I was pleased to see I read more than Stephen King, who only manages 50-70 books a year. I totally beat that. [↩]

I haven’t done well with updating the blog about the book club a friend and I started since the first meeting.

A brief survey of what we’ve read since: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient (we loved it), Robertson Davies’ The Rebel Angels (excellent), Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Summer Tree (well liked, but I felt it over-rated), Kurt Vonnegut’s Timequake (I loved it, but this had our lowest attendance), E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View (not universally loved), Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (adored and it made for great discussion).

These summaries are necessarily brief, but we’ll see about doing more complete write-ups of what we’re reading. ⁽¹⁾

Alice Munro’s Too Much Happiness: Stories was our latest book club pick. I’d not read anything by her before, but since reading this I’ve picked up more. I love her style, perhaps because she scares me.

As advertised, she’s an amazing writer who, with but a few sentences, can capture the essence of an entire relationship. Witness this scene from “Deep-Holes”: Continue reading »

Popularity: 23% [?]

Footnotes:

1. For the nerds interested in what I’ve been reading, I keep a list here. [↩]

Ok, I’ve been linking to a lot of book-related stuff on Twitter, and rather than send a dozen tweets of linkage, why not consolidate the best into a single blog post? Why not, indeed.

Here we go:

• ‘I just adore Dostoevsky…’ Books to impress the babes, Asylum.co.uk – Seriously, people still say “babes”? And they don’t get punched? (Oddly, the list features Crowley, but no Dostoevsky. Go fig.)
• Duke Special and the books that rock, TimesOnline.co.uk – I have no idea who Duke Special is, but the idea of bibliorockers intrigues me.
• Sex Survey of Librarians Reveals 1 in 5 Have Had Sex in the Stacks, Cleavland Leader – I have a friend who’s a genealogical librarian. She recently mentioned that one of her septuagenarian co-workers regularly goes for naps in the afternoon. Naps. Riiight.

While we’re at it, check out this awesome sounding event from Open Book Toronto: Continue reading »

Popularity: unranked [?]

I had never heard of Modest Mouse, but was gifted “No One’s First, and You’re Next” on December 25th by an aunt⁽¹⁾ who’d perused my CD collection and though I’d like them.

She was right, I instantly loved their jangly, up- and off-beat indie rock sound. “The Whale Song” was all she promised it would be, but “Guilty Cocker Spaniels” and especially “Autumn Beds” were the two that stuck in my brain and refused to leave, and which I’d find myself humming and tapping, all a-jangle at inopportune moments.

I ended up buying another of their CDs, an earlier one called “Good News for People Who Love Bad News“, and listening to it realized I’d heard “Float On” before, after all.⁽²⁾ Then suddenly they were everywhere, at least, I suddenly seemed to recognize their presence in a way I hadn’t before.

Reading Zoe Whittall‘s excellent Holding Still for as Long as Possible in January I got excited when one of the characters put on one of their CDs. I know them! I thought it was nifty, but a fluke.

Then they turned up again in the book I just finished reading, A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore.⁽³⁾ Continue reading »

Popularity: 5% [?]

Footnotes:

1. She’s actually a step-aunt, as she’s my Grandfather’s wife’s daughter, though she’s only a few months older than me. As such, it seems hilarious to call her “aunt”. “Step-aunt” sounds unnecessarily remote. [↩]
2. I frequently hear music I like, then promptly forget the name of the band. I need to own CDs, see the case, the CD, the artwork, the lyrics to get the whole gestalt and remember things properly. Perhaps that’s why I’m so attached to books, too. They’re things. Lots of abstract ephemera, but I can remember that Zoe Whitthall wrote Holding Still for as Long as Possible because it has a white dustjacket with splashes of colour and a big red circle…but we’re coming to that. [↩]
3. Also a gift, and another excellent book. Although Moore overuses exclamation points. Every would-be humorous sentence is exciting! You can get used to it! Or despair! [↩]

Perhaps it’s because I’ve just finished reading Jane Eyre, but I took exception to the description given in the Spring 2010 Lapham’s Quarterly.

Allow me to explain, in this issue there’s a chart titled “Day Jobs” which sketches the careers of half a dozen well known writers, including Ms Bronte.

Included are listings of the writer’s name, occupation, salary, office life, occupational hazards and perks – a few words each. Most are amusing or harmless enough.

However, it also lists the works written, and a title or two are mentioned for each author. Except for our Ms Bronte, of whom it is declared that she wrote: “Nothing, used experiences for episodes in Jane Eyre.”

Compare: TS Eliot’s The Waste Land is deemed “partly inspired by sights he passed on the way to work.” Does this invalidate his contribution to literature?⁽¹⁾ Continue reading »

Popularity: 9% [?]

Footnotes:

1. Evidently not, Eliot’s works were inspired. Hrm. [↩]