Read This, Write That

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Notes

Read This.

Carson McCullers, pictured above nestling into jazz singer Ethel Waters’ bosom, knew how to capture and illuminate subtlety. She had a knack for examining quiet, small town life in a respectful way that showcased simple beauty and mundane drama without slipping into glorification or camp.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a perfect example of that. Add this to your summer reading list because, frankly, I can’t imagine even reading this book during any other season.

McCullers’ characters inhabit a finite southern town. This sharp focus throws her subjects under a microscope and the result is a meaningful examination of her characters; everyone counts, no one is insignificant. Her presentation of southern life rings as true as Flannery O’Connor’s, though not as dark. The overall tone and feel of this book is what would happen if the styles of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Harper Lee had a love child.

Carson McCullers thoughtfully finds beauty and depth in unlikely places. Her cast of misfit characters need each other, though they mostly can’t recognize it. They serve as mirrors, refracting indirect light on one another in a way that is both surprising and satisfying for the reader.

Filed under Read This Carson McCullers The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter old school

Notes

Read This. As a wise poet once said, “What more can I say/I wouldn’t be here today/If the old school didn’t pave the way/There ain’t nothin’ like the old school”. Tupac was right and today is Friday - so without any further ado may I present you with Mister Charles Bukowski. Bukowski was many things: a drunk, a poet, a postal worker… a self-proclaimed son of a bitch and all around nightmare for women. The man led a full life, albeit a slow-starter and rapid burner-outer; but no matter what he was or to whom, at the end of the day Charles Bukowski was a writer. So what does a lady like myself see in old Hank? I mean, for all intents and purposes, I should hate the man. He wore misogyny like an old, stained wife beater (something, by the way, that he actually was), he was a depressed alcoholic and had anger issues. What’s to love? What’s to love… For starters, his honesty. Charles Bukowski wasn’t always kind to his female characters; he painted them irrational, crazy and exhausting. His love stories, liquor-soaked and sad as hell. And they’re honest. The first book I read of his was Women and I fell in love with that honesty. I related. Not only as a woman who had been that girl, but as a person who had dated that girl. I respected his portrayal of women just as much as Eileen Miles’ or Jeanette Winterson’s, because-even in the ugly places-it was authentic. Think of it as a Big Lebowski “You’re not wrong, Walter. You’re just an asshole” kind of thing. And he knows it. I don’t know about you, but I find that kind of self awareness reassuring. So, if I’m so excited about Women, why did I pick this book to suggest. Excellent question. I picked Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit (breath) because it is quite simply my go-to book when I’m stuck or depressed, have writer’s block or a just bad case of the everything-sucks. This collection of poems is the ultimate life palate cleanser. Bukowski’s style is as unpretentious as you can get. He creates vivid images without any schmaltz. He evokes emotion without any sap. This is sitting-on-the-porch-drinking-cheap-beer-on-a-weekday poetry. This is yelling-obscenities-at-strangers poetry. This is beauty achieved through grit.

Read This.

As a wise poet once said, “What more can I say/I wouldn’t be here today/If the old school didn’t pave the way/There ain’t nothin’ like the old school”. Tupac was right and today is Friday - so without any further ado may I present you with Mister Charles Bukowski.

Bukowski was many things: a drunk, a poet, a postal worker… a self-proclaimed son of a bitch and all around nightmare for women. The man led a full life, albeit a slow-starter and rapid burner-outer; but no matter what he was or to whom, at the end of the day Charles Bukowski was a writer.

So what does a lady like myself see in old Hank? I mean, for all intents and purposes, I should hate the man. He wore misogyny like an old, stained wife beater (something, by the way, that he actually was), he was a depressed alcoholic and had anger issues. What’s to love?

What’s to love…

For starters, his honesty. Charles Bukowski wasn’t always kind to his female characters; he painted them irrational, crazy and exhausting. His love stories, liquor-soaked and sad as hell. And they’re honest.

The first book I read of his was Women and I fell in love with that honesty. I related. Not only as a woman who had been that girl, but as a person who had dated that girl. I respected his portrayal of women just as much as Eileen Miles’ or Jeanette Winterson’s, because-even in the ugly places-it was authentic. Think of it as a Big Lebowski “You’re not wrong, Walter. You’re just an asshole” kind of thing. And he knows it. I don’t know about you, but I find that kind of self awareness reassuring.

So, if I’m so excited about Women, why did I pick this book to suggest. Excellent question. I picked Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit (breath) because it is quite simply my go-to book when I’m stuck or depressed, have writer’s block or a just bad case of the everything-sucks. This collection of poems is the ultimate life palate cleanser. Bukowski’s style is as unpretentious as you can get. He creates vivid images without any schmaltz. He evokes emotion without any sap. This is sitting-on-the-porch-drinking-cheap-beer-on-a-weekday poetry. This is yelling-obscenities-at-strangers poetry.

This is beauty achieved through grit.

Filed under old school Charles Bukowski Read This Play the Piano Drunk

Notes

Read This. I feel like a little love for The Old School is in order this glorious spring day. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Dorothy Parker. I could go on ad infinitum about why you should stop what you are doing right this second (well, okay, after you finish reading this) and find this book. Run to your favorite bookstore. Rush to the interwebs. Break into your neighbors house and check their bookshelves, if need be. It’s that important. Here Lies Dorothy Parker is a collection of short stories.  Some prominently feature the biting wit most often associated with Dorothy Parker, some have it laced through here and there, but others - arguably the ones I like best - are odd and quiet, sad and beautiful. These are the stories that not only remind me Dorothy drank, and I mean drank, they also give me a glimpse of why. Many of her female characters are broken, cast aside, misunderstood and unlucky in love. This doesn’t sound innovative by today’s standards, but for a female writer in 1939? Think about it. Her characters are rich and believable, as is the world they inhabit; an effect heightened by Parker’s use of slang and now out-of-print expressions. The dated language (yes, I realize it wasn’t dated when she wrote it) adds to the overall atmosphere of the stories and gives her characters depth, interest and authenticity. Basically, it feels like we’re walking into an old movie, which is pretty damn cool. Dorothy Parker was an original, something that comes into focus through reading this collection. Her dark, harsh humor is tempered by her ability to tap into the quiet, to find and drag a character’s vulnerability into the middle of the room, prop it up on a kitchen chair under a swinging light bulb and make it talk.The results are stark, raw, grotesque and gorgeous. In short, her writing reeks of humanity - every aspect of it.

Read This.

I feel like a little love for The Old School is in order this glorious spring day. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Dorothy Parker.

I could go on ad infinitum about why you should stop what you are doing right this second (well, okay, after you finish reading this) and find this book. Run to your favorite bookstore. Rush to the interwebs. Break into your neighbors house and check their bookshelves, if need be.

It’s that important.

Here Lies Dorothy Parker is a collection of short stories.  Some prominently feature the biting wit most often associated with Dorothy Parker, some have it laced through here and there, but others - arguably the ones I like best - are odd and quiet, sad and beautiful. These are the stories that not only remind me Dorothy drank, and I mean drank, they also give me a glimpse of why.

Many of her female characters are broken, cast aside, misunderstood and unlucky in love. This doesn’t sound innovative by today’s standards, but for a female writer in 1939? Think about it. Her characters are rich and believable, as is the world they inhabit; an effect heightened by Parker’s use of slang and now out-of-print expressions. The dated language (yes, I realize it wasn’t dated when she wrote it) adds to the overall atmosphere of the stories and gives her characters depth, interest and authenticity. Basically, it feels like we’re walking into an old movie, which is pretty damn cool.

Dorothy Parker was an original, something that comes into focus through reading this collection. Her dark, harsh humor is tempered by her ability to tap into the quiet, to find and drag a character’s vulnerability into the middle of the room, prop it up on a kitchen chair under a swinging light bulb and make it talk.The results are stark, raw, grotesque and gorgeous. In short, her writing reeks of humanity - every aspect of it.

Filed under Read This Dorothy Parker Here Lies short stories collections old school

Notes

Read This. Many are quick to dismiss Neil Gaiman as being a *shudder* genre writer. Maybe it’s because he has Hugo Awards collecting dust somewhere in the wide expanse of his library. Maybe it’s because he’s teamed up with Terry Pratchett to bring dark hilarity into the world. Or maybe it’s simply because these people have never read a word the man has written. Seriously. See, here’s the thing: I don’t care if you have seven doctorates in various Obscure Mythologies, an undergrad in World Literature and a minor in Ancient History, Neil Gaiman STILL knows more than you. He just does. And this book proves it. Go ahead. Pick it up. Read it. And when you get to a reference or character or archetype that you are sure is pure fantasy - you’re positive is him dipping into the science-fiction/fantasy well - do some research. The things you find will blow your mind. Sure, American Gods has some obvious nods right there on the surface. That’s the beauty of it. Have no interest in ancient mythologies? Have no idea who Odin is? Never heard of Loki? That’s cool, here’s a compelling storyline that works whether or not you spot every little nerdgasm-inducing gem. This is what never fails to astound me when it comes to Neil’s work. The layers, the labor, the research. Here you have a book about forgotten gods, forgotten traditions that - through what is essentially “the hero’s journey” - breathes new life into said beliefs, thus becoming part of the mythology. Did your head just explode? My point is, American Gods should not be passed over, or even categorized as genre writing. This book is an information-rich accomplishment on par with The Iliad & The Odyssey. (And before anyone gets their panties in a twist over that last statement, rest assured I spent a considerable chunk of my undergrad work studying Ancient Greek History & Lit. I’m not just talking crazy.) It’s entertaining, fast-paced and works on many levels, making it both engaging for the active reader as well as enthralling for those just reading for a little escape. And those, ladies and gentlemen, are but a few of the reasons why American Gods is on my All Time Favorite, Desert Island Reads list.

Read This.

Many are quick to dismiss Neil Gaiman as being a *shudder* genre writer. Maybe it’s because he has Hugo Awards collecting dust somewhere in the wide expanse of his library. Maybe it’s because he’s teamed up with Terry Pratchett to bring dark hilarity into the world. Or maybe it’s simply because these people have never read a word the man has written.

Seriously.

See, here’s the thing: I don’t care if you have seven doctorates in various Obscure Mythologies, an undergrad in World Literature and a minor in Ancient History, Neil Gaiman STILL knows more than you. He just does. And this book proves it.

Go ahead. Pick it up. Read it. And when you get to a reference or character or archetype that you are sure is pure fantasy - you’re positive is him dipping into the science-fiction/fantasy well - do some research. The things you find will blow your mind. Sure, American Gods has some obvious nods right there on the surface. That’s the beauty of it. Have no interest in ancient mythologies? Have no idea who Odin is? Never heard of Loki? That’s cool, here’s a compelling storyline that works whether or not you spot every little nerdgasm-inducing gem.

This is what never fails to astound me when it comes to Neil’s work. The layers, the labor, the research. Here you have a book about forgotten gods, forgotten traditions that - through what is essentially “the hero’s journey” - breathes new life into said beliefs, thus becoming part of the mythology.

Did your head just explode?

My point is, American Gods should not be passed over, or even categorized as genre writing. This book is an information-rich accomplishment on par with The Iliad & The Odyssey. (And before anyone gets their panties in a twist over that last statement, rest assured I spent a considerable chunk of my undergrad work studying Ancient Greek History & Lit. I’m not just talking crazy.) It’s entertaining, fast-paced and works on many levels, making it both engaging for the active reader as well as enthralling for those just reading for a little escape.

And those, ladies and gentlemen, are but a few of the reasons why American Gods is on my All Time Favorite, Desert Island Reads list.

Filed under American Gods Neil Gaiman Read This desert island reads books mythology

Notes

Read This. Okay, okay, so this isn’t exactly literature. But you know what? It’s baseball season and this is the book that changed baseball. “But RTWT, I don’t even like baseball!” Fair enough, but you will still like this book. There. I said it. Here’s the thing about Ball Four, it’s about so much more than one baseball player telling stories. This book was the world’s first insight into how the game worked, as an industry. It exposed the unfair contract practices and shed light on the prominent use of (pre-steriods) drugs - pitchers on acid, everyone on speed. Ball Four caused a scandal in its day, so much so that the author, former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton, is still not welcome at Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium. I love this book because I learned a lot about pitching, as a craft, and the politics of pre-Bouton baseball. I also really enjoy the insane anecdotes that put players like Mickey Mantle in the same class as Led Zeppelin and Ozzy Osbourne for legendary, on the road, rock star behavior. This is a quick, easy read packed with a ton of interesting information. Ball Four is prime sitting-in-the-park reading, if you ask me. Go outside, get some sun and celebrate spring with this book. Who knows, maybe you’ll even want to give baseball another chance…

Read This.

Okay, okay, so this isn’t exactly literature. But you know what? It’s baseball season and this is the book that changed baseball.

“But RTWT, I don’t even like baseball!”

Fair enough, but you will still like this book. There. I said it. Here’s the thing about Ball Four, it’s about so much more than one baseball player telling stories. This book was the world’s first insight into how the game worked, as an industry. It exposed the unfair contract practices and shed light on the prominent use of (pre-steriods) drugs - pitchers on acid, everyone on speed. Ball Four caused a scandal in its day, so much so that the author, former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton, is still not welcome at Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium.

I love this book because I learned a lot about pitching, as a craft, and the politics of pre-Bouton baseball. I also really enjoy the insane anecdotes that put players like Mickey Mantle in the same class as Led Zeppelin and Ozzy Osbourne for legendary, on the road, rock star behavior.

This is a quick, easy read packed with a ton of interesting information. Ball Four is prime sitting-in-the-park reading, if you ask me. Go outside, get some sun and celebrate spring with this book. Who knows, maybe you’ll even want to give baseball another chance…

Filed under Read This Ball Four Jim Bouton baseball books

2 notes

Read This. Everything is Illuminated successfully juxtaposes roughly two time lines while using more than three distinct voices. If that alone doesn’t convince you that this is a must-read, well, I’m afraid you are either completely dead inside or you just hate awesomeness. In either case, I cannot help you. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’d actually love to re-read this and The Passion simultaneously and draw comparisons. I’ve never really connected the two before, but there are some interesting similarities… but I digress. This book is beautifully written. The structure is solid, so solid in fact that it becomes invisible, allowing the reader to get lost in the story. This does of course make the painful parts more painful, but great writing elicits emotion. What can you do? One of my favorite aspects of this book is the use of letters. Pay attention to the evolution of language from the first letter to the last. The attention to detail, something I’ve come to expect from JSF, makes me appreciate the amount of focused work that went into building this book.

Read This.

Everything is Illuminated successfully juxtaposes roughly two time lines while using more than three distinct voices. If that alone doesn’t convince you that this is a must-read, well, I’m afraid you are either completely dead inside or you just hate awesomeness. In either case, I cannot help you.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I’d actually love to re-read this and The Passion simultaneously and draw comparisons. I’ve never really connected the two before, but there are some interesting similarities… but I digress.

This book is beautifully written. The structure is solid, so solid in fact that it becomes invisible, allowing the reader to get lost in the story. This does of course make the painful parts more painful, but great writing elicits emotion. What can you do? One of my favorite aspects of this book is the use of letters. Pay attention to the evolution of language from the first letter to the last. The attention to detail, something I’ve come to expect from JSF, makes me appreciate the amount of focused work that went into building this book.

Filed under Everything is Illuminated books Read This Jonathan Safran Foer