At some point I read the first book in this YA dystopian trilogy, Divergent. It was okay, as I recall. Then recently I read the second book, Insurgent. I liked it a lot. Now I wait for #3 to be released in October.There's going to be a movie at some point, too. Three movies, probably--with the first one coming out in September or thereabouts.
If I would've had my act together and written about this book back when I read it (maybe a month ago), I'd probably have more to say. Sorry. Been doing much more reading than writing about reading, latey.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Scintella Project Day 2
So, I'm doing (attempting?) The Scintella Project again this year. It's only day 2 and I'm already a day behind, but here it is:
The prompt I chose:
Tell a story about something interesting (anything!) that happened to you, but tell it in the form of an instruction manual (Step 1, Step 2, etc.).
1. Get an MFA if you want, but don't expect to ever make any money off of it. It might help you get a more prestigious job down the road, but ultimately they're just looking at your publications. So get the MFA for its own sake--for paid time to write. In my opinion, that word "paid" is key. I only applied to fully funded programs--I have enough loans from undergrad--if I pay for another degree, it'll be one that earns me money. This MFA won't.
2. I applied only to fully funded three-year-programs. MFA programs tend to be either two or three years. There are also a fair number of low-residency programs. Three years made the most sense for me for a bunch of reasons. The main one was that if I had to move again, probably to somewhere I wouldn't want to stay after I graduated, then I wanted to move for long enough to make it worth moving. In my late 20's, I felt like I'd already moved for the hell of it enough times: I left Minneapolis, where I'd grown up, and went to Bard, in upstate New York. I took a semester off of undergrad and went to Seattle, then back to Bard to finish my degree. After undergrad, moved to Portland, which I loved, except I was nannying, working as a barista, and writing grants for a non-profit. And I didn't have healthcare, much less time to write. I started looking for full-time work, which didn't exist in Portland at that time, for someone just out of college, with my (limited) skill set. So I started applying for jobs back in NYC, where many of my friends from college were, and suddenly I had five job interviews lined up. So I went for it. I was in NYC for nearly two years before I went for the MFA.
3. I ended up at Syracuse University. I was miserable in a lot of ways:
4. After I got my MFA, I moved back to Brooklyn and became a teacher. After three years of teaching in NYC, I was able to get a teaching job in Portland, and I moved back here and have been happy here every since.
The prompt I chose:
Tell a story about something interesting (anything!) that happened to you, but tell it in the form of an instruction manual (Step 1, Step 2, etc.).
1. Get an MFA if you want, but don't expect to ever make any money off of it. It might help you get a more prestigious job down the road, but ultimately they're just looking at your publications. So get the MFA for its own sake--for paid time to write. In my opinion, that word "paid" is key. I only applied to fully funded programs--I have enough loans from undergrad--if I pay for another degree, it'll be one that earns me money. This MFA won't.
2. I applied only to fully funded three-year-programs. MFA programs tend to be either two or three years. There are also a fair number of low-residency programs. Three years made the most sense for me for a bunch of reasons. The main one was that if I had to move again, probably to somewhere I wouldn't want to stay after I graduated, then I wanted to move for long enough to make it worth moving. In my late 20's, I felt like I'd already moved for the hell of it enough times: I left Minneapolis, where I'd grown up, and went to Bard, in upstate New York. I took a semester off of undergrad and went to Seattle, then back to Bard to finish my degree. After undergrad, moved to Portland, which I loved, except I was nannying, working as a barista, and writing grants for a non-profit. And I didn't have healthcare, much less time to write. I started looking for full-time work, which didn't exist in Portland at that time, for someone just out of college, with my (limited) skill set. So I started applying for jobs back in NYC, where many of my friends from college were, and suddenly I had five job interviews lined up. So I went for it. I was in NYC for nearly two years before I went for the MFA.
3. I ended up at Syracuse University. I was miserable in a lot of ways:
- I was dealing with some huge medical shit, having just been diagnosed with a brain tumor my neurosurgeon said had probably been there since I was in utero. I had no symptoms and he decided to leave it alone. I had surgery the following summer since as he pointed out, I was in graduate school and had the time. I went through radiation that summer and played a lot of Scrabble with my Brooklyn roommate Laurice.
- I was also miserable because I knew I didn't really want to get an MFA, but I didn't know what the hell else to do.
4. After I got my MFA, I moved back to Brooklyn and became a teacher. After three years of teaching in NYC, I was able to get a teaching job in Portland, and I moved back here and have been happy here every since.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Leaving Church, by Barbara Brown Taylor
My friend Micha wrote about this book on her fabulous blog (I couldn't find the link to the exact entry--but here's a general link). I got it out of the library, curious, but not sure I'd read it--I thought maybe I'd page through it, then take it back, unread. So not my kind of thing. Instead I sat down and read and read and read. And now I'm looking forward to reading Barbara Brown Taylor's other books.
About her experience becoming a priest in the Episcopalian Church, working in a large urban ministry in Atlanta, then finding a tiny parish in rural Georgia, where she was the only woman priest in any denomination. Then leaving that parish--leaving the ministry completely, to figure out her own spirituality outside the church.
I was raised Catholic, and for the past couple of years I've been meditating at a Zen temple near my home. So I know something about Christianity, and considerably less about Buddhism, but I've been learning. Never took a religion class in college or grad school, haven't read much on the subject, but it does fascinate me.
I liked this book a lot. Lots to think about. Religion definitely fascinates me--though in a distant, removed way.
About her experience becoming a priest in the Episcopalian Church, working in a large urban ministry in Atlanta, then finding a tiny parish in rural Georgia, where she was the only woman priest in any denomination. Then leaving that parish--leaving the ministry completely, to figure out her own spirituality outside the church.
I was raised Catholic, and for the past couple of years I've been meditating at a Zen temple near my home. So I know something about Christianity, and considerably less about Buddhism, but I've been learning. Never took a religion class in college or grad school, haven't read much on the subject, but it does fascinate me.
I liked this book a lot. Lots to think about. Religion definitely fascinates me--though in a distant, removed way.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
I read Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel, several years ago, and really liked it. I've also read many of the "Dykes to Watch Out For" comics over the years.
So, Fun Home was her memoir about her father--his death, apparently a suicide, though apparently catalogued by the police as an accident. But she and her family seem clearly to view it as a suicide.
Anyway, I liked Fun Home a lot. This book, essentially a memoir about her mother, I didn't like as much. There's not the same cohesive story there, and though it's been several years since I read Fun Home, this book just didn't feel nearly as compelling.
So, Fun Home was her memoir about her father--his death, apparently a suicide, though apparently catalogued by the police as an accident. But she and her family seem clearly to view it as a suicide.
Anyway, I liked Fun Home a lot. This book, essentially a memoir about her mother, I didn't like as much. There's not the same cohesive story there, and though it's been several years since I read Fun Home, this book just didn't feel nearly as compelling.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Tenth of December, by George Saunders
I just finished George Saunders' new book of stories, Tenth of December--released on January 8, 2013.
According to an awesome profile in the New York Times Magazine ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/magazine/george-saunders-just-wrote-the-best-book-youll-read-this-year.html ), George Saunders has written the best book you'll read this year.
I did love it. My favorite book of his since 2000's Pastoralia. I'm already looking forward to reading it again.
I don't know what more to say about it. Thoughtful, bizarre stories that show Saunders' sense of humor, thoughtful worldview, and are fabulously weird and not weird, both.
According to an awesome profile in the New York Times Magazine ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/magazine/george-saunders-just-wrote-the-best-book-youll-read-this-year.html ), George Saunders has written the best book you'll read this year.
I did love it. My favorite book of his since 2000's Pastoralia. I'm already looking forward to reading it again.
I don't know what more to say about it. Thoughtful, bizarre stories that show Saunders' sense of humor, thoughtful worldview, and are fabulously weird and not weird, both.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Monsters of Templeton & Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff
After finishing Arcadia, I had to read Lauren Groff's other books: her first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, and a collection of stories, Delicate Edible Birds. Arcadia was the best, feels the most fleshed out and thorough--The Monsters of Templeton was great, but felt very first novel-y in places, and some of the stories were really strong (Groff spans such a wide range of time in both Templeton and the stories--it's a lot of fun), but again, there were a lot of spots in the stories that felt very young too. Especially after Arcadia, I'm excited to watch Groff mature and grow as a writer.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Arcadia, by Lauren Groff
This is another book I put on hold at the library because it was on lots of end-of-year lists, talked up by writers I like. As has been my M.O. lately with the end-of-year lists book, I figured I'd get it from the library, look it over, and maybe read it.
I was totally engrossed from the moment I saw the cover, okay? I started reading and couldn't stop, finished it relatively quickly (though it turned out to be surprisingly dense going!), then put Groff's other two books on hold. Reading The Monsters of Templeton now, her first novel, and I'm not nearly as engrossed--but it does feel very first novel, maybe that's a lot of it. The other book, Delicate Edible Birds, is apparently a collection of stories connected to The Monsters of Templeton. We shall see. But she's a good writer, and I love her storytelling.
Arcadia is about a little boy who grows up in a commune in western New York, and the first part is his story told when he's five. Then it's his story when he's a young teenager, then it's his story after the commune falls apart, when he's older and living in NYC--it goes on from there. Bit, the boy, is a compelling main character, and his life is fascinating.
I've been feeling good about all the contemporary adult literature I've been reading. Good stuff.
I was totally engrossed from the moment I saw the cover, okay? I started reading and couldn't stop, finished it relatively quickly (though it turned out to be surprisingly dense going!), then put Groff's other two books on hold. Reading The Monsters of Templeton now, her first novel, and I'm not nearly as engrossed--but it does feel very first novel, maybe that's a lot of it. The other book, Delicate Edible Birds, is apparently a collection of stories connected to The Monsters of Templeton. We shall see. But she's a good writer, and I love her storytelling.
Arcadia is about a little boy who grows up in a commune in western New York, and the first part is his story told when he's five. Then it's his story when he's a young teenager, then it's his story after the commune falls apart, when he's older and living in NYC--it goes on from there. Bit, the boy, is a compelling main character, and his life is fascinating.
I've been feeling good about all the contemporary adult literature I've been reading. Good stuff.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Adoption (film)
I love the library for so many reasons, not least of which is the random movies I bring home off the shelf. Then, of course, I watch these random movies and have to return the ones I put on hold unwatched, because they have holds on them.
Tonight I watched Adoption, a Hungarian movie from 1975. Directed by Marta Meszaros, apparently an important and very prolific woman director, this was a great little movie, the story of a forty-three-year-old woman, Kata, who really wants a child, so decides she wants to bear her married lover's child.
There is another woman who is also central to the film--a girl (maybe 15 or 16) living in a local orphanage (state home?) who becomes close friends with Kata, moving in with her for a time.
I could tell the whole plot, or I could not. Anyway, that's a lot of it. I liked this movie so much. I'd suggest seeking it out.
Tonight I watched Adoption, a Hungarian movie from 1975. Directed by Marta Meszaros, apparently an important and very prolific woman director, this was a great little movie, the story of a forty-three-year-old woman, Kata, who really wants a child, so decides she wants to bear her married lover's child.
There is another woman who is also central to the film--a girl (maybe 15 or 16) living in a local orphanage (state home?) who becomes close friends with Kata, moving in with her for a time.
I could tell the whole plot, or I could not. Anyway, that's a lot of it. I liked this movie so much. I'd suggest seeking it out.
The Suicide Index, by Joan Wickersham
I read another one of Wickersham's books recently--a great collection of stories, The News from Spain, that was on a bunch of the "best of the year" lists from 2012. I loved The News from Spain, and wanted to read more by her, but I didn't know if I could handle The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order, though it sounded fascinating. But I put it on hold at the library, and figured I'd see how I felt about it when I picked it up.
This is Wickersham's memoir about losing her dad to suicide, I think when she's in her late 20s (though I don't think she ever actually says). It's written broken up into segments as an index, with headings such as "Suicide: factors that may have had direct or indirect bearing on: expensive good time" and "Suicide: day after: concern that he will be viewed differently now."
I did read it all. I couldn't stop. & those of you who know me, know that my own father killed himself when I was 19.
A lot of what she said rang so true. A lot of it didn't. Our fathers were different people, and we had different relationships with them, of course... like one idea she keeps returning to, is that "Suicide destroys memory . . . When you kill yourself, you're killing every memory everyone has of you. You're taking yourself away permanently and removing all traces that you were ever here in the first place, wiping away every fingerprint you ever left on anything." I don't agree with this, it's not how I feel about my dad. It's interesting to me--one thing (out of many) that I've been annoyed about over the years is that I never got to have an adult relationship with my dad. Okay, no conclusion to draw there. Just stating it.
I read this book quickly, urgently, finding things I vehemently agreed with and vehemently disagreed with. With sympathy for Wickersham, sympathy for myself, for both our losses and the ways we're still feeling them.
I'm glad she wrote it. Glad I read it. It's not the book I'd write, but I'm glad she did.
This is Wickersham's memoir about losing her dad to suicide, I think when she's in her late 20s (though I don't think she ever actually says). It's written broken up into segments as an index, with headings such as "Suicide: factors that may have had direct or indirect bearing on: expensive good time" and "Suicide: day after: concern that he will be viewed differently now."
I did read it all. I couldn't stop. & those of you who know me, know that my own father killed himself when I was 19.
A lot of what she said rang so true. A lot of it didn't. Our fathers were different people, and we had different relationships with them, of course... like one idea she keeps returning to, is that "Suicide destroys memory . . . When you kill yourself, you're killing every memory everyone has of you. You're taking yourself away permanently and removing all traces that you were ever here in the first place, wiping away every fingerprint you ever left on anything." I don't agree with this, it's not how I feel about my dad. It's interesting to me--one thing (out of many) that I've been annoyed about over the years is that I never got to have an adult relationship with my dad. Okay, no conclusion to draw there. Just stating it.
I read this book quickly, urgently, finding things I vehemently agreed with and vehemently disagreed with. With sympathy for Wickersham, sympathy for myself, for both our losses and the ways we're still feeling them.
I'm glad she wrote it. Glad I read it. It's not the book I'd write, but I'm glad she did.
Monday, January 14, 2013
The Illusion, by Pierre Corneile, Freely Adapted by Tony Kushner
I checked this out of the library a long time ago. I don't remember why--if someone recommended it, or it might've just been because I'm a long time Tony Kushner fan. So maybe I just heard about it somewhere and that was enough. I used to read a lot of plays, and lately I've gone through phases, especially of Anne Carson's translations. This is absolutely the kind of play I would've read in high school or college--maybe I even did read it at some point, though not this translation, which, according to the acknowledgements, "contains many scenes and many speeches which do not appear in the French original." Which confuses me--how is it the same play, then?
But I read it yesterday, and loved it. Nice to read a play again. And it's a great story--it would be fun to see a production of this.
But I read it yesterday, and loved it. Nice to read a play again. And it's a great story--it would be fun to see a production of this.
Monstress, by Lysley Tenorio
I put too many books on hold that were on end-of-year lists. But I'm loving them. I don't read enough contemporary adult fiction--lots of YA, and a fair number of older books of adult fiction, but yeah. This collection of stories was great. Highly recommended. Tenorio is a Filipino-American writer, and these stories ranged from early 20th century, set in the Philippines, to very contemporary, set in the U.S., and everything between, often wandering. Really varying stories--lots of queers in them, lots of families, lots of relationships of all kinds: lovers, siblings, parent/child. I loved this book. You should all read it.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
Another book that was recommended to me, and I don't remember by who. Fascinating, though. A quick, great read. A little younger than YA, about three sisters who live with their dad and grandma in Brooklyn in the late 1960's--their mom took off shortly after the youngest was born. The summer of 1968, the dad ships them out to Oakland to spend a month with her.
Their mom is completely uninterested in them--tells them to go to the Black Panthers summer camp down the street, tells them they can get a free breakfast there too. So they go--what else are they going to do? Delphine, the oldest, eleven going on twelve, is the leader. Vonetta is the middle sister, and Fern is the baby. Vonetta is maybe nine, Fern seven.
It's a really interesting portrait of that time and place, the sisters... I liked this book a lot. I've read others by her, but this made me think I should read more.
Their mom is completely uninterested in them--tells them to go to the Black Panthers summer camp down the street, tells them they can get a free breakfast there too. So they go--what else are they going to do? Delphine, the oldest, eleven going on twelve, is the leader. Vonetta is the middle sister, and Fern is the baby. Vonetta is maybe nine, Fern seven.
It's a really interesting portrait of that time and place, the sisters... I liked this book a lot. I've read others by her, but this made me think I should read more.
The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
This book was so good. So good that I said to Laurel, who recommended it to me, "Why hasn't everybody read this? Why was it published in 1971, and no one ever mentioned it to me until now? Why wasn't I told to read it in school, ever?"
I know that part of that is because it's science fiction. I haven't even been reading that much sci fi, and I've only been reading a few writers' work, but it's incredible, what I have been reading! Even the really dated stuff--and yes, a novel written in 1971, and set in 1998 through 2078, is going to be dated--is amazing. Not all sci fi is amazing, I know, but the stuff I've been reading!
Like this novel. Which I want to say transcends the fact that it's sci fi. Which might be seen as a condescending remark toward sci fi, but I mean it more to say that it's about so much more than a view of the future, so much more than spaceships and aliens. It's about relationships. I'd say relationships between people, but they aren't people. They're a lot like people, but they're aliens. Earth barely exists--as a current native says of it: “'My world, my Earth is a ruin. A planet spoiled by the human species. We multiplied and fought and gobbled until there was nothing left, and then we died. We controlled neither appetite nor violence; we did not adapt. We destroyed ourselves. But we destroyed the world first.'” The speaker is someone who left Earth for another planet, Urras, where he serves as an ambassador from Earth (now known as Terra). He was born on Urras, and Terra is virtually uninhabitable at this point, so the ambassadors on Urras (where the interplanetary council is), and those few Terrans on Hainish, one of the other two known habitable planets (Anarres and Hainish) are perhaps the majority of Terrans remaining. There are a few struggling along on Terra, but there's little sustanance left there.
Anyhow, highly recommended. I loved this book. It goes in so many important directions.
I know that part of that is because it's science fiction. I haven't even been reading that much sci fi, and I've only been reading a few writers' work, but it's incredible, what I have been reading! Even the really dated stuff--and yes, a novel written in 1971, and set in 1998 through 2078, is going to be dated--is amazing. Not all sci fi is amazing, I know, but the stuff I've been reading!
Like this novel. Which I want to say transcends the fact that it's sci fi. Which might be seen as a condescending remark toward sci fi, but I mean it more to say that it's about so much more than a view of the future, so much more than spaceships and aliens. It's about relationships. I'd say relationships between people, but they aren't people. They're a lot like people, but they're aliens. Earth barely exists--as a current native says of it: “'My world, my Earth is a ruin. A planet spoiled by the human species. We multiplied and fought and gobbled until there was nothing left, and then we died. We controlled neither appetite nor violence; we did not adapt. We destroyed ourselves. But we destroyed the world first.'” The speaker is someone who left Earth for another planet, Urras, where he serves as an ambassador from Earth (now known as Terra). He was born on Urras, and Terra is virtually uninhabitable at this point, so the ambassadors on Urras (where the interplanetary council is), and those few Terrans on Hainish, one of the other two known habitable planets (Anarres and Hainish) are perhaps the majority of Terrans remaining. There are a few struggling along on Terra, but there's little sustanance left there.
Anyhow, highly recommended. I loved this book. It goes in so many important directions.
Classic Novels
I'm slowly making my way through Anna Karenina, which is incredible. I was thinking about when was the last time I read a big classic novel? I looked through the last six months of my blog, and no classics--The Martian Chronicles might be the closest thing. And that's not what I mean, though it's wonderful. I mean like Anna Karenina, big, and of another era, and the sort of book I should have read already but so often haven't. So maybe a goal will be to read a classic every six months? I've read so many damn books in the past six months--it's no hardship to fit a classic in there. Plus Anna Karenina is so good! More on it when I'm done...
Recommendations of other classics, please? Say 1940s and earlier? I especially don't seem to be well-versed in, say, the Russians. Or probably other foreign authors I'd have to read in translation. So yeah, tell me books you've really loved (no sense just posting a list of books you've heard of--I've probably heard of them too. I want recommendations, please). Thanks!
Recommendations of other classics, please? Say 1940s and earlier? I especially don't seem to be well-versed in, say, the Russians. Or probably other foreign authors I'd have to read in translation. So yeah, tell me books you've really loved (no sense just posting a list of books you've heard of--I've probably heard of them too. I want recommendations, please). Thanks!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
I've loved Ray Bradbury for a long time--since at least fifth grade, when my English class got taken to the upper school library, and we were told to pick out a book of short stories to read. I chose The Stories of Ray Bradbury, which was my first exposure to, I'd guess, all of these--if I'd read any Bradbury before this collection, it was probably Fahrenheit 451, which I've loved for a long time. And yes, this collection was a strange short story collection choice for a fifth grader, and it's weird for a fifth grader to have read Fahrenheit 451, much less loved it. But I've always been a weird reader. So there you have it. Bradbury's story "A Sound of Thunder" terrified me, and still does, really. I've taught "A Sound of Thunder," "Harrison Bergeron," "All Summer in a Day" and other stories by Bradbury--he wrote so many, after all. He's widely anthologized--included in just about every literature textbook you look at!
But somehow, I never read The Martian Chronicles. So I picked up a lovely old copy last year at a thrift store, and it's been sitting on my "to read" shelf ever since--my copy is a mass market paperback originally printed in 1951 (the book was first published in May 1950), reprinted over and over through the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Maybe they kept reprinting it--but I have the 48th printing, published in 1978, so that's all I know about that.
It takes place from January 1999, when the first expedition goes to Mars from Earth, until October 2026.
I'd read parts of it before--pieces had been published as stand-alone stories. But the whole thing is magnificent. Nearly thirty years of Earth natives colonizing another planet (and written before the moon landing, before any exploration of space by Earth natives). So many different visions of what the Mars settlements will look like (conveniently, Mars' air is thin but breathable by Earth people). And the settlements look like so many different things over the years. A fascinating, amazing book. I continue to love Bradbury so much.
But somehow, I never read The Martian Chronicles. So I picked up a lovely old copy last year at a thrift store, and it's been sitting on my "to read" shelf ever since--my copy is a mass market paperback originally printed in 1951 (the book was first published in May 1950), reprinted over and over through the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Maybe they kept reprinting it--but I have the 48th printing, published in 1978, so that's all I know about that.
It takes place from January 1999, when the first expedition goes to Mars from Earth, until October 2026.
I'd read parts of it before--pieces had been published as stand-alone stories. But the whole thing is magnificent. Nearly thirty years of Earth natives colonizing another planet (and written before the moon landing, before any exploration of space by Earth natives). So many different visions of what the Mars settlements will look like (conveniently, Mars' air is thin but breathable by Earth people). And the settlements look like so many different things over the years. A fascinating, amazing book. I continue to love Bradbury so much.
Monday, November 19, 2012
James Tiptree Jr. Stories: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
I finally finished the James Tiptree Jr. stories I started reading ages ago... I wrote about his/her bio on September 9, 2012, and I'd already started the stories at that point. I guess that isn't so long, really.
I'm definitely appreciating them more now than I was then. But old-school scifi still isn't--will never be--one of my favorite genres, or one I'm terribly well-schooled in. But glad I read these. Can definitely see myself rereading some of them. And I'm just so glad to know about Tiptree. The biography was so so good, and I did end up enjoying the stories. Some of them were pretty incredible.
Now back to Alex Sanchez and Neil Gaiman. That's what I've been reading lately!
I'm definitely appreciating them more now than I was then. But old-school scifi still isn't--will never be--one of my favorite genres, or one I'm terribly well-schooled in. But glad I read these. Can definitely see myself rereading some of them. And I'm just so glad to know about Tiptree. The biography was so so good, and I did end up enjoying the stories. Some of them were pretty incredible.
Now back to Alex Sanchez and Neil Gaiman. That's what I've been reading lately!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Annie Get Your Gun
As I wrote last time, I recently read Rat Girl by Kristin Hersh. Not only have I been listening to early Throwing Muses incessantly since reading it (while reading it too!), but I also just watched Betty Hutton's most famous movie, Annie Get Your Gun. Apparently she got this role away from Judy Garland, who was a wreck by then.
Anyway. I really enjoyed it--though there were some really problematic "Indians", not surprisingly. The music was so fun (Irving Berlin!). I didn't realize that "There's No Business Like Show Business" was originally from this musical! The most problematic Indian song was "I'm an Indian Too", though in the movie, the "Indians" are presented pretty sympathetically, I think, and Annie has amazingly close relationships with one Indian, specifically--a Chief who adopts her.
I also loved this song.
A pretty great little movie.
Anyway. I really enjoyed it--though there were some really problematic "Indians", not surprisingly. The music was so fun (Irving Berlin!). I didn't realize that "There's No Business Like Show Business" was originally from this musical! The most problematic Indian song was "I'm an Indian Too", though in the movie, the "Indians" are presented pretty sympathetically, I think, and Annie has amazingly close relationships with one Indian, specifically--a Chief who adopts her.
I also loved this song.
A pretty great little movie.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Lots of books lately
I've been reading a ton, but lax about posting.
But I read all the Sandman comics, which were really fun... I read the original ten, then the eleventh, and now I'm slowly making my way through the Death comics (sort of part of the Sandman series--related)--but I'm waiting for them to come in from the library, and I want to read them in order... so there's that.
I read Believers by Charles Baxter, who I continue to love love love... got his selected and new stories from the library too, looking forward to reading those, though I think I've read a lot of them already. The selected and new stories is called Gryphon, which is the title of the first Baxter story I read, in the 1986 Best American Short Stories, edited by Raymond Carver, found randomly on a shelf in my house, and probably one of the most influential volumes of my life--largely because of "Gryphon," probably, though not entirely, by any means. The Table of Contents for the 1986 BASS can be found here. Carver's intro is amazing, too. This includes many excerpts from the intro.
I also read Memory Wall, by Anthony Doerr--I talk about two of his other books here and here. Excited to read more by him.
I also read 8, by Amy Fusselman. I read her novel The Pharmacist's Mate fairly recently as well, too. I don't remember why I put them on hold at the library, how I heard of her. Not really my kind of thing--sort of pomo--but I read them both and was engaged. I don't know!
Finally, I read Rat Girl, by Kristin Hersh, which my sister loaned me ages ago. I've been a fan of Throwing Muses and Hersh's solo work for a long time--fifteen, twenty years? But I wasn't so feeling the need to read this memoir. Partly I just don't like memoirs so much. And there are so many books--a memoir by a musician ends up being low on my priority list (though I did love Patti Smith's memoir about her and Robert Mapplethorpe). But this was a good book. Kristin Hersh becomes friends at college with Betty Hutton (yeah, the Betty Hutton!), which is awesome. I love reading about how she writes songs, how they show up in her head... yeah. I liked this book.
For now, I'm back to the James Tiptree, Jr. stories, and I'm still reading this book about tomatoes, Tomatoland, which is really creepy and amazing. I have a million other books waiting to be read--library and otherwise--updates to follow, I'm sure.
But I read all the Sandman comics, which were really fun... I read the original ten, then the eleventh, and now I'm slowly making my way through the Death comics (sort of part of the Sandman series--related)--but I'm waiting for them to come in from the library, and I want to read them in order... so there's that.
I read Believers by Charles Baxter, who I continue to love love love... got his selected and new stories from the library too, looking forward to reading those, though I think I've read a lot of them already. The selected and new stories is called Gryphon, which is the title of the first Baxter story I read, in the 1986 Best American Short Stories, edited by Raymond Carver, found randomly on a shelf in my house, and probably one of the most influential volumes of my life--largely because of "Gryphon," probably, though not entirely, by any means. The Table of Contents for the 1986 BASS can be found here. Carver's intro is amazing, too. This includes many excerpts from the intro.
I also read Memory Wall, by Anthony Doerr--I talk about two of his other books here and here. Excited to read more by him.
I also read 8, by Amy Fusselman. I read her novel The Pharmacist's Mate fairly recently as well, too. I don't remember why I put them on hold at the library, how I heard of her. Not really my kind of thing--sort of pomo--but I read them both and was engaged. I don't know!
Finally, I read Rat Girl, by Kristin Hersh, which my sister loaned me ages ago. I've been a fan of Throwing Muses and Hersh's solo work for a long time--fifteen, twenty years? But I wasn't so feeling the need to read this memoir. Partly I just don't like memoirs so much. And there are so many books--a memoir by a musician ends up being low on my priority list (though I did love Patti Smith's memoir about her and Robert Mapplethorpe). But this was a good book. Kristin Hersh becomes friends at college with Betty Hutton (yeah, the Betty Hutton!), which is awesome. I love reading about how she writes songs, how they show up in her head... yeah. I liked this book.
For now, I'm back to the James Tiptree, Jr. stories, and I'm still reading this book about tomatoes, Tomatoland, which is really creepy and amazing. I have a million other books waiting to be read--library and otherwise--updates to follow, I'm sure.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Children's Hospital, by Chris Adrian
I've been reading a ton lately, and got behind on my blogging about books. So I'm just going to start fresh with the book I just finished--Chris Adrian's amazing and bizarre and 615-page The Children's Hospital. The world is suddenly buried under seven feet of water--except for a children's hospital, and the inhabitants of the hospital are suddenly the only people left living: the doctors and residents and medical students; the patients, of course, and their parents and siblings if their parents or siblings were with them in the hospital that night; the nurses; the few other random people who happened to be there: the tamale lady, a volunteer, a custodian.
This is a hospital for very sick children, so there are a lot of rare and strange diseases. However, about two hundred and fifty pages in, Jemma, one of the medical students, develops the ability to heal the children. She heals them all, leaving the adults without their roles, and the children without their illnesses, which have been their roles up until now, many of them for their whole lives.
There is an angel.
Then--okay, no spoilers. But a lot happens in this book. I was thoroughly engrossed, all the way through.
Adrian is a pediatrician, in addition to an award-winning, Iowa-graduate writer. He's also now attending Harvard's Divinity School, of course.
I really liked this interview with him, maybe especially the fact that he cut about 400 pages from The Children's Hospital (since I'm dealing with cutting my own novel down myself right now!): http://www.bookslut.com/features/2008_08_013241.php In the interview, he talks a little bit about being gay--I loved reading this book by a gay writer that is not a Gay Book. Speaking of, I recently read Quarantine by Rahul Mehta, and I loved those stories too--also a book by a gay writer that isn't a Gay Book. I've read a lot of good stuff lately--I've been enjoying reading contemporary fiction written for adults, something I don't seem to do so much of.
So, put Adrian's other books on hold at the library. More on him to follow, I'm sure.
This is a hospital for very sick children, so there are a lot of rare and strange diseases. However, about two hundred and fifty pages in, Jemma, one of the medical students, develops the ability to heal the children. She heals them all, leaving the adults without their roles, and the children without their illnesses, which have been their roles up until now, many of them for their whole lives.
There is an angel.
Then--okay, no spoilers. But a lot happens in this book. I was thoroughly engrossed, all the way through.
Adrian is a pediatrician, in addition to an award-winning, Iowa-graduate writer. He's also now attending Harvard's Divinity School, of course.
I really liked this interview with him, maybe especially the fact that he cut about 400 pages from The Children's Hospital (since I'm dealing with cutting my own novel down myself right now!): http://www.bookslut.com/features/2008_08_013241.php In the interview, he talks a little bit about being gay--I loved reading this book by a gay writer that is not a Gay Book. Speaking of, I recently read Quarantine by Rahul Mehta, and I loved those stories too--also a book by a gay writer that isn't a Gay Book. I've read a lot of good stuff lately--I've been enjoying reading contemporary fiction written for adults, something I don't seem to do so much of.
So, put Adrian's other books on hold at the library. More on him to follow, I'm sure.
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