Robertson Davies 1913-1995

"To ask an author who hopes to be a serious writer if his work is autobiographical is like asking a spider where he buys his thread."

-Robertson Davies, The Merry Heart.

Naming the World

Naming the World, edited by Brett Anthony Johnston, is a collection of writing essays and writing exercises, and I'm working my way through it, looking for the good stuff to steal for my own classes. Attributive stealing, so when I assign a prompt, I say, "and this is from Abby Thomas, who writes great memoir" or "from Aimee Bender, fantastic fiction," or "Liz Strout, swell novelist."

I particularly like Liz Strout's chapter on Point of View.
"I have always been interested in the fact that if six people are sitting in a room, whatever happens in that room, it is experienced in six different ways. Each response, of course, has to do with the character of the person involved and this combination - character and point of view - is what interests me most in writing."

Charles Baxter on subtext

"Obsession and congested subtexts have a tendency to enmesh and co-opt innocent bystanders, who have only common sense with which to combat mania."

from The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot.

Nadine Gordimer

"Powers of observation heightened beyond the normal imply extraordinary disinvolvement: or rather the double process, excessive preoccupation and identification with the lives of others, and at the same time a monstrous detachment...The tension between standing apart and being fully involved: that is what makes a writer."

-Nadine Gordimer, Introduction, Selected Stories.

Jack Straw writers at the Central Library on Sat, Nov 7, at 2 pm

Come hear the Jack Straw writers read at the Central Library on Saturday, November 7th, 2-3:30 pm. The readers are Lana Hechtman Ayers, Anna Bálint, Rachel Dilworth, Alma García, Laura Hirschfield, Kim-An Lieberman, Priscilla Long, Michael Magee, Madeline Ostrander, and Storme Webber.

The reading is free. Parking under the Central Library is available for $5.

"The purpose of the Jack Straw Writers Program is to introduce local writers to the medium of recorded audio, to encourage the creation of new literary work, and to provide new venues for the writer and their work. The program was created in 1997. Each year a single curator selects 12 writers/writing teams out of dozens of applicants based on artistic excellence, diversity of literary genres, and a cohesive grouping of writers."

more Atwood

From Negotiating With the Dead. Atwood on her childhood and her capable and outdoorsy family.

"My own view of myself was that I was small and innocuous, a marshmallow compared to the others. I was a poor shot with a 22, for instance, and not very good with an ax. It took me a long time to figure out that the youngest in a family of dragons is still a dragon from the point of view of those who find dragons alarming."

Margaret Atwood

from the introduction to Negotiating With the Dead:

"I'll begin with the standard disclaimer. I am a writer and a reader, and that's about it. I'm not a scholar or a literary theoretician, and any such notions that have wandered into this book have got there by the usual writerly methods, which resemble the ways of the jackdaw: we steal the shiny bits, and then build them into the structures of our own disorderly houses."

Maria Callas 1923-1977

from The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, edited by Clifton Fadiman.

When Maria Callas was singing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she was interviewed by a reporter who said, "You were born in the United States, you were brought up in Greece, you are now practically an Italian. What language do you think in?" Miss Callas replied, "I count in English."

Salley Vickers

My new fav writer is Salley Vickers and no, that's not a typo, Salley is the Irish word for willow. I'm right now slowing down as much as possible, for when I finish reading Mr. Golightly's Holiday, I will have finished all novels available to me in the states, and will begin in pine over the upcoming book, due in the UK soon, but expen$ive to ship here. So far my absolute favorite of her novels is The Other Side of You, which came out here in 2008, and deals directly and deeply with "The Supper at Emmaus" by Caravaggio.

It is rare indeed to read such good writing about such a good painting, and with such exciting and deeply felt characters, but that's not all. These are characters that live after the last page is closed. Vickers' two favorite authors are Penelope Fitzgerald and Shirley Hazzard, and they are on my top ten list, so I thought I would feel right at home, and I do.

Oh, and did I mention how compelling the story lines are?

Lydia Davis at Seattle Arts & Lectures on Nov 4.

Wooo hoooo! Lydia Davis is coming to Seattle to read on Wednesday, November 4th, 7:30pm at Benaroya Hall. Tickets start at $25, less for students and under 25. No senior discount, rats.

Lydia Davis was interviewed by Sarah Manguso for The Believer in the January 2008 issue. The following is from the introduction:

"Her writing defies generic classification. Some of her fiction could just as easily be called essay or poetry. Many of her stories are extremely short. Her narrators are often given a drastically narrow scope but an extremely sharp focus. Their observations might be described as dispassionate—sometimes humorously so—and for this reason the considerable emotional component of Davis’s stories is often subtextual.

Davis works as a translator of French literature and philosophy, and is well known for her translation of Proust’s Du côté de chez Swann, which earned her wide critical acclaim. Her other translations include books by Maurice Blanchot, Pierre Jean Jouve, and Michel Leiris.

She has won many of the major American writing awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship for fiction, and was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. She was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. On hiatus from teaching at SUNY Albany, Davis lives and works in upstate New York."

Bertie on the news

Komo News - SoCal Fire Dogs rescued.

From the article:
"Hundreds of dogs left behind or who ran away during the California wildfires last month are finding new homes around Western Washington - thanks to a local pet rescue group. Many of the animals were about to be euthanized until Ginger's Pet Rescue in Seattle intervened. Now the group is bringing the dogs here - to start a new life."

And the lead photo for the article is my own sweet Bertie, whom I adopted Saturday. I named him Bertie after Bertie Wooster (think Jeeves, PG Wodehouse) because in spite of all that must have happened in his five years, this dog is twenty pounds of optimism.

Here is Bertie in my office:

In an Uncharted Country, stories by Clifford Garstang

Press53 has done it again. This time it's a collection of short stories by my pal Clifford Garstang called In an Uncharted Country.

They are all so good, it's hard to pick a favorite, but "Hand-Painted Angel" is the one I keep coming back to. Warm in tone without ever being sentimental, with engaging characters, this is a holiday story about a family secret, but the secret is not the focus of the story, instead the story is about how we make important decisions, and the person with the secret is a secondary character.

I'm also still thinking about the title story, and here's a line that shows the skill of the author, describing how the two main characters married young - "the hungry fit of their untested bodies." That simple phrase shows so much.

So if you're looking for a darn good read, trot right out and get In an Uncharted Country.

Seattle Book Fest Oct 24-25 in Columbia City

The Seattle Book Fest is happening on the weekend of October 24 & 25th in the hip Columbia City. Authors, events, books, etc. Check the website for information if you want to be an exhibitor or join the list of authors.

canine dancin'

Check out this extremely happy Golden/human duo. This is a whole new world of obedience called Freestyle, I think. Let me know if I've got it wrong please.

Lorrie Moore reading in Seattle on Friday, Sept 11

Elliott Bay Book Company is bringing Lorrie Moore to Seattle on Friday, September 11th, at 7pm, at the Seattle Central Library. Moore's new book is a novel, her first in fifteen years, A Gate at the Stairs.

Microsoft Auditorium, Seattle Public Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave.
Free admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For more information, check out this link.

Julia Child 1912-2004

Yes, I've seen the movie and I loved it. Meryl Streep really got Child, and Amy Goodman was, as always, a delight. Then the other night I accidentally watched PBS, and there was the real Julia, patting a chicken with butter, preparatory to roasting said bird. Then she carved the bird. Ah, I remember watching her, and how I learned to make souffles from Volume I. Volume II is mostly unstained, but Volume I has pages that stick together. Julia Child made me a cook.

So these are the volumes I have, but jeepers, I did not pay $295. Probably more like $20 total, which was a lot of money, when I bought them, just after dinosaurs roamed the earth...




And really, Volume I is the one to have.

Oh Freddie, Freddie 1946-1991

Sometimes we just need a little Freddie. Leather and knee socks, rockin' Freddie, just rockin'.

The Collagist

Check out The Collagist, a lively new online venture from Dzanc Books, full to the brim with short stories, essays, poetry, and reviews.

from editor Matt Bell's note:
In this debut issue, we've got new fiction by Chris Bachelder, Kevin Wilson, Kim Chinquee, and Matthew Salesses, plus an excerpt from Laird Hunt's forthcoming novel Ray of the Star. Charles Jensen, Oliver de la Paz, and Christina Kallery each contribute several new poems apiece. In non-fiction, Ander Monson provides an innovative personal essay in the form of an "assembloir," while David McLendon's essay relates his personal experiences with the master teacher, editor, and writer Gordon Lish, exploring the impact of Lish's mentorship on both his own writing and his everyday life. Lish's story "I'm Wide" (which originally appeared in his collection What I Know So Far) is also reprinted in this issue, which I hope you'll consider first as its own unique piece and then again, in tandem with McLendon's essay.

Women Up On Blocks by Mary Akers

Wow, I just finished reading my pal Mary Akers' new short story collection, Women Up On Blocks, and it was a blast.

So many good stories, but my favorite has to be "Thunderstones," about young love and family interference and the smacking effect of old time religion. Here's a line that shows how clear and evocative the writing is:
"She can feel her future mother-in-law's insipid happiness creeping toward her through the pew cushions."

These are stories about women who make, or have to make, big decisions, and Akers knows her territory well.

I heartily recommend this collection, published by Press53, which once again proves to be a great source for lively reading.

Reading Local: Seattle

Take a look at this fine blog Reading Local: Seattle for a great calendar of readings in the area. Here's a description from the website:

Reading Local: Seattle is interested in documenting as much as we can find out about locally produced literature, zines, pamphlets, blogs, novels, chapbooks, poetry, performance and anything else concerned with the written or spoken word. We aim to include regular profiles of Washington State writers, locally produced lit, events, and places where these things can be found either in bookstores, community libraries, or roadside bins.

We are related to the equally locally-concerned Web site, Reading Local: Portland, part of Reading Local.

If you have ideas for topics you would like covered please post them, or e-mail me directly. If you are a regular producer of lit events, I would like to make sure your events are covered. Furthermore, there are some modest steps you can take to make sure your events are easily discovered and attended. For more information, see the site, Social Media for Writers.

Your Fellow Book Junkie,
Matt Briggs

Alison Lurie's REAL PEOPLE

Here's the last line from Real People by Alison Lurie, and no, this won't spoil the story for you:
"If nothing will finally survive of this life besides what artists report of it, we have no right to report what we know to be lies."

Hey, go ahead and read the whole book. I just finished it, and it was splendid. Short, vibrant, with lively characters and a swell plot. Highly recommended, except for those without a sense of humor.

Tin House in a nutshell

This is just what the Tin House summer workshop experience is like.

Eel Pie Island, near London

Eel Pie Island is famous for music and literature. And I remember, dimly, that when I was a baby and we lived outside London, we lived not far from the island.



London:
London: Eel Pie Island

Backwards & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays

Backwards & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays was written by David Ball expressly for those reading scripts for production. But it is a fine book for revision of all kinds. And Mr. Ball really knows his Hamlet. A high compliment from one who also knows her Hamlet. Also, the book is short. Pithy, even.

notes from Tin House, July 2009

I went to Tin House this summer, and workshopped with Steve Almond. Here are my notes from the panel on endings. The last paragraph was Samantha Chang, and it really resonated with me.

Notes from Tin House July 2009 Endings
Panel with Lan Samantha Chang, Ann Hood, and Ron Hansen.

The types of endings:
Single conclusion
Epilogue
Epiphany
Ironic ending or false epiphany
Denouement
Envoi (sends you off to another story, the envoy disappears)

Endings that don’t work:
A hurried ending, rushing to the conclusion
Loose ends
Pointlessness
Unrealistic endings
The Dougie Houser ending, adding in the moral, “what I learned today was that friends are important.”

"You really have to know your story and what it is about to write the ending. If you are having trouble with the ending, ask yourself 'what’s been bothering me for the past few years?' to figure out what happens in the end of the novel you are working on." -Lan Samantha Chang