Kevin Brockmeier at BookPeople

I'm editing this post to add some literary content. I realized after I posted the link that it was kind of the blogger's equivalent to posting a dilbert cartoon, or perhaps a picture of a funny looking cat with the caption of "don't talk to me before my morning coffee!" So, I'll leave it at the bottom, but add some content, as well.

I mistakenly saw Kevin Brockmeier at BookPeople last night - I caught the end of his reading and picked up his new collection of short stories "The View From the Seventh Layer." By the time I got up there, he was earnestly invested in the Q&A, and I was very sorry I had missed the meat of the reading. He handed out a list of his Fifty Favorite Books, though, and I thought I might post his top ten here. Just because. Also, in answer to Abby's last post, I think I might choose a few books from his longer list to put on my summer reading list.

Here, also, is an interview with him in which he talks about several of these books.

1. A Death in the Family, James Agee
2. THe Complete Short Stories, JG Ballard
3. The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
4. The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino
5. Orthodoxy, GK Chersterton
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7. All the Days and Nights, William Maxwell
8. Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, Daniel Pinkwater
9. The His Dark Materials Trilogy, Philip PUllman
10. Housekeeping, Marilyn Robinson


From Meg Rosoff's website: "secrets to becoming a successful writer."

Summer reading

So this got me thinking about summer reading lists. (Do you make them? Are they shaped by your friends or your interests or what? Basically I want to know not what you are reading, but what you are planning on reading this summer and why?)

A snapshot of student reading habits over two decades
From Why do Men Have Nipples? to the novels of J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen, surveys identify ephemeral, and enduring, undergrad reading choices


And here's an unrelated anecdote about Harper Lee (happy birthday, Lady!!!) from the Writer's Almanac:

To support herself while writing, she worked for several years as a reservation clerk at British Overseas Airline Corporation and at Eastern Air Lines. In December of 1956, some of her New York friends gave her a year's salary along with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." She decided to devote herself to writing and moved into an apartment with only cold water and improvised furniture.

Cupey Cake

This is a picture of a piece of paper I found in a hotel tablet that I stole from the Days Inn. It was a Days Inn Amelia and I stayed at when we went to Carmen's wedding. I've had the tablet forever, but never got to the middle where I found this treasure.

What's going to happen?

Yesterday, Jack mentioned an article in the University Star about Texas State severing ties with the Mitte Foundation. (Their website is under construction or I'd post it.) I mentioned it to Michael and he found it in the NY Times, the Chronicle, and the Austin American Statesman.

Robert Stone

Wish I was in Texas for Robert Stone's visit to TSU. Anyone going?

I paid something like 15 bucks back in the fall to hear Stone interview Ken Burns for The War doc. It was O.K. At least in was in a nice space-- the NYPL--and there was free wine. I wish I could hear him talk only about books.



I

Maiestro List

As we come up on the blog's birthday (MAY!!!!), I think we should have a master list of places we've been published and long works we've completed. First of all--is this a bad plan???? I don't want to violate anyone's privacy, but between us we've written a novel, been anthologized, started a journal,started countless jobs and Amelia alone has been published ten zillion times. I'm losing track. Thoughts??

My idea is that we could list them as a links function in the sidebar with titles like "we work", "we've been published" and "we've written" or something like that?

Process

I've never written a song, but reading about Suzanne Vega's songwriting process on this blog, made me think of how much my process has changed since I was a tween.

Uncovering a stash of my old journals dating back to the late 80's didn't hurt either. I guess that's the upside of packing.

I miss talking about process with you all.

Reading

Hey, barring any more trouble with American Airlines, Patrick Ryan will be reading at my school this Tuesday from 4-5 pm. I've been teaching his first book, Send Me, to my College Writing classes, and I was fortunate enough to get some money from my department for him to visit. I hope you can make it. Email me if you're interested and I'll give you directions/more info. And pass the word along to anyone else who might be interested.

Nobleness Strikes Back!

This has been cracking me up today.

Teaching with an MA in CW?

Here's a random question for the blog: how possible is it to teach with an MA in Creative Writing? A friend of mine was accepted into Boston's MFA program with no funding and Cincinnati's MA/CW program with a full ride, TAship, and salary. I say it's a no brainer to go to Ohio but he worries that finding a job will be more difficult.

twofold

First, I want to ask about the google groups thing, now that we've all had some time to look at it. A few folks have posted already, which is awesome, and leads me to this question: how does this format feel to you? and will this format serve our needs as writers and readers? and if not, is there perhaps a better venue? If the answers all point to google groups, I'll throw down the deadline (for those of us who really need the deadline to do anything. me.)

Also, I'm reading Watership Down to the boys. It's my favorite book of any book ever, still, after fifteen years of reading a whole bunch of probably much better books, and the boys are enjoying it a lot. I turned out the light tonight and Max asked if there was another Watership Down after this one (he reads a lot of series books like Jaques and Rowling), and I told him sadly, no, just something called Tales from Watership Down, which is not really a sequel. Just a supplement.

And then I closed the door and got to thinking about the trip I took with my family one Christmas to Cancun, and about how I'd gone to the bookstore with them beforehand. It was my first trip to Barnes and Noble. I think I was 19. I got Tales from Watership Down and Shirley Jackson's Just an Ordinary Day. Jackpot. I still remember that plane trip, and the experience of reading those particular books, one after the other. I hadn't even known about these books before I stepped inside the B&N.

Growing up, my bookstores were mall bookstores. My birthday presents entailed trips to B Dalton. I never went to the dismal public library much after elementary school. We had a tiny Hastings in Seguin, but there were few shelves that weren't full of bestsellers and romance novels. In high school, I managed to get my hands on the annotated Lolita there (romance), but otherwise, pickings were slim. I thought that real books could only be found at North Star Mall. That was it. I think I depended on my brother's hand me downs and the scholastic book club thing that came around three or four times a year.

How did you get your books? Before the internet happened? Before monster chain bookstores?

29 is a beautiful number

How about a rousing bi-coastal round of "for he's a jolly good fellow" in honor of the birth of one Mr. Wolfe.

We raise our pens to you, friend!