What I'm Reading This Week- May 16, 2010 - A Winner
Quote de jour
"Beloved books stay alive a lot longer than many beloved people".
~LMW
"Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination."
~Janet Frame
Last night I was reading in bed and I didn't want to go to sleep. It's always a joy the discover a new writer. Unfortunately, this one is dead. The book in question is Towards Another Summer written in 1963 by Janet Frame and published posthumously five years after her death in 2009 . The New Zealand writer wrote a number of books and enjoyed moderate literary success but she considered this book too personal (read autobiographical). It's the most poetic thing I've read about agoraphobia, madness, writer's block and homesickness. It forced me to look at language and syntax in a whole new way. Thank-you literary gods!
When I want to quick read, I often reach for a short story, a literary form enjoying in mini-renaissance. Deborah Eisenberg along with my fave Alice Munro the queens of the short stories. The trouble with Ms. Eisenberg's latest massive (just under a 1000 pages) The Collected Stories is time. They're too good to skim over and I'm too impatient to read to whole volume, but I hope you do. She was awarded the coveted MacArthur genius grant in 2009. Half a million with no strings. Way to go!
Jules Feiffer was written a witty (what else?) new memoir Backing Into Forward. I like his websiteJules Feiffer.com
The usually stack of magazines didn't thrill, but I did like the double cover on Time even if I didn't agree with their choices. Sarah Palin??? Next week, I anticipate new changes courtesy of my new camera.
"Beloved books stay alive a lot longer than many beloved people".
~LMW
"Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination."
~Janet Frame
Last night I was reading in bed and I didn't want to go to sleep. It's always a joy the discover a new writer. Unfortunately, this one is dead. The book in question is Towards Another Summer written in 1963 by Janet Frame and published posthumously five years after her death in 2009 . The New Zealand writer wrote a number of books and enjoyed moderate literary success but she considered this book too personal (read autobiographical). It's the most poetic thing I've read about agoraphobia, madness, writer's block and homesickness. It forced me to look at language and syntax in a whole new way. Thank-you literary gods!
When I want to quick read, I often reach for a short story, a literary form enjoying in mini-renaissance. Deborah Eisenberg along with my fave Alice Munro the queens of the short stories. The trouble with Ms. Eisenberg's latest massive (just under a 1000 pages) The Collected Stories is time. They're too good to skim over and I'm too impatient to read to whole volume, but I hope you do. She was awarded the coveted MacArthur genius grant in 2009. Half a million with no strings. Way to go!
Jules Feiffer was written a witty (what else?) new memoir Backing Into Forward. I like his websiteJules Feiffer.com
The usually stack of magazines didn't thrill, but I did like the double cover on Time even if I didn't agree with their choices. Sarah Palin??? Next week, I anticipate new changes courtesy of my new camera.
Posted by Layla Morgan Wilde at 5/16/2010 10:20 AM 
Categories: What I'm Reading This Week
Tags: Janet Frame Deborah Eisenberg Jules Feiffer
Categories: What I'm Reading This Week
Tags: Janet Frame Deborah Eisenberg Jules Feiffer
I really like seeing the author photos.
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I do too, and next week, I'll be less slap dash lazy and provide sharper images.
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great books. True that books live longer than people.
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