Once the Shore

I think I forgot to post this link to a review of Paul Yoon’s story collection Once the Shore.  The title story is fantastic, so I’m excited to read more.

If you’re not a regular short story reader, I suggest you start now.  They’re not lengthy, though they do require more attention than the same number of pages in an average novel.  At any rate, I love the form and hope that more people will share my enthusiasm.  That’s all for now.

This is Water

There are a few subjects and people I return to constantly.  This time it’s David Foster Wallace.  Check out this essay in The New York Times about his now-famous commencement speech published as a book.

Another Review

The Guardian has a review of Brad Gooch’s Flannery here.  Their blog also questions whether O’Connor was a Catholic writer.

Flannery O’Connor Award

Since I read one of Holly Goddard Jones’s short stories recently, I’ve been following/anticipating her writing.  She will be a preliminary judge for the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction this year.  Check out the bio and interview with her here.

Stray Questions

The New York Times Paper Cuts blog asks “stray questions” to various writers on a regular basis.  I don’t always pay much attention to them, but lately they’ve featured two writers I’m enjoying lately:

• Paul Yoon (Read his short story “Once the Shore.”)
• Rivka Galchen

Literary Links

Yesterday was a full day.  Among everything else (and the last week):

• the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes were announced.
• Peter Orner’s new column about the short story.
• The aging writer.
• Nathan Englander reading Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “Disguised” on the fiction podcast

Columbine, 10 Years Later

It’s hard to believe that ten years separate us from that day.  You can read about the vigil held last night and more at The Denver Post.

Read more here.  I have a hard time with the authority Dave Cullen claims over that day (according to an article on nytimes.com).  He was neither a student at Columbine or the neighboring high schools, nor was he a member of the community.

In an interview on 9 News this morning, a former student spoke of wishing we would use the word “Columbine” to mean hope.  That day changed so much for my home community, but it’s good to pause to remember and to see the positive paths people have taken.

Edit:  The article/review of Cullen’s book can be found here.

113th Boston Marathon

Check out the coverage of the Boston Marathon this morning here.

Usually I’m excited about the major and/or local marathons, but this year there’s been too much coverage, starting too soon.  I’m tired of hearing about Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher.  But still, I hope they run well.  And if not, they’re still young and early in their careers, so they’ll have more opportunities later.  Good luck everyone else.

Frenzied Reading

Whenever I think I’m getting better at reading fewer books at a time, I pick up another.  I finished the Flannery O’Connor biography, but before I did, started the Donald Barthelme biography.  And I’m still waiting to make it to a bookstore or for the long line of holds at the library (whichever comes first), to finish the last 200 pages of 2666.  And then there’s Wise Blood, which I started back in February or March, but misplaced, and so now I’ve started Nathan Englander’s The Ministry of Special Cases only to find my copy of Wise Blood yesterday.

But in the midst of my overlapping reading, I’ve managed to learn a lot about writing.  I recently read Patrick Ryan’s short story “So Much for Artemis” and a couple of essays on dialogue as part of the short story workshop I’m taking.  I marveled at his use of dialogue and time and details.  It was a study in writing, really.  Brad Gooch writes that Flannery O’Connor wrote a few apprentice stories based on one by Faulkner and on some by a few other writers.  With that thought in mind, I’ve tried a few exercises in imitation to see if I can learn the techniques these writers use so well.  Englander’s novel also provides a lot of help for questions/problems I’ve had lately with dividing chunks into chapters, as well as a few other things.

And when I get excited about writing and writers, I tend to overdose on author interviews and wikipedia.  Even though I’ve read a few of these last summer, I read some interviews with Nathan Englander and Rivka Galchen (whose book is on my list).  It motivates me when I read about the discipline some writers have in sitting down for hours at a time most days of the week, when they work at writing like any other job.

Reading for the Week

Lately, I’ve been trying to stay away from the internet, or at least the distracting, time-consuming temptations of reading and following links and more links.  But a new week means a new chance to read just a little and walk away.  Here are some noteworthy links:

• An interview with Joyce Carol Oates
• Can anyone really be happy when a politician’s daughter gets a six-figure book deal, especially when she’s younger than me?
• News on the O. Henry Prize front.  If I haven’t recommended this enough, I’ll say it again:  The O. Henry Prize stories are usually a fantastic collection.  Read them.
• A few articles and books tied to Christianity.  (Does anyone know anything about James Carroll or Jack Miles?  Their books sound interesting, but I don’t know where they fall in the worth-reading/legitimate range.)
• A bit of David Sedaris for those who like his writing/humor.
• Apparently some dictionaries have changed the definition of marriage.  I find this sort of thing fascinating, that is, that a person or group can decide how to define words.  It’s like revising knowledge and history, as if they’re malleable subjects.