The novel I'm reading is set in Montana in the eighties. Since I'm writing a book set in Montana, I thought I'd better take a look at what's out there in the way of depicting modern Montana. This one raised my hopes because it was new, it was set in the last 30 years, it … Continue reading Country Life and the Western Writer
Category: books and reading
The Second Half: A Reckoning
The number 45 is: Half way to ninety. Cannot be divided in two. Comprised of two hyphenated F-words. Not very sexy. At this age, the typical adult needs a reading glasses magnification of 1.75. Common mild skin issues include: brittle nails, Poikiloderma (aka "redneck"), and seborrhoeic keratoses (once known as "senile warts"). Foot pain is … Continue reading The Second Half: A Reckoning
Beginnings: What will Happen?
What if two kids met in a room in a house in Paris.... the boy was nine, and the girl was eleven. This moment is a moment of in-between for both of them; she is on her way to live with her grandmother, and he is meeting his mother for the first time. He lives … Continue reading Beginnings: What will Happen?
Crowing again
I've got to share a poet. He's a faculty member in the program where I'm currently a student, which is how I encountered him. When he reads, I feel like I'm in church. His book, Lawrence Booth's Book of Visions (2001 Yale University Press) knocked my socks off last winter. His new book, The Gone … Continue reading Crowing again
How Harry Potter killed my teaching career
I knew I was done last fall when I faced my seminar class of sixteen freshmen and felt I was staring at circle of aliens. The feeling grew during an oral presentations (no longer called speeches): a musical power point. I didn't recognize a single song except "Henry the Octopus" by the Wiggles. In spite … Continue reading How Harry Potter killed my teaching career
The Soul of the Haunted House
Some English teacher somewhere along the line taught me that in literature, the house is a symbol for the soul. I'd take credit, except that each time I remember this equation, it's got a vague citation hovering around it. And it always comes to me when we visit my in-laws on the east coast. We … Continue reading The Soul of the Haunted House
Book Air
There are days that are dominated by memory. Some specific, some sporadic, a smell maybe, a song, an old picture and wham, you're not just remembering, you are there again. I mean, a secret door has opened and there you stand at fourteen. Time splits. You're the you you are now, stunned that you are … Continue reading Book Air