(no subject)

[decemberthirty]

I finally finished Gardner's The Art of Fiction yesterday. I think it was a worthwhile read despite the fact that it wasn't really what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting the discussion of writing to be more concrete, more along the lines of Ursula K. LeGuin's Steering the Craft or Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird. I think it might be my own fault that I didn't get more out of The Art of Fiction. I didn't pay close enough attention as I was reading, and halfway through the book I got so sick of reading about the art of fiction that I just desperately wanted to read someone practicing it. It also may be that I just overdosed on John Gardner by reading this so soon after October Light. Oh well. It may be worth rereading at some point, but not at any point soon.

After finishing The Art of Fiction, I started Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers. I haven't read very much of it yet, but what I have read is certainly intriguing. The characters all seem to be full of a high-pitched emotional intensity, but that intensity never crosses over into the narrative voice. The story is related in a cool, extremely detached tone. The effect is an odd one, and I'm not sure yet whether I like it.

Comments

[karmabreeze.livejournal.com]

Is there any Anne Lamott you would recommend? After Michael Chabon, hers is the next lecture I get to attend, so I need to read something. None of the book descriptions on Amazon are exciting me.

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

Actually Bird by Bird is the only Lamott I've ever read. It may be a little strange to read writing advice from someone whose writing I've never read, but what can I say. My girlfriend is a big fan, though, and she recommends Crooked Little Heart and Traveling Mercies.