Focusing my thoughts

[decemberthirty]

I am going to spend a few minutes right now thinking and writing about books, and then I am going to spend time thinking and writing my book.

Okay. I finished Ursula K. LeGuin's The Wave In the Mind this weekend. I enjoyed it, although it seemed to take me rather a long time to get through it. I always seem to lose steam halfway through any nonfiction book I read. I guess I'm just addicted to that narrative drive... Anyhow, the essays were interesting and addressed an impressively varied range of subjects. I was (predictably) most interested in those that dealt with writing, and was disappointed to find that several of them simply repeated ideas and themes that LeGuin discussed in Steering the Craft, her writing guide that I love so much. She did write more directly and openly about her own creative process in this book than in Steering the Craft, and I found that aspect of the book fascinating. No matter what she's talking about, LeGuin is opinionated and straightforward, and has a sharp, self-deprecating humor that I found very appealing.

After finishing The Wave In the Mind, I started reading The Master by Colm Toibin, the last of my Christmas/birthday books. I'm enjoying it very much so far. At first the story seemed somewhat fragmented in a way that made it hard to follow, but now I feel that Toibin (he has accents on his name but I don't know how to make them--anybody know and want to teach me?) has done a wonderful job of enveloping me in Henry James's inner life, and that the fragmentary nature of the narrative actually helps with this process.

And since I am finally on the last of the books I received in December (still reading Christmas books in June? Unheard of!), I allowed myself to go book shopping this weekend. I probably should have saved my money and sent myself to the library, but I got some things that I'm really excited about so I'll forgive myself just this once. I acquired:

The Bone People by Keri Hulme
True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (been meaning to read this for ages and ages)
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
And my best find of all: Cormac McCarthy's entire Border Trilogy, in matching, good-condition, hardcover editions. For $24.00! For all three books! I read and loved All the Pretty Horses two or three years ago but I haven't read the other two books yet, and am very excited about this purchase.

Comments

[slowlyawake.livejournal.com]

I cannot believe you haven't read The Things They Carried yet. I love that book. I liked Lahiri's short story collection, but I haven't read The Namesake. I need to go on a book buying binge myself, I think.

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

Yes, the O'Brien is one of those books that has been on the to-read list for years without me ever getting around to it. It was chosen for "One Book, One Philadelphia" this spring and I was going to read it then, but didn't have a copy. But now I do!

I also liked Lahiri's short stories, although I thought they fell somewhat short of all the hype that surrounded them. There's a post about the book somewhere back in the depths of this journal. I'd be happy to lend you The Namesake when I'm done, if you want. Did you read the excerpt of it that ran in the New Yorker back when it came out?

[slowlyawake.livejournal.com]

Oh, I never read the fiction in the New Yorker. It's a thing. Let me know what you think of The Namesake.