I've got the blues, and whiskey on the rocks; that's my dad's drink, I take it when I need it

[decemberthirty]

I finished Creative Writing and Rewriting a few days ago. I'm not exactly sure when -- I've fallen down on the job of keeping this journal up to date. The book became a bit of a forced march toward the end, but I think I'm glad I read it. Kuehl's project is a worthwhile one, and the book could be very valuable in a different context. It's the sort of thing that should be studied with a class, or else should sit on the shelf as a reference to be pulled out when dealing with questions of revision. Unfortunately, the copy I read is not my own and must be given back to the friend who loaned it to me, which forced me to read it cover to cover, perhaps the least productive way of using this particular book. Oh well.

And now I've started East of Eden, the next selection for my book club. I've only read about 20 of its 600 pages, but I like it. Steinbeck's prose is straightforward and strong, and I like the narrator's voice. I know almost nothing about the book, which is an interesting situation; I almost never read a book without having at least a basic sense of what it's about.

Also, John Updike is a remarkable writer. His story "My Father's Tears" made me cry this morning. And, sure, I've been a weepy girl lately, and the story touched on many of the things that have been making me weepy (getting older, and memory, and history, connection, relationships that fail and those that don't...), but still. It was all so subtly done, the story tinged with just a hint of quiet sadness...ah, lovely!

Comments

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

I love John Updike's poetry.

Did you see I made a nonfiction community?

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm an Updike fan from way back. Have you read any of his novels? The Rabbit books are great (particularly the first two) but my personal favorite is The Centaur (http://decemberthirty.livejournal.com/34663.html), perhaps one of underrated books in American literature.

I did see that you made a nonfiction community, but since I can usually barely force my way through one nonfiction book a year, I wasn't sure it was the place for me. I'll check it out, but I doubt I'll have very much to contribute.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I haven't read his novels- I was always skeptical of the subject matter gripping me, but he keeps getting recommended. I've just read his poems. :)

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

People always seem to think that Updike is just about suburban marriages falling apart, and it's true that he does write a lot of that sort of thing, but he just writes it so well! If you're not sure about attempting a whole novel, he's also got lots and lots of short stories--I tend to think that his books are better, but checking out a few stories might be a good, low-commitment way to see if his prose is for you.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

It was more the basketball aspect of the Rabbit books I was thinking of- I was afriad it would be more sports-oriented, embarrassingly enough. I'll definitely check one of the Rabbit books out.