What I Like in a Story

I've read so many books recently that were interesting concepts or great writing but the stories have been terrible. I have come to the realization that the books I love are the books that tell good or amusing or heartfelt stories. I'm in a book club, and our last pick was Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist. Colson Whitehead is a good writer. But man is this story boring. The whole time I read it, I thought why didn't he write an article about race? The story concerns him not at all, so why bother with it? If you aren't going to tell a good story, why tell one at all?

I understand that "good" is a relative word, but when I can't ever forget that the author, I feel like maybe the author hasn't succeeded. Which brings me to myself. As well as reading a great deal, I write. I had a great idea for a book, or so I thought. Until I realized I've been writing a great concept and looking at an issue of storytelling which fascinates me, but I'm not telling a good story. I'm focusing on the wrong things. As Stephen King would say, I need to shut the door to the world. Write my story and then invite the world back in.

Marginalia

It's a divisive topic for readers--marginalia. Should you or shouldn't you? Do you like reading a book with someone else's marginalia, or does it drive you bonkers? I enjoy hearing people's stances on marginalia. It's also a good thing to know if I'm going to lend someone a book. Mostly because I love marginalia and almost all of my books are full of it. This can lead to hilarity when, for example, I give books to my students due to the fact that my marginalia is not always pg-13.

The last book I read I had borrowed from my friend, and it was great reading what she had written in the margins. It was like a discussion with her. I like re-reading with my own marginalia because I like seeing how my opinions have changed or stayed the same. In fact, I have arguments between my older and younger self in the margins of beloved stories.

What about you? Do you love or hate marginalia? 

Curtain Creek Farm

            My friend handed me a book about two weeks ago. She didn’t say anything except, “I think you’ll like the writing.” She was right. I did. I love my friends—both the book ones and the real live human ones. And I really love it when these friendships overlap. The book my real-life human friend handed me was Curtain Creek Farm by Nance van Winckel. Since my friend didn’t give me much information about the book, I didn’t have any expectations or real ideas about what I would be reading. I don’t often have this experience, but I enjoy it when it happens. It’s sometimes nice to go into a situation with no prior knowledge.

            Curtain Creek Farm is a collection of eight stories, each told by a different woman. These women live or visit Curtain Creek Farm a commune started in the sixties by a group of anarchists whose only rule is “no violence.” The narrators range in age and cover many different themes, but many of the stories focus on ideas of love, place, grief, and acceptance. Throughout the stories, the reader can see the commune grow and change. However, the focus remains on the characters. Mostly we learn about the commune by seeing how the setting affects the characters' development and interaction. 

            I enjoyed these stories immensely. They contain humor, grief, happiness, toil, loss, change, so many different things, but no apathy. These are women working to make life meaningful. They don’t always succeed—sometimes they can’t seem to find a way forward. Nevertheless, they keep trying. They learn from past mistakes. See the beauty around them. Help others. I don’t know. These stories felt rejuvenating in a way. After reading them I feel like I’ve been in the woods camping or relaxing in a bath. Participating in something soothing. These stories are not always happy. In fact, they contain their fair share of pain, but they have a contentedness about them. If you’re looking for a good and enjoyable read, I highly recommend Curtain Creek Farm.

Giovanni's Room

I'm mad at the world right now. I'm angry at all of my professors, friends, bookstore salespeople, really anyone who knows how much I love to read or has listened to what I like to read and never suggested I read James Baldwin. I mean, I get it. I know I will never be able to read everything, and professors have to pick and choose carefully, and my friends might not have read Baldwin, and I need to be my own hero. But really?! I love the early- to mid- 19th century artistic movements the best, and I only recently discovered Baldwin for myself? Not cool, World, not cool.

Okay, now that that is out of my system, let's look at Giovanni's Room. It was published in 1956 and follows the story of a young man's desperate and sad love life in Paris. Why is his love life desperate and sad you ask? Because he is gay, engaged to a woman, living with a man, and quite self-loathing. Not only is this novel tackling taboos of homosexuality, Giovanni's Room is beautiful. The language is lyrical. Baldwin creates believable characters. The plot is easy to follow, but not boring. All-in-all this novel represents great fiction.

Giovanni's Room thematically investigates loss, sexuality, culture, and the individual's response to outside stimuli. I want to explain how it took me through such a range of emotions, but I think the best way to say it is that this novel will make you feel. It will be different for each reader, but I don't think you could read this novel and not feel something--anger, hope, fear, love, joy, sadness, something. Baldwin makes you feel the absolute hopelessness and pure beauty that exist simultaneously in the world and in the act of falling in love. I really can't recommend this novel enough.

It might have taken me a long time to find my way to James Baldwin, but now that I have, I'm planning on making my way through his work. One down, eighteen to go. I can't wait! 

Reading Habits: Re-Reading

I have lots of different reading habits. Some of them are important to me. Some of them are silly. And a few of them are just weird. I like to hear about other peoples reading quirks, so I'm going to share mine with you dear reader. And if you would like, you can share yours with me.

One of my main reading habits is that I re-read. I never viewed this as particularly odd--my dad read every night before bed, and he re-read habitually. But as I've gotten older, I've realized that most a lot of people do not re-read. They read something, enjoy it or not, and move on. This makes sense: there are so many great things to read. We will never make it all the way through our reading lists, so why go back when you can go on? Other people have a handful or two of books they re-read. But I re-read almost compulsively.

I have read the Harry Potter series through completely probably 10 or 11 times. I have read the Anne of Green Gables series probably five times. The Emily of New Moon series two or three.  Cannery Row alone I have read six or seven times. Don't get me started on Hemingway's novels. When I'm having a hard time, I will return to a novel or story I have loved. It's like a heating pad for cramps: soothing. I read Pablo Neruda's Odes like I take ibuprofen, which is regularly. I'm not sure what it is about a re-read, but I crave them.

Right now, I'm re-reading The Night Circus. Erin Morgenstern marries my love of reading with my love of the visual arts through her descriptions in a way I didn't know was possible. It's my first re-read of this story, and I can already tell it won't be my last. Sinking back into this story feels right. Do you re-read things? If so, what makes your list?

Tampa

Tampa by Alissa Nutting tells the story of a female predator who works at a middle school in Tampa to pursue pubescent boys. In much the same way that Nabokov's Lolita forces the reader to be Humbert--viewing his pedophilia through his own eyes and justifications, Nutting has Celeste, her main character, tell her own story.

Nutting is a good writer. She forces her readers to evaluate the real-life (common) reaction of how-can-it-be-rape? she-was-pretty response when it comes to female pedophilia. However, I'm not sure that she is telling a story. This novel is a little too pushy to ever let you forget IT IS BEING WRITTEN! And the author HAS AN AGENDA. I think this novel would have been more interesting as a psychological, nonfiction article.

Now, I agree with Nutting. Our society's judgements, which often puts the children in the role of aggressor, are backward and negative. Our inability to view women as sexual beings also precludes us from viewing women as predators. Tampa is a great example of patriarchy hurting both women and men, but it doesn't necessarily equate to good story-telling or an interesting read. My honest reaction is that Nutting is doing something that Nabokov did better with a very slight change--the female is the aggressor. The writing isn't terrible, but if you are going to force yourself to read illegal sex scenes, you might as well read a master.
 

Contents May Have Shifted

Contents May Have Shifted by Pam Houston is an autobiographical novel about a woman named Pam. Pam the character and Pam the writer are not the same. You can read about Pam Houston's take on writing fiction/nonfiction/stories/truth/etc. and the overlap of all of these things in the companion essay to Contents here.

My friend suggested I read this novel because I like to write nonfiction, and the space where nonfiction exists is puzzling. How does one tell a story about oneself that is honest AND accurate? Is that possible really? I don't know. And I don't think Pam Houston knows, but my friend thought I would enjoy this novel. I trust this friend's judgement. She's smart and has good taste. And she was right: Pam Houston writes beautifully.  The story gets at some important aspects of humanity. It makes me want to travel so bad my feet are tingly.

But I couldn't relate to Pam the character. She kept reminding me of a well-off, privileged person who complains about things while having experiences for which the hoi polloi would trade their dominant arm. The book is written in vignettes, which are set in different cities around the world--12 of the vignettes are set on airplanes--and the vignettes in Asia kept reminding me of Eat, Pray, Love. Which isn't really fair because Pam Houston is a good writer. And what's her face isn't. At one point in my reading though, I asked myself if Contents was just a better written, literary Eat, Pray, Love. And I can say this now with confidence: No, it isn't. It's a mostly unfair comparison, but I bring it up because it does illustrate my biggest complaint about this book: Spirituality. From an enjoyment perspective, I don't enjoy spirituality in a book. Or I don't enjoy the Western, contemporary's search for spirituality, and this book has a lot of that.

This book also has a lot going for it. Like really well phrased wisdom. It portrays love and all the struggles surrounding love in a way that might not be accurate to Pam Houston's real-life experiences but is 100% true in the more wide definition of human truths. This novel is an important part of the dialogue about writing creative nonfiction and what that term means. Not to mention Houston writes female solidarity and friendship better than I have seen it in a while...maybe ever.  Her characters pop off the page. I feel like they are walking and talking in the world somewhere, and it's not because I know some of them are.

This book is hard for me to review. I didn't enjoy all of it if we are talking about entertainment value, but I learned a lot from reading this book--ideas and tips about the craft I am honing. Also I want to read more by Pam Houston, which is probably the best review an author can receive.

Have you ever read anything by Pam Houston? Did you enjoy it? What are your thoughts on creative nonfiction? Or autobiographical fiction? Is there a difference?

Reading Suggestions

If you are like me, you have a shelf full of books waiting for you to read them. If you aren't like me, or you are but you still feel like you want a suggestion, let me suggest a collection of short stories. I recently read The Oxford Book of American Short Stories edited by Joyce Carol Oates. The great thing about a collection of short stories by multiple authors is that for about $15 you can preview a lot of different authors. You might discover that you love Eudora Welty or that you hate her, but I can almost guarantee there will be at least a few authors that you like and haven't read yet. And if you know what kind of writing you enjoy, you can narrow it down by genre, time period, geographical setting, etc. Another great thing about short stories in general and collections by multiple authors specifically is that nothing is too long to get bogged down in. You might not enjoy Faulkner's novels, but his short stories are much easier to get through, so you can educate yourself on his style. Side note: after reading a few of Faulkner's short stories, I found it much easier to read his novels because I understood his writing style and approach more.

There is so much to read in the world, and short stories can be a great way to read many different authors and genres. Are there any short story collections or writers that are a must read for you? Share them in the comments.

What I Read...

Last week I read Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I had pre-ordered the novel because it's Neil Gaiman, of course I wanted to read it.

This is a short read. I read it in a few hours. And immediately wanted to start it again. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I've been re-reading all of Gaiman's work just so I can continue to be immersed in the creepy, beautiful worlds he creates.

The story is about a middle aged man who returns to his childhood town for a funeral. While there, he is drawn to the old farm at the end of the lane where the biggest adventure/horror of his childhood took place.

Gaiman captures the magic and terror that are childhood. These two are inseparable, and Gaiman allows them to interweave in this story. The book is beautiful. And terrifying. Haunting--in the best sense. It stays with you. It's hard to pin down, and if you talk about it too much, you crush it. It starts slowly and builds quickly.

I write in my books. I take notes, have arguments with the author, characters, and sometimes myself. I underline, star, and use punctuation in the margins like high-fives. It's part of the reading process for me. But every now-and-again, I come across a book that demands I put the pencil down and simply consume. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is such a book. I will reread this book, and when I do, I'm sure I will write in the margins. I will underline and star and everything else, but the first read held me so tightly I couldn't begin that type of dissection. The story-telling gripped me. Do yourself a favor: read this book. Go to your library, or your bookstore, or your friend's house, and when you're done, come back here and talk to me about it.      

Welcome

This blog is going to be about books and stories: what I'm reading, why I'm reading, what I want to be reading, and what you should be reading. If you want to suggest a book for review, please let me know in the comments.

I'm an independent reviewer, with no affiliation to any publisher or author. Although, if you would like me to review your book, send it to me.