Any idea can lead to terrible actions, misunderstandings, unintended consequences. But some ideas seem especially dangerous on their face, not necessarily because they are wrong, not just because they are big ideas, not because acting on them would be imprudent, … Continue reading
Magical Story of Humanity Marquez, Gabriel Garcia (1970). One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Harper and Row. It’s difficult to have an opinion about a book that is universally revered as one of the greatest novels of all time, … Continue reading
Second-Person in New York McInerney, Jay (1984). Bright Lights, Big City. New York: Vintage. This short (182 pp) novel of 1980’s New York City is widely praised as having nailed that period and place. I don’t know – I wasn’t … Continue reading
“Nothing can be meaningfully affirmed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Geuss, Raymond, &Speirs, Ronald (Eds.) (1999). Friedrich Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. The main Nietzschean text presented in this book is The Birth of … Continue reading
A 75-Page Novel Shteyngart, Gary (2010). Super Sad True Love Story. New York: Random House. This is my second attempt to read Shteyngart, a darling of the literary fiction world these days. Earlier, I had attempted to read Absurdistan and … Continue reading
I think Hemingway once advised, “Write drunk, edit sober.” Unfortunately, I can’t write drunk — doesn’t work for me. But I can be very sober when I edit. I’ve been editing my two “finished” novel manuscripts. The first one, now … Continue reading
Writer as Artist DeLillo, Don (2001). The Body Artist. New York: Scribner. This short book (125 pp) by an acclaimed master novelist is perplexing, disturbing, and confusing, yet also haunting, dense, and impressive from a craft standpoint. What’s it about? … Continue reading
Happiness is a Warm Puppy Baxter, Charles (2000). The Feast of Love. New York: Vintage. In a group of interwoven short stories, Charles Baxter explores the vicissitudes of love, with plenty of sex. Chapters rotate among a handful of characters, … Continue reading
Humorous Homilies Lamott, Anne. (1994). Bird By Bird: Some Instruction on Writing and Life. NY: Anchor. In a series of personal essays and anecdotes, Lamott muses on what it’s like to be a writer. It’s not really an “instruction,” as … Continue reading
Philosophy of Fiction Wood, James (2008). How Fiction Works. New York: Picador/Farrar, Straus, Giroux. This beautifully manufactured little paperback surveys the main points of novel writing craftsmanship, such as characterization, point of view, metaphor, dialog, and so on, but does … Continue reading