July 2012 Books

July is turning out to be a month of memoirs and classics.....

The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir by James Brown
Published: 2003
Rating: 4
Goodreads

A gritty, unflinching and searing memoir by writer James Brown of his dysfunctional family; the suicides of his only siblings, an older brother Barry and older sister Marilyn; and his own intense addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The prose of Brown's heartbreaking story is strong, clear and cutting as he describes unspeakable sorrows.  But there is humor as well.  The account of the show-down between himself and Daisy, his wife's pot-bellied pig, is hilarious.

A quick but unforgettable read.

The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir About Writing and Life by Ann Patchett
Published: 2011
Rating: 5
Goodreads

This enjoyable 62 page ibook was read in one night.  Patchett comes across as a refreshingly folksy, down-to-earth, self-depreciating and humble author; despite winning the prestigious 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner award for Bel Canto.  I have yet to read her novels such as Run, The Magician's Assistant and new novel, State of Wonder; however, I did read her poignant memoir, Truth and Beauty, which recounts her friendship with poet and writer Lucy Grealy, author of Autobiography of a Face.  

Words of wisdom from her own writing life:

I would say that a deep, early love of poetry should be mandatory for all writers.  A close examination of language did me nothing but good. 

Art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means that to get to the art, you must master the craft.  If you want to write, practice writing. 

Over the years I've come to realize that I write the book I want to read, the one I can't find anywhere.

What I like about the job of being a novelist, and at the same time what I find so exhausting about it, is that it's the closest thing to being God that you're ever going to get.  All the decisions are yours.  You decide when the sun comes up.  You decide who gets to fall in love and who gets hit by a car.  You have to make all the leaves and all the trees and then sew the leaves onto the trees.  You make the entire world. 

Othello by William Shakespeare
Published: 1622
Rating: 4
Goodreads

Named for the unsuspecting and gullible hero Othello, Shakespeare's play is really about Iago; a most sinister, manipulative, back-stabbing, devious villain.

Read full post.

Audiocourse:  The Aeneid of Virgil by Professor Elizabeth Vandiver
Rating:5
Great Course link

Loved it - see this post.

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Published: 1964
Rating: 4
Goodreads

Hemingway has been on my list of "to read" authors for a long time.  I've always looked for this book during library sales or at used bookstores with no luck.  So when it was on a carousel titled "Living in Paris" at my local library, I snatched it up.  It is a quick and interesting read about a literary expat's life in Paris after WWI.

Read full post.

Oedipus the King in The Complete Plays of Sophocles trans. by Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb
Originally published: 429 BC
Bantam Classic Edition: 1982
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I agree completely with this synopsis in the introduction by Moses Hades: "Oedipus is a masterful play; but what gives it conviction and force is that plot and characterization combine in mutual support to produce the overwhelming tragic power which is the essence of the drama.  The construction is flawless.  Each new episode flows naturally out of what has gone before, and each is made plausible by the character of its participants."

Read full post.

Antigone in The Complete Plays of Sophocles trans. by Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb
Published: 442 BC
Bantam Classic Edition: 1982
Rating: 4
Goodreads

Antigone is a tragedy whereby two people acting on their convictions; Creon, King of Thebes and Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, clash - with devastating consequences.

The king refuses to grant one of her brothers a proper burial saying, "Polyneices....leave him unburied, a corpse for birds and dogs to eat, a ghastly sight of shame."   Antigone solicits the help of her sister to bury their brother but Ismene will not defy the King's decree: "Nay, we must remember, first, that we were born women who should not strive with men; next that we are ruled of the stronger, so that we must obey in these things, and in things still harder."

Antigone's heroic response: "Be what you will, I will bury him: well for me to die in doing so.  I shall rest, a loved one whom I have loved, sinless in my crime; for I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living, for in that world I shall abide forever."

By the end of the tragedy Creon is devastated by three needless suicides; prompting this warning from the chorus:

Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness, and reverence for the gods must be inviolate.  Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, and, in old age, teach the chastened to be wise. 

The Aeneid by Virgil - translated by Robert Fitzgerald
Published: 19 BC
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Reading The Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer and The Aeneid by Virgil has been a fascinating education in ancient Greek and Roman culture and mythology.

Read full post. 

May 2012 Books

I no longer want to read about the works of Alphra Behn, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf or Toni Morrison, I want to read the actual works.  So this month, my plan is to listen to these amazing women's voices as well as read other women's diary excerpts and memoirs.

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Published: 1929
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I found two broad thesis' that Woolf conveys in this cleverly written essay.

Using history and fictional characters (Shakespeare's equally genius sister, Judith) and places (Oxbridge - cross between Oxford and Cambridge), Woolf gives convincing reasons why there were no female poets, dramatists or novelist before Alphra Behn, who wrote in the latter 17th century.

Women were poor, uneducated, and imprisoned in an extremely patriarchal world.  Even women of nobility and status were entirely dependent upon their fathers, brothers and husbands to marry well, have children and care for the household (think Downton Abbey).

Therefore Woolf argues that " a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction".  This is the first thesis.

The second addresses the main attribute of the literary artist.  Woolf states her belief that a true artist, a literary genius such as Shakespeare or Jane Austen must write with a certain mind - an "androgynous mind..resonant and porous; that it transmits emotion without impedimental,  that it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided."

Much food for thought in this slim, highly recommended book.

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Published: 1996
Rating: 4
Goodreads

It is interesting to see the polar reviews on Goodreads. To quote Ryan Mallady from Goodreads, the plot is pretty basic: "Author summers in Tuscany, buys an old farmhouse, refurbishes it, travels through Italy, and cooks constantly."

I liked it.  It does not surprise me the author is a poet. Her use of language was extremely effective; I could smell the garlic, taste the fruit, see the landscape, touch the marble, and hear the beautiful Italian language.  I've never been to Italy but have always wanted to go - even more so after reading her engaging memoir.  Recipes are included - many of which I would like to try such as Basil and Lemon Chicken, Baked Peppers with Ricotta and Basil, Cherries Steeped in Red Wine, Pears in Mascarpone Custard and Rustic Apple Bread Pudding - yummo.   I would recommend to any foodies, especially those who love Italian!

Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl
Published: 1998
Rating: 3
Goodreads

Another foodie memoir, quite different than Mayes', but similar in that they both have a passion for simple ingredients and good food.  Recipes abound in this book such as her father's favorite, Weiner Schnitzel, the author's infamous Artpark Brownies, a straight-forward Boeuf a la Bourguignonne, and super simple Deviled Eggs from her friend Marion.

It would be difficult to re-cap her very interesting life in a few sentences so will just write down the words that are in my book journal: bi-polar mother, passive father, French boarding school in Canada, college, bourgeois lifestyle, married, Europe, squalor living in NYC, commune in California, cook, restaurant critic, food writer, editor of Gourmet magazine.  An interesting and quick read.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
Published: 2011
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I have taken a detour from my intended focus on female authors due to a work-related trip to California and the need to get a book that would make the 5+ hour airtime go by quickly.   I was not disappointed by this quick and engrossing crime thriller.

Nesbo is a Norwegian author that is likened to his Swedish counterparts, Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell.  His protagonist is detective Harry Hole and while this is my first foray into the series, it is the 7th book.

According to Wikipedia, the first two, The Bat and The Cockroaches have not been translated in English.  Books 3 - 9 have been translated by the same person, Don Bartlett and are 3) The Redbreast, 4) Nemesis, 5) The Devil's Star, 6) The Redeemer, 7) The Snowman, 8) The Leopard and 9) Phantom.

The story is pretty self-contained although there are enough references to past cases, partners and relationship to guess that reading in order might be more fulfilling.  I have downloaded a sample of The Leopard into my iPad and from what I've read so far, it does feel like a continuation of The Snowman.

I like Nesbo's writing style and his protagonist.  There are a number of twists and turns - at one point, I was feeling pretty good about guessing "who done it" only to be thrown off - which was okay because I didn't want the book to end.

The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg
Published: 2010
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I have continued down the detour by downloading this book on my iPad after reading Maureen Corrigan's review in the Washington Post a couple of weeks ago.  Lackberg is another successful crime writer from the Scandinavian region;  she is from Sweden. This is the third in the series featuring police detective Patrik Hedstrom.  The first two are Ice Princess and The Preacher.

One word that would describe the content is "dysfunction".  Within the structure of a straightforward detective story, Lackberg explores this theme with all the major and minor characters. Upon retrospect, it is quite disturbing.  The reader is privy to the creation of a sociopath, a true monster whose actions are the root cause of tragic events in successive generations.

Within my book journal, I wrote a list of the other themes/issues addressed in the book:  Evil, incompetent police officers, postpartum depression, child pornography, murders by various modes, child abuse, Aspergers Syndrome, suicide, domestic violence, adultery.  Pretty dark stuff - all done behind closed doors in a small Swedish town.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Published: 1811
Rating: 5
Goodreads

LOVED IT!  I find Austen's writing virtually perfect.  Each word, phrase and sentence is meaningful and important - there is no fluff.  All of her characters, major and minor, are so vivid and real. The heroine (Elinor) is loved; the villains (Fanny and Willoughby) are despised; the spineless (Mr. Dashwood) is annoying, the broken-hearted (Marianne and Elinor) are pitied and the heroes (Colonel Brandon and Edward Ferrars) are without fault.

The comedic ending is perfect.

After reading the book, I watched the 2008 BBC mini-series and the Emma Thompson's 1995 movie adaptation.   Both are excellent.

"Mentor: A Memoir" by Tom Grimes

Published: 2010
Read: 2011
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3
Reviews: Goodreads









My reading journey has led me to the world of memoirs.  I remember seeing this book last year and made a mental note.  During a Border's closing sale a few months ago, it was purchased and added to the ever growing TBR pile.   I picked it up before going on a 2-day business trip last week, thinking it would be a perfect airport-airplane read while providing some food for thought - a good choice.  

This poignant memoir is about the impact of a mentor, Frank Conroy, director of the prestigious Iowa Writer's Workshop on a fledgling writer, Tom Grimes.  It also offers a glimpse into a writer's life and if accurate, it is a lonely, difficult, anxiety ridden, insecure life.  Why would anyone want to do this?  I ask the same question when reading articles about people who want to run a marathon in every continent or about a 51 year old man who recently biked from California to the East Coast in 11 days - why??  I guess it is a calling or maybe a better description - an obsession.

Meaningful quotes below:

Grimes' reasons for writing:

Writing was my center of gravity.  If I quit, I'd implode.

It's my way of controlling my world and my emotions.  I focus on sentences.  For several hours a day, nothing else matters.  I live inside language.  And while I'm often frustrated by writing's difficulty, I am also at peace.

Writing is a necessity.  I exist on sentences.  I forget my sense of failure.  I forget time. I forget that I'm aging.  I forget that one day I'll die.  Revising sentences is an act of hope, and connecting to the reader is the only leap of faith I'll ever take. 

I never want to die and when I'm writing a novel I believe I never will.  

I can relate to some of Grimes' feelings.  About how writing is a centering activity and a way to work through intense feelings.  I've had to rely on writing to survive our personal earthquake, the suicide of our beloved 17-year old son.  In the aftermath, during the wee hours of the night, words flowed from pen to paper.  Into my journal, then onto Josh's blog.  Then onto this reading blog.  And over 2 year later, I have not stopped.  I try to be as true and uncensored as possible - about what I am feeling and thinking.  It has been a lifesaver.

Difficulty of a writer's life:

The ground a writer stands on is no firmer than water.

I've chosen a profession and life that promises to humble me.

The six months I'd spent hunched over my desk in a small cold room near an ice-glazed storm window had ended.  I felt as if I'd ascended from the ocean's frigid, black floor, broken the water's surface and taken a deep breath.  A world did exist apart from the intensity of making sentences and the anxiety of scratching my way toward an ending.

Interesting thought about the connection between writer and reader, as imparted to Tom by Frank.

A reader must feel the continual, but unobtrusive pressure of the writer's soul behind every sentence.

Very good example of "show, don't tell".  Grimes is in the locker room of a pro baseball team, for research purposes. In my book, I underlined the adjectives and circled the verbs. 

First they pulled long, white socks above their knees and secured them with navy blue stirrups.  Next, they hoisted jock straps over their hips, stepped into spandex shorts and then reached inside them to snugly place a hard rubber cup over their testicles.  They tugged short-sleeved Mets T-shirts over their heads, slipped into immaculate white, blue and orange pinstriped uniforms, and then knotted the laces of their polished black cleats. 

Tom's very graphic, intense description of his sister's attempted suicide.  Horrible.  She tried to disembowel herself with a carving knife.  This didn't work so she plugged in an electric carving knife and slit her left wrist.  The noise woke up her husband and two young children.  When the boys saw her covered in blood, "she seemed to be wearing a horror mask. The boys began tearing at their hair, trying to rip it from their skulls.  As he dialed 911, they ran into the dining room and circled it's table, shrieking."

When Tom was diagnosed as clinically insane - his haunting, descriptive metaphor:

I felt like an eggshell that had been dyed with vivid colors, then pinpricked and drained.  It may appear solid, but beneath its decorative surface it's hollow and nearly weightless.

Takeaways:
Read Frank Conroy's critically acclaimed memoir, published in 1967: Stop-Time

"Writing About Your Life" by William Zinsser

Published: 2004
Read: 2011
Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 4
Review: Good Reads
Author web site

"Writers are the custodians of memory, and memories have a way of dying with their owner."  

This sentence is one of many that are underlined in this dog-earred book.   Memories are all of I have of my beloved Josh and it is the reason why I write - in my personal journal, in weekly letters to him as I sit by his grave site and on his blog.

An easily read book that gives good, solid, encouraging direction and advice for those who have the desire to write about their own or a loved one's life.  Below are quotes that I found helpful as well as a recommended reading list.

Helpful quotes:

• When the inner critic says "Who gave you permission to think your story will interest the rest of us?"  His answer: "Well, I give you permission.  All writers are embarked on a quest of some kind and you're entitled to go on yours."
• "To write well about your life, you only have to be true to yourself."
• "Think small and you'll wind up finding the big themes in your family saga."
• "Look for the human connection as you make your journey.  Connect us to the people who connected with you."
• "The best memoirs are frozen in a particular time and place and social or historical condition."
• "It's O.K. to crank your personality up to a higher notch of enjoyment.  But don't exaggerate grossly; don't strain the reader's good will.  Stay recognizable underneath."
• "If you're writing a memoir, choose one narrative that tells a coherent story and discard everything else."
• "I think of intention as the writer's soul."
• "Moral: Write about things that are important to you, not about what you think readers will want to read, or editors will want to publish or agents will want to sell....If it is important to you, it will be important to other people."

Recommended Books:

• Growing Up by Russell Baker
• The Road From Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
• Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
• King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
• The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
• The Liar's Club by Mary Karr
• An American Truth by Annie Dilliard
• Poets in Their Youth by Eileen Simpson
• Orphans by Eileen Simpson
• Reversals by Eileen Simpson
• Colored People by Henry Louis Gates
• A Drinking Life by Peter Hamill
• This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
• The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison

"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion

Published: 2005

Read: 2011

Genre: Memoir

Rating: 4

Review: Goodreads







A quick read with lots of dog eared pages, underlined passages and notes in the margins.  This is a memoir told in snippets or snapshots of memories and flashbacks interspersed with the present - how she dealt with the sudden death of her husband.  I don't get the title.

I agree with the Chicago Sun-Times: "Unforgettable...both personal and universal.  She has given the reader an eloquent starting point in which to navigate through the wilderness of grief."  If I ever wrote a book about my grief journey, I would want this to be said.

A more extensive post with quotes and my thoughts of this highly recommended book is on Josh's blog. 

"Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing" by David Morrell

Published: 2003
Read: 2011
Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 4
Review: Goodreads
Author's web site






Found this at the library while looking for The Art of Fiction by John Gardner.  I picked both books up, skimmed through the Gardner book and read this one cover to cover.  A quick and easy read with interesting anecdotes from his life, including experiences in writing his first novel, First Blood and the subsequent translation to the famous Rambo films.

I found this book helpful not only in thinking about the fledgling story in my head about Josh, but in my goal of being a more thoughtful reader.

His thoughts:

• Write conversations with "alter ego" to flesh out ideas for a story and/or to create character sketches
• Avoid flashbacks as in his opinion, they move the story backwards.
• He prefers third person limited over first person. 
• Description should be multi-sensory.  He tries to use two senses in addition to sight.
• Read the first sentence, then paragraph of new books at the bookstore once a month.  Take note of the ones that grab my attention verses those that don't and ask why.  
• Be like Hemingway who practiced stand alone dramatic paragraphs with little to no adjectives or adverbs. 
• No speech tags except for "said" and "asked".   Will force to write more descriptively. 

Examples:

"I'll track you down and murder you!" Jill shouted. 

"I'll track you down and murder you!"  Jill's cheeks were as scarlet as her hair.

"I gave that jerk the best three days of my life," Jill said proudly. 

"I gave that jerk the best three days of my life," Jill shoved back her shoulders and stood straigher. 

Memorable quotes:
How characters should control plot and not vice versa.

"In the worse kind of novel, the plot controls the characters, often forcing them to do ridiculous things, because at any narrative cost, the novelist has to strain to reach the big explosion at the climax.....In the opposite and better kind of novel, however, characters control the plot.  Properly motivated, their fears and desires set events in motion and cause the plot to proceed to a satisfying inevitable end."

On plot and conflict

"Without conflict, no plot can be interesting....As far as I'm concerned, in the abstract there's only one plot, and it goes like this: A person or group or entity wants something.  Perhaps it is to survive a blizzard, to get married, to dominate the world, or to save a child trapped in a fire, whatever.  Another person, group, or entity throws up every barrier imaginable to stop that goal from being achieved.

Recommended reading:

• Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster
• Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (powerful 1st POV)
• Huck Finn by Mark Twain (1st POV)
• Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (3rd POV)
• Raymond Chandler detective series (1st POV)
• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (3rd POV)

"The Things They Carried" By Tim O'Brien

Published: 1990
Read: 2011
Genre: non-fiction novel
Setting: Vietnam War
Rating: 5
Awards: Pulitzer Prize finalist
List: 1,001 book
Review: Sarah Reads Too Much

A new genre - "non-fiction novel" or "non-fiction fiction" 

In the author's own words: happening truth into story truth.

"Here is the happening-truth.  I was once a soldier.  There were many bodies, real bodies with real faces, but I was young then and afraid to look.  And now, twenty years later, I'm left with faceless responsibility and faceless grief.

Here is the story-truth.  He was a slim, dead, almost dainty man of about twenty.  He lay in the center of a red clay trail near the village of My Khe.  His jaw was in this throat. His one eye was shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole.  I killed him."

The blur between reality and fiction is blurred.  O'Brien uses stories that may not be "happening-truth", complete with facts and figures, but the essence is 100% true.

Can only be told by someone who has lived it.

On writing these stories

"The war was over, after all.  And the thing to do was to go on.  So I took pride in sliding gracefully from Vietnam to graduate school, from Chu Lai to Harvard, from one world to another.  In ordinary conversation I never spoke much about the way, certainly not in detail and yet ever since my return I had been talking about it virtually nonstop through my writing.  Telling stories seemed a natural, inevitable process, like clearing the throat. Partly catharsis, partly communication, it was a way of grabbing people by the shirt and explaining exactly what had happened to me, how I'd allowed myself to get dragged into a wrong war, all the mistakes I'd made, all the terrible things I had seen and done.

I did not look at my work as therapy, and still don't. Yet when I received Norman Bowker's letter, it occurred to me that the act of writing had led me through a swirl of memories that might otherwise have ended in paralysis or worse.  By telling stories, you objectify your own experience.  You separate it from yourself.  You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain."

On writing specifically about the shit field

"Norman is back in the story, where he belongs, and I don't think he would mind that his real name appears.  The central incident - our long night in the shit field along the Song Tra Bong - has been restored to the piece.  It was hard stuff to write.  Kiowa, after all, had been a close friend, and for many years I've avoided thinking about his death and my own complicity in it.  Even here it's not easy."

Other Quotes

"Though it's odd, you're never more alive than when you're almost dead.  You recognize what's valuable.  Freshly, as if for the first time, you love what's best in yourself and in the world, all that might be lost."

"War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love.  War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery.  War makes you a man; war makes you dead."

"I was a coward.  I went to war."

Stories

6 day internal struggle after receiving his draft card

Fellow soldier blown by a land mine and subsequent torture of a baby water buffalo
Night in the shit field, losing Kiowa and visit with his daughter, many years later
Getting shot, almost dying and payback to the inept medic

Takeaways

Someday, would I be able to write about Josh and the impact of his death in this fashion?
Read his other books:

• "If I Die in a Combat Zone" - a memoir
• "Going After Cacciato" - 1979 National Book Award
• "In the Lake of the Woods"
• "Tomcat in Love"

"The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work" Ed by Marie Arana

Published: 2003
Read: 2011
Genre: Non-fiction: writing_authors
Rating: 4
Review: Goodreads









A collection of essays written by various authors for the Washington Post Book World.  Each essay is preceded by a brief profile of his or her career by Arana.  I found this book to be interesting and a quick read.  Gave me a boatload of books to add to my "wish list".

Favorite Quotes

From the editor:
"Writers learn their craft, above all, from the work of other writers.  From reading.  They learn it from immersing themselves in books.  They do not learn it from classrooms or workshops or manuals - the cannot be programmed to perform.  It is, in essence, lonely work: isolation is what they must learn to savor..... Come what may, they must go to their desks alone."

Anthony Trollope
"My task is to chronicle those little daily lacerations upon the spirit."

Susan Minot
"I began to write on my own - prose poetry, journal writing.  It was the first time I had a room of m own, and I found that writing was a way both of being alone and of finding out what was going on inside myself.....I wrote pages of stream of consciousness long into the night....I began to rely so much on writing that I was living a double life - one the world and one on the page.  The one on the page was more intense, more satisfying and for a long time much more real."

Nadine Gordimer
"The only school for a writer is the library - reading, reading...Ours is the most solitary of occupations....For me, writing has been and is the exploration of life.  That is why my novels and stories are what I call open-ended..."

Erica Jong
"The act of writing always made me feel centered and whole....It is my meditation, my medicine, my prayer, my solace.  If you are relentlessly honest about what you feel and fear, you can be a mouthpiece for something more than your own feelings.  People are remarkably similar at the heart level - where it counts.  Writers are born to voice what we all feel.  That is the gift.  And we keep it alive by giving it away."

"The utter trust that exists between reader and author is like the trust between lovers."

"Generosity is the soul of writing.  You write to give something.  To yourself.  To your reader.  To God.

Craig Nova
"When a writer is successful in using a story taken from experience, it is not told exactly the way it happened, but in the way that reveals, through all one's beliefs, hopes and fears, how the event should have happened."

Jayne Anne Phillips
"Writers begin as readers, and words become a means of survival."

E.L. Doctorow
"But wherever books begin....the work itself is hard and slow, and the writer's illumination becomes a taskmaster, a ruling discipline, jealously guarding the mind from all other, and necessarily errant, private excitements until the book is done."

"You can't write the book until you find the voice for it."

Richard Selzer
"A good deal of what I do is in the form of a diary."

"Writing, for me, is what purring is for a cat.  It represents pure pleasure, and there is no purer pleasure than chasing after the nature of a bodily thing and nailing it to a page."

"There's a good deal of waiting around in writing."

E.O. Wilson
"The central role of literature is the transmission of the details of human experience by artifice that intensifies aesthetic and emotional response."

Frances Fitzgerald
"To a writer, a book is much more than a job.  It's a companion - albeit a temperamental one you would sometimes like to strangle.  It's a virtual world you can call any time - a world with its own landscapes, its own cast of characters, its problems and its epiphanies.  Finishing it means that this world must disappear, this companion must go, and it will be a long time before you can find a replacement."

"Then too starting a book is almost as bad as finishing one.  There are just too man blank spaces, too many possibilities.  A book becomes fun only when it fills out a bit and begins making its own demands."

Michael Chabon
"Literature, like magic, has always been about the handling of secrets, about the pain, the destruction and the marvelous liberation that can result when they are revealed.  Telling the truth, when the truth matters most, is almost always a frightening prospect....if a writer submits his work to an internal censor long before anyone else can get their hands on it, the result is pallid, inanimate, a lump of earth."