Trance by Christopher Sorrentino

My rule is that I give any book 100 pages to make a case for why I should read it. I gave this one 128 pages before I gave up. Why? Too many characters, too many viewpoints, and the raionale for the character's actions were not convincing. Some of the writing was strong, it's a National Book Award finalist after all, but I didn't care for it at all.

David Fulmer workshop - second meeting

Had the second meeting last night. We read samples of our writing. Everyone seems to be about the same level, although I think I am the only person working on short stories - everyone else has a novel. I have a novel too - actually more than one, but at this point I think a publication credit with a short story would do me more good.

Like most classes and workshops, this one has the usual problems: starting late, lots of chatter, and a little unorganized, resulting in running out of time. Some things never change...

Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta

Another in my National Book Award reading project; this one was a finalist. It's another of those novels plagued with uninteresting or annoying characters and an unsatisfying ending. There's too much drug usage and navel gazing by the characters for me to identify with them. Wasted lives, a lot like the novel "Holy Skirts". The character of the fifteen-year-old son is irritating and overdone, and he is, of course, very important to the book. That's one of the problems with literary fiction - the novels depend so much on character, since plot is ignored or abandoned. If your characters are not likable for a particular reader, then your novel suffers.

The Zero by Jess Walter

A creative book, which always gets my attention. The main character has PTSD from 9/11 and is experiencing gaps in his memory. Or possibly a multiple personality, and the only personality the reader sees is the good, but confused, one. He's attempting to solve a complicated mystery, and the confusing snapshots that he, and the reader, get are what drive the novel forward.

When I saw there were three parts I hoped something would change in part two - maybe a switch to the "bad" personality, but it didn't happen. As a result I started to get a little tired of the short-attention-span nature of the writing, but it was still a page turner, something that is rare in these literary novels. I highly recommend it.

First Class with David Fulmer

Had my first "fiction shop" with David Fulmer last night at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta. It was the usual get acquainted first class, with some review of the basics. This is not a beginner class, but a workshop for those more advanced in their writing. Almost everyone is a novelist. I think a couple of other people had short stories, but no one as many as I have. Of course, I have novels too, and I need to decide what to focus on in the class. I'm pretty sure at this point in my non-career it would be more useful to have some publishing credits with short stories.

For next week, we prepare some writing samples for him to review. Setting, dialog, and backstory for a character. I gather we have to read before the class, instead of preparing multiple copies. Panic! Last night I was my usual quiet, painfully shy, wallflower. That is not going to change appreciably until I get comfortable with the people in the class, which will not happen in eight weeks, I'm sure.

Anyway, the first class was a welcome improvement over the Algonkian online class I took last last Spring. David Fulmer was professional, friendly, knowledgeable, focused, and obviously interested in helping us improve our writing. Totally unlike the sophomoric, unprofessional attacks by the Algonkian staff.

So I have high hopes for this class, and from what I've seen already I shouldn't be disappointed.

A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus

I admit to being baffled by the ending, which had the effect of ruining the book for me. The author totally changed actual history to suit the story he wanted to tell, which I guess is allowed, just annoying. And I don't trust his attempt to use 9/11 as a metaphor. It's supposed to be a black comedy, but I didn't find it very funny.

And what was up with the scene where the husband tried to be a suicide bomber? I had to go back and read it again, searching for the point where the author gave the reader a clue that it was a dream or a fantasy. Nothing. That is lying to the reader, something that I think there is no excuse for. After that, can I trust any other scene? No. How can I tell what is fantasy, what is dream, and what is reality in the book? I can't. Inexcusable, and very poor writing.
OK, so I had a lot of complaints about the book. I can't rate this one very high.

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

Excellent writing, unsettling topic. Disgusting details of wasted lives. I bought my copy used, and it came with one of those clear plastic book covers, the kind that libraries use. I wanted to handle it only by the plastic cover, like a book condom, so I wouldn't get infected. Now if I could just disinfect my mind and get rid of some of the images she drew, but I am afraid they are deeply filed away and will pop back up at the worst times. So I don't recommend reading this unless you are of strong character.

Short Story submissions

I submitted "Common Ground" to storySouth and "Spiritu Sancto" to Chattahoochee Review today. One is an electronic submission, one is postal. The email submission is so much easier, but I suppose they get a lot more submissions that way, which may not be a good thing.

Usually takes at least a couple of months to hear anything from literary magazines. But, one of my resolutions this year was to keep my hook wet, so to speak. I can't let the month waste away without trying.

I'm using Duotrope's Digest to find markets and keep track of submissions. Sent them a donation as well.

Short Story Collection - Flip Flop Flap

Laurie compiled my short stories from 2005-2006, designed a book with some of my artwork, and got it published on Lulu.com. Looks pretty good. The intent is to give them away to family and friends, if I can find anyone that is interested. Not for sale, of course, since I am still holding out hope that I can get some of them published someday.

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

A serious, well-crafted novel that tells the story of a small village infected by plague in 1666, and their self-sacrificing decision to quarantine themselves to prevent the spread of the disease, a decision that led to two-thirds of the villagers dying. Based on a true story, the author covers all the responses of humans under such stress - abandonment of faith, religious fanaticism, witchcraft, guilt at being spared, profiteering. It's well written - I read it because I read her second novel, the Pulitzer prize winning "March". My only complaint is the ending. Once again, an author goes to great lengths to insure a happy ending, perhaps because there was so much unhappiness in the novel. The happy ending was fine, I guess it was the trip of the girl to a Muslim country that seemed so incongruous and unbelievable.

But for a first novel it's outstanding. I can see where she improved in the writing of "March".

New Writing Class

Signed up for a fiction workshop at the Center for Southern Literature at the Margaret Mitchell House. The leader is David Fulmer. I've been to a talk he gave for the GWA and have read two of his books. I'm looking forward to it, since I have taken a couple of online classes, and this is my first in-person class.

The Church of Hooks and Lures

The new working title for my latest novel. Changed from Devil's Walking Stick, since I totally eliminated the devil's walking sticks (a woody plant with big thorns) from the book. The new title is one of the chapter titles, and it will probably change again too, but for now, there it is. Nicknamed CHL.

Holy Skirts by Rene Steinke

A novel, not a biography, about the baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, a Greenwich Village "character" around World War I. She was ahead of her time - today she would be described as a moonbat, I think. In my humble opinion (which is what this blog is all about, right?) she wasted her life. She professed to be independent of men, but her identity was tied up in the men she married and bedded. Why call herself a baroness? Because of her third husband. Her life was one contradiction after another, and she made stupid mistakes and childish decisions. And the poetry, at least the poems that are presented in this book, are third-rate.

But the book is great and well written. Steinke has the ability, part talent and part hard work, of producing just the right image to illustrate her point. The subject matter is entertaining and provocative.

I thought the first part was almost "short attention span" theater - the facts of her  life before New York were presented in tiny snippets that left me disappointed. But the second half, in which the baroness develops her "life as art" persona, is much better.

The novel was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2005.

Chasing the Devil's Tail by David Fulmer

Not your typical detective mystery. It's much better writing than usual in this genre. The setting is colorful, turn of the century New Orleans and the birth of jazz. The characters are many and diverse, spanning the full range of the color spectrum that New Orleans was famous for.

The murder mystery almost seems secondary. The detective is strangely passive through most of the novel. There are no clues that I could find that point to the actual murderer, just suspicions. But the better than usual writing makes up for it somehow, although it might disappoint a fan of the genre.

Which makes me wonder why he didn't write a literary novel around these characters instead of shoehorning it into a mystery. But, he's published and I'm not! Actually, I have been to a talk by Fulmer and hope to someday take a class from him - he teaches a seminar at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta.

Pulitzer Reading Project "finished"

Last night I finished the fifty-third work of fiction in my Pulitzer prize winning list. So I've read everything since 1947 in the fiction category, with the exception of a couple of works that I skipped. It's been a great journey, and I'm so glad I read some of these works. Check out the Pulitzer Reading Project page to see my list of lists as well as links to all my book opinions.

What's next? On to the National Book Award!

Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor

A massive novel, that requires strength and perseverance from the reader. Like those prisoners at Andersonville, only the strong will survive the depression of this novel. It's a admirable effort to deal with a difficult topic. Kantor's technique is to go into depth about dozens of characters. We learn about their ancestors, their childhood, their war experience in great detail, which has a lot to do with the size of this hefty tome. Focusing on only a few characters would have been sufficient for me, as a reader. The massive preponderance of "evidence" is overwhelming.

My greatest complaint is the total disregard by Kantor for proper punctuation. He is one of those arrogant authors that refuses to use quotation marks for dialog, and does not use commas to seperate strings of adjectives. Extremely disappointing, and it makes an already difficult novel more difficult to read. There is no excuse, in my humble opinion, for disregarding the rules and making it difficult for the reader.

This is the last of the Pulitzers that I ha decided to read. That's fifty-three that I have digested in one form or another. Please check my Pulitzer Reading project for the details.

Pulitzer Reading Project

I created a new page, linked from the "Reading" page, which contains my comments on the fifty-three Pulitzers I read this year. There are lists of lists, as well as links to every book opinion.

2006 wrap-up, 2007 goals

The good and the bad about my 2006 writing:

The worst: The Web del Sol fiction class I took. A waste of valuable time and money on a class that turned out to be sub-standard academically, run in an un-professional manner, and sophmoric in its critiques.

The best: I won first place overall in the Georgia Writer's Association  monthly contests for the year. $50 and an attaboy.

Highlights:

• The Pulitzer Reading project. I read over fifty Pulitzer prize winning fiction books, both novels and short story collections. Surely some of that reading has affected my writing?


• I wrote a lot of short stories, both for the GWA contests and because I wanted to.


• I finished the first draft of my latest novel, code named "Devil's Walking Stick". The title will change, as will a lot of the words, as I struggle to edit it.


• The Web site has really come together and been an excellent way to keep track of my reading and writing.

2007 goals:

• Take another writing class. I'll go back to the Gotham Writing Workshops, for a professionally run class this time. where I know I will get my moneys worth.


• Continue with the short stories by entering as many of the GWA monthly contests as I can.


• Devote time to getting a short story published. If I spent as much time polishing and submitting the stories as I do writing them I might be able to get something published. It's not as much fun, but it needs to be done.


• Edit the DWS novel.


• Continue the reading project, expanding it to include the National Book Award winners and runners-up. Also branch out and read as many new and noteworthy novels as I can find cheaply.


• Keep track of everything here and on my writing wiki.