Middlemarch by George Eliot

A nuanced and complex novel that deals realistically with life. Comparisons with her contemporary Charles Dickens are inevitable. Compared to Eliot, Dickens seems overly sentimental and even a little crude in his portrayal of characters and their motivations - and I love my Dickens. But Eliot (actually the female author Mary Ann Evans) has an insight into the psychological makeup of her characters that rings true.

How I spent my summer vacation

Actually, how I have been spending my summer. Several highlights:

- Signed up for the South Carolina Writer's Conference in October. Polished up the beginning of the latest novel and sent it off to be critiqued. Laurie will be going with me this time - that's good news, because I can be a painfully-shy wallflower when alone.

- Spent our vacation at the John C. Campbell Folk School. We both took a memoir writing class from Vicki Hunt. That was a great time, and she's an excellent and insightful teacher. The class sessions were very "Oprahesque", as we all shared episodes from our past. I'm not really very keen on writing a memoir, but writing is writing, and I had a good time. Came away with a version of my "Broken Keys" story that everybody liked. We had a reading on the last night, and I got so choked up reading it that I had to stop and try to recover. Very embarrassing, but everyone was very nice about it. I guess that episode of the broken piano afected me more than I realized.

- So I converted the first person memoir about the broken piano to a 3rd person short story - added some scenes, narrativem and dialog, rearraged things, etc. Sent it off to Glimmer Train for the "Family Matters" contest they have every so often. Should hear back from them fairly soon - they are very good at reviewing submissions.

So the summer has been productive. I know I made the resolution to let the novel rest and work on shorter pieces and I have done that. We'll see what happens...

Ipod touch test post

A test of posting from my iPod touch. A cute trick, but too tedious for a substantive post.

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

A very strange book. It's not the plot that's strange, although it is somewhat surreal at times, not the characters, or the setting. It's the narrator, who is crude and scatologically obsessed. It's like watching an episode of South Park or Family Guy, but without a lot of the humor. Although there is some wry, satirical humor.

Vernon Little is the narrator, a teenager from Texas caught in the tragedy of a school shooting. He is blamed for it, or at least targeted as the scapegoat, and then all manner of unlikely events occur.

So if you can get past the constant images of shit and crap and the aroma of poontang, you might actually enjoy this book.

Bodily Harm by Margaret Atwood

Woman recovering from cancer surgery goes to a Caribbean island for a work/vacation trip and becomes involved in political upheaval. Not my favorite Atwood novel. I had a tough time understanding the point of it all, something that is usually very clear with her novels. The ending is also very dark.