paperbackgirl.

how often do you get to help a friend make their dream or...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:24:00 -0400

how often do you get to help a friend make their dream or inspired idea come true? i just got home from happy hour and when i pulled this out of my mailbox i got chills up and down my right arm. i’ve heard various vague, embittered criticisms about this anthology but it is so much braver to create something and go for it than keeping the world at arm’s length and sticking to your comfort zone. meaghan, i am so excited to read this, congrats for seeing this end to end!

"i tried not to think about my life. i did not have any good solid plans for it long-term—no..."

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:03:18 -0400

“i tried not to think about my life. i did not have any good solid plans for it long-term—no bad plans either, no plans at all—and the lostness of that, compared with the clear ambitions of my friends (marriage, children, law school), sometimes shamed me. other times in my mind i defended such a condition as morally and intellectually superior—my life was open and ready and free—but that did not make it any less lonely.”

- lorrie moore, a gate at the stairs.

jonathan franzen recommends 4 overlooked books

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:57:00 -0400

jonathan franzen recommends 4 overlooked books:

one of which happens to be written by a beloved former writing professor of mine, sarah shun-lien bynum. i recently read her book, ms. hempel chronicles, and adored it. franzen’s endorsement, my praises, and a spot on the new yorker 20 under 40 list…what more do you need to sway you?

"The best critics perform an important function, but it’s not one I’m hard-wired to do. I just find..."

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:22:22 -0400

“The best critics perform an important function, but it’s not one I’m hard-wired to do. I just find it exhausting having to marshal arguments and defend them against possible objectors. An analogy I often use is that writers are like duck-billed platypuses and critics are taxonomists, and to us duck-billed platypuses the question of whether we should be considered as an egg-laying mammal or what is a pointless exercise. A duck-billed platypus is interested in swimming, finding food, having sex, laying eggs. A novelist’s job is to write a novel, not worry about how it fits into one’s oeuvre or whether it captures the postmodern experience or whatnot. It might be my own ignorance. Perhaps there are writers who consider such things, but I’m really just interested in finding out where a story goes and helping it get there. There are beautiful, magical descriptions of the nighttime in the beginning of Huck Finn—I’ve never wanted to dissect that magic, I just want to read it and experience it.”

- david mitchell on critics, in this interview with the rumpus.

another successful book swap has come and gone—a big thank...

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:51:55 -0400

another successful book swap has come and gone—a big thank you to housing works for hosting us last night. in attendance: ryan, bailey, laura, nancy, nikki, susan, priscilla, nora, jeannie rose, nick, cole, stephanie, and kevin.

reminder: book swap tonight!

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:14:32 -0400

hope to see you at housing works at 6:30p. click here for details.

reading roundup.

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:16:00 -0400

juliet, naked by nick hornby: this was my first hornby book though i’ve seen the film adaptations of about a boy and high fidelity. it was a satisfying read and a good break from some headier books i’ve been reading this summer, though it did broach the topics of creating a legacy and mortality, two themes that have permeated most of my summer reading (accidentally!).

the ask by sam lipsyte: different tone than the usual books i get into but i liked lipsyte’s language experimentation. interesting characters and a nice, gritty new york city story.

the comfort of strangers by ian mcewan: a good friend of mine recommended this to me on a recent expedition to the housing works bookstore and cafe. usually i am the one doing the book recommending so it is nice to be guided a little for once. i love mcewan. i am only halfway done but the creepy tension is starting to build. i always forget that mcewan has a morbid, violent side.

truth. also serves as a reply to the “what is the meaning...

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:13:59 -0400

truth.

also serves as a reply to the “what is the meaning of life” question posed to me by thesearetruedreams. the second part of my answer would be love. aww.

even though it has been almost four years since i last sat in a...

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:29:00 -0400

even though it has been almost four years since i last sat in a classroom, i still get the itch to stock up on school supplies this time of year. i just bought the desk pictured above and it is inspiring me to re-do the workspace in my apartment.

fall “back to school” wishlist:

1. smythson manuscript book

2. levenger 3x5 cards

3. sharpie fine point pens

4. west elm parsons desk in turmeric

5. the elements of style, special edition

6. frye engineer boots

7. espressione retro espresso machine

getting some reading done before mad men.

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:16:00 -0400

getting some reading done before mad men.

Photo

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:00:17 -0400

on leaving the party.

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:55:10 -0400

in college i took several writing classes under poet and novelist eileen myles. she always brought an anecdotal object into the class to center the day’s lesson, whether the object was figurative or literal depended on her mood.

the lesson that stuck with me the most was a story she told us about going to parties with one of her friends. toward the end of the night he would signal to her, and in the next sixty seconds his coat would be on and he would leave without saying goodbye to anyone in the room. finally she asked him what the deal was, and his response was something like, ‘you have to know when to exit a room and saying goodbye to everyone throws off the dynamic.’

she applied this to writing a story by saying that you need to know when to get the hell out of there. don’t over-explain. when things are good, put a period at the end of the sentence and exit. solid advice.

lit and great house are tough acts to follow, but in the words of jay-z, i’m on to the next...

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:27:00 -0400

lit and great house are tough acts to follow, but in the words of jay-z, i’m on to the next one.

currently reading juliet, naked by nick hornby.

great house by nicole krauss.

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:03:00 -0400

by the way i’ve been guarding my canvas bag for the last week, one would think that i was carting around a golden ticket. close enough, i have had an advance copy of great house by nicole krauss in my possession.

as a writer, it was humbling. as a reader, it was engrossing. much darker and intenser than her previous work, great house touches on several characters coming to terms with their mortality. krauss captures the contemplation of the mere mortal trying to make sense of the nothingness waiting for us on the other side with a forthrightness that made my skin crawl.

the characters lives span across generations and continents, the common element being a massive desk that has at some point lived under their roofs. the characters range from a chilean poet to an american writer to a furniture collector specializing in reclaiming goods seized by nazis during world war II.

i adored the history of love. i liked man walks into a room. for me, great house is her best work yet.

"i was familiar with the little mating rituals of getting to know each other, of dragging out the..."

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 07:57:56 -0400

“i was familiar with the little mating rituals of getting to know each other, of dragging out the stories from childhood, summer camp, and high school, the famous humiliations, and the adorable things you said as a child, the familial dramas—of having a portrait of yourself, all the while making yourself out to be a little brighter, a little more deep than deep down you knew you actually were. and though i hadn’t had more than three or four relationships, i already knew that each time the thrill of telling another the story of yourself wore off a little more, each time you threw yourself into it a little less, and grew more distrustful of an intimacy that always, in the end, failed to pass into true understanding.”

- nicole krauss, great house.

today after brunch i dropped by housing works and picked up five...

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 01:35:00 -0400

today after brunch i dropped by housing works and picked up five books for $27.43. why aren’t you shopping there yet?

poll for brooklynites and manhattanites:

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:35:05 -0400

where are your favorite coffee shops and cafes to read and write? i’m trying to put together a solid list of places where lingering isn’t frowned upon. where are your favorite places and what makes them great?

"I read like an animal. I read under the covers, I read lying in the grass, I read at the dinner..."

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:52:40 -0400

“I read like an animal. I read under the covers, I read lying in the grass, I read at the dinner table. While other people were talking to me I read. When I was twelve my mother—who has also read an impressive amount—gave me Portnoy’s Complaint. To this day I have no idea what she was thinking. The scene with the Italian whore boggled my mind. I loved it. I finished it and then I started it again. Who wouldn’t? Especially if you’re twelve.”

- nicole krauss on her experiences with literature as a child, from this interview.

love. ryan and laura already finished and now i am tearing...

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:01:00 -0400

love. ryan and laura already finished and now i am tearing through an advance copy of great house by nicole krauss.

lit.

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:36:00 -0400

believe it or not, lit is mary karr’s THIRD memoir. i’m pretty sure my stable, paltry existence could barely fill 75 vaguely interesting pages but karr is on her third volume of recounting her nutty southern upbringing. lit painstakingly details karr’s battle with alcoholism, fractured marriage, and eventual spiritual discoveries while alluding to past events that deposited her in the depressive, dependent state.

tortured childhoods certainly make for good literature, and lit is richly so. definitely a book i’d recommend.