Book #101: Reality Hunger: A Manifesto

Title: Reality Hunger: A Manifesto
Author: David Shields

Do you view writing like visual arts, where experimentation and borrowing are routinely employed in highbrow works of art? Do you wonder if copyright laws are outdated and restrict creativity? Do you think that traditional novel and memoir are boring, dead forms, too focused on story and not willing to experiment with scratching away at a theme? Do you like "collage" writing with lots of short chapters and themes that could be easily reorganized and reordered? If so, you may be David Shields, or else one of his disciples.

Shields originally wrote Reality Hunger as a series of quotations from famous authors (and some of his own advice) to guide creative writing MFA students in his graduate seminars. After years of collecting, rewriting, and reordering his quotes, he published them as Reality Hunger, a book that argues for exploring the boundaries of creative writing, for not being hemmed in by traditional methods of telling stories.

I'll admit that I'm pretty skeptical about the idea. I feel that one of the main reasons I'm in an MFA program is to learn how to tell good stories, but Shields spoke to my class a few nights ago, and I hope I approached our conversation with an open mind. I agree that there need to be people like Shields (or Joyce, or Woolf) pushing the boundaries. But I don't feel equipped to push boundaries that I don't really understand yet. Maybe in another five or ten years I'll be able to approach Shields with more enlightenment.

I hate to toot my own horn but....

Did you see that last post? The number 100? In five years of blogging about books, I've never hit 100 books in a single year. But this year, with the help of the Whitney Awards, audiobooks, and graduate school, I managed to go where I'd never gone before. While I know there are people out there who read a lot more than I do, but 100 has always felt like an unattainable goal for me. After five years of trying, I finally made it.

Book #100: Steering the Craft

Title: Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew
Author: Ursula LeGuin

The following comes from a presentation I gave on the book for my Young Adult fiction seminar:

As MFA students, we’re in an unusual position. We have writing groups built into our course of study, where we’re lead by people who know the craft and know how to share their knowledge with us.  Ursula LeGuin’s book is written for the majority of writers—the ones who’ve found small groups of like-minded “sailors” (she uses a sailing metaphor throughout) or for “lone navigators” trying to work out learning how to write on their own.

While LeGuin gives plenty of advice on things like point of view and active voice, the thing that makes her book unique is that it’s more of a workbook, a launching pad for writers. Each chapter has a short introduction of a principle, followed by models of how the principle is used well in classic literature. LeGuin then suggests writing exercises, with modifications for how the exercises can be used in groups and for people working through the book on their own.

LeGuin’s topics include: the sound of your writing, punctuation, sentence length and syntax, repetition, adjective and adverb, subject pronoun and verb, point of view and voice, changing point of view, indirect narration, crowding and leaping.

I think that LeGuin’s book could be a very effective resource for teachers of introductory creative writing courses. While I haven’t done the activities she suggests, I can see that they would work well in a classroom setting. The expository sections of each chapter are just detailed enough that they could easily be adapted to lesson plans for an instructor.

Example: Chastity

Write a paragraph to a page (200-350 words) of descriptive narrative prose without adjectives or adverbs. No dialogue.

The point is to give a vivid description of a scene or an action, using only verbs, nouns, and articles. Adverbs of time (then, next, later, etc…) may be necessary but be sparing. Be chaste.

If you’re using this book in a group, I recommend that you do this exercise at home, because it may take a while.

If you’re currently working on a longer piece, you might want to try writing the next paragraph or page of it as this exercise.

The first time you do the exercise, write something new. After that you might want to try “chastening” a passage you’ve already written. It can be interesting.

For MFA students who have writing projects in mind and in progress, I can see myself turning to LeGuin’s activities when I encounter writer’s block. Keeping my story in mind, I could use one of her prompts, and get writing, even if it’s on another section of the novel.

Book #99: Mockingjay

Title: Mockingjay (The Final Book of the Hunger Games Series)
Author: Suzanne Collins
 
After reading the first two books in the Hunger Games series, I don't know why I expected Mockingjay to end happily. I mean, the first two books were pretty depressing, and they all ended darkly, with just a note of hope. Katniss and Peeta (and Gale) were pretty darn damaged after the second book. I also hate movies and books where a bloodbath takes place, but all the main characters end up unscathed (I think that was part of the genius of The Hurt Locker and LOST-- the famous people get killed off too, not just the throwaway supporting characters). I also think that we shouldn't pander to a YA audience and give them stories that are less "real" (in terms of realistic actions and reactions) than the books adult readers would expect. For both of those reasons, I really admire Mockingjay. Collins doesn't pander, and while the book arguably ends the way readers might want it to end, it's obvious that none of the main players left the battle unscathed.

I can't help but compare the end of the Hunger Games series with the end of the Harry Potter series. In both cases, the books ended with a recap that showed what happened to the major players several years in the future. However, in Mockingjay, readers get a much greater sense that Katniss and her family are still recovering from the events of their past. There's no discussion of Harry having PTSD, for example, or being unable to embrace life after nearly losing his to Voldemort. Furthermore, major characters die in both series, but the deaths seemed more tragic and more heartwrenching in Mockingjay. Dumbledore was, after all, an old dude when he died, right? I admire Collins for staying true to her story and her characters in Mockingjay, but it made for a much darker, less gratifying read. Maybe that's a good thing.

Book #98: The Cookbook Collector

Title: The Cookbook Collector: A Novel
Author: Allegra Goodman

I've been listening to Allegra Goodman's The Cookbook Collector for the last few weeks. When I was buying the book, I looked at a few of the reviews at audible.com and noticed that someone said that it was a book that "MBAs will like, MFAs will not." I was intrigued, and after reading the book, I'll admit that I agree with that simple assessment. The Cookbook Collector centers on the stories of two sisters, Emily and Jessamine Bach, who both live in the San Francisco Bay area, but whose lives seem to represent different ends of the spectrum of stereotypes. Emily is a computer science geek with a internet startup company, a girl who goes from having no money to being a hundred-millionaire literally overnight. Jess is a grad student, hugging trees and whiling her way through Berkeley. The other characters they meet also feel somewhat stereotypical-- the high-flying venture capitalists, the startup CEOs who lose their souls, the guys who made it big at Microsoft and now collect wines and rare books with the same enthusiasm they once applied to cracking code. At times, the book felt like a satire. If it had been a satire, I may have liked it better. But, right there in the title, Goodman calls it a novel.

While the characters often annoyed me and it felt like there were too many stories for a single novel, all ideas that probably could be pursued in their own individual novels, I did love the passages with the cookbooks and those that take place in George's rare book store. It's obvious that Goodman loves her books, and she conveys that love to her readers. As for this book becoming a classic, one worth putting in my personal library, I'm not so sure.

First Day

Somewhere in between Maren starting full-day preschool at the Montessori school two weeks ago, Bryce and Annie starting fifth and fourth grades at their respective elementary schools, and me starting both teaching and going to class tomorrow, this beautiful thing happened...

It's not a great picture (I'm the "this is old hat" mom, on her third kid, who forgot the camera and shot a single photo with her phone this morning. There were many, many moms frenetically snapping pictures through their tears, but I was not among them). He's so much cuter than he looks here, through my smudged lens, but you can tell through the bad-quality photo that he's confident and ready to be here.

At least one of us feels that way. I sure do love this little guy, and I'm so glad that he's a kindergartener, running on the playground right alongside his friends, walking to and from school with his big brother.

Hobble Creek Half Marathon Race Report

I ran this race last weekend, but just got around to writing the report. If you saw the cryptic message of 1:27:03 showing up on my facebook status last week, here's the back story.

We had a busy day on Friday. We took the kids on the Heber Creeper, then went rafting on the Provo River, then had shakes at Granny's, then rode the chair lift up at Sundance, then had dinner at Brick Oven. With a belly full of pizza and milkshake, I fell asleep alongside Maren at about 9pm.

We spent the night at my IL's cabin in Hobble Creek Canyon, and the race ran right past the entrance to their neighborhood. So I was able to wake up relatively late (5!), ride down the canyon, and hop on a bus. By the time I made it up there, some of my running group arrived and we shivered and hopped as the sun rose too high while we waited for the race to begin. I saw Sheree and was really happy to see her. There are five or six "fast girls" in my running group, and four of us were running the race, and we all decided to head out together (with our coach) in hopes of finishing in the 1:30 range. Coach and I ran side-by-side, and the other three girls weren't far behind.

The first seven or eight miles of the race were really fun-- fast, cool and easy with the downhill. But I knew when the race started late that it was going to get hot, and it did around mile 8. Then it became a matter of enduring. I knew I was slowing down a little bit (my first four miles were all in the 6:20 range) but the key was not to slow down too much before the finish.

Finally, I saw the sign indicating the last half mile. It felt like it lasted forever. I could see what I thought was the finish line. But it wasn't it. Then I spotted something further down the road that looked like it, but it wasn't it either. Finally, I turned a corner and ran in. The time said just under 1:27 as I started through the finisher's chute, and I crossed the line at 1:27:03. Although I'd lost my girlfriends around mile 5 and my coach around mile 8, one of the girls had saved a lot for her finish and came in about 5 seconds behind me. We stood on the sidelines and cheered in the people in our group until everyone finished.

Then I jumped back in my car and drove to the cabin, where my mom was waiting for me so she could do her workout. While I was gone, she walked 60 times around my IL's cabin, and was depressed to discover that each lap was only 227 feet. I grabbed a calculator as she walked out the door, but wasn't able to catch her in time to tell her that she'd actually walked 3 miles! She didn't come back until she'd walked six more, and by now it was the heat of midday. She'd never hiked the Y before, and she wanted to do it (and we'd told the kids we would), so after she showered, we drove to Provo, where I strapped Maren and a lot of water into my backpack, and we spent the next hour and a half sweating our way up and down Y mountain. Honestly, I'm not sure if running the race or wearing a 3 1/2-year-old up the side of a mountain in 90+ degree weather was harder. The kids were all troupers, and we rewarded them with a late lunch at the Creamery, where I ate every bit of my cheeseburger, fries, and ice cream sundae.

When I got home, I had texts from friends in my group letting me know that I'd placed 1st in my age group and had won a plaque and a pair of socks! (LOL!). The race was a 5 minute PR for me, and my overall pace was 6:39/mile.

Book #97: Quotidiana

Title: Quotidiana
Author: Patrick Madden

In my pre-parental years, I was an excellent student. I never missed a reading assignment, handed things in on time, and usually had relevant things to add to class discussion. I haven't been a full-time student since before Bryce was born, so going back to class in two days (to teach and to learn) is going to be a new experience. I'm nervous. So I'm falling back on my old habits while I still can, and trying to prepare myself as well as I can. One of the ways I decided to prepare for my Creative Nonfiction workshop with Patrick Madden was to read his recently-released book of personal essays, Quotidiana. I figured that I'd get some insight into Madden's life and what he might want out of us for the course by reading his essays. It's kind of weird going into this class feeling like I know a lot about him, while he knows nothing at all about me. 

After reading Quotidiana, I feel like the class is going to be more challenging than I expected, but also more interesting and rewarding. Madden, who studied physics at Notre Dame as an undergraduate, and who peppers his essays with quotations from famous essayists, Latin phrases, and mathematical equations, isn't writing in the "I'm trying to get out my feelings as a stay-at-home mom" vein that most of the work I've written, read and edited over the last few years comes from. Honestly, when I read Madden's essays closely they were brilliant and insightful and very roundabout (he'd throw something out there that seemed extraneous, then come back to it five pages later), but they required a lot more of me than I was prepared to give, reading them for fun and in a series in my bed on a Sunday morning. These essays are more like poetry-- they deserve to be read singly, with time to ponder them. But I'm accustomed to reading novels, and it's hard for me to take a break and think once I come to the end of a chapter/essay. In that regard, I feel like I have a lot to learn. I definitely know I'm going to be challenged by Patrick Madden this semester, but I also feel that I'll be a better writer for it.

Book #96: "Shut Up!" He Explained

Title: "Shut Up!" He Explained: A Writer's Guide to the Uses and Misuses of Dialogue
Author: William Noble

I read "Shut Up" He Explained in preparation for the Young Adult Novel workshop I'm taking this fall as part of my MFA in Creative Writing program at BYU (didn't know I was doing that? Well, I am, I guess, but I'm not sure yet how I'm going to balance it all). Anyway, part of the course requirements is to write a young adult novel. I know, I can hardly believe it either-- in three and a half months I'll have a novel written. I'm not sure that it will be a good novel, but hey, I'm a beginner. I had to submit part of a draft earlier this spring and said during a conference that one of the things I was struggling with the most was writing dialogue, so my professor, Chris Crowe, suggested that I read this book.

Although the book is old (published in 1987) and likely out of print, it did have great advice for a beginner like me about writing dialogue. Noble talks about when to use dialogue (for character development, to move along the plot, etc...) and also how to use dialogue effectively (when to use "he said," for example, instead of "he exclaimed," and allowing the words the character speaks to establish tone and stuff like that). It's a pretty short book, and well-organized enough that I feel like I can use it as a resource to return to when I'm in the nitty-gritty of writing and need a place to turn to help me use dialogue to foreshadow, or how to incorporate dialect into my dialogue.

Book #95: Devil's Food Cake

Title: Devil's Food Cake: A Culinary Mystery
Author: Josi S. Kilpack

First of all, I'm going to show my prejudice here as the daughter of a foodie, as a girl who was raised to know the difference between Valrhona and Ghirardelli, as a woman who (almost) always has homemade hot fudge in her refrigerator and would only resort to using Mrs. Richardson's in an emergency (and who thinks that Smucker's hot fudge belongs in outer darkness along with canned frosting). I'm skeptical of the recipes Josi Kilpack includes as Sadie's recipes in Devil's Food Cake (her fancy "French Chocolate" recipe includes a jar of Mrs. Richardson's, but everyone knows that cheap hot fudge negates the influence of all of the good ingredients in that recipe), and therefore I have a hard time trusting Sadie superlatives, whether related to food or to tracking down murderers in the middle of the night.

There's nothing exactly wrong with Sadie's recipes. I'm sure they're tasty and rib-sticking, but they're not the gourmet showstoppers Sadie passes them off as being. I do admit to being very curious about her Evil Chicken, although perhaps not curious enough to actually try making it. Maybe this is intentional on Kilpack's part, to characterize Sadie as a small-town woman with big ambitions, but I can't really tell. I do think they're probably appropriate for the "cozies" genre, fluffy and not too difficult to digest.

That aside, I think there are a number of things that do well in Devil's Food Cake. She closely follows the unities-- the book takes place over the course of about 18 hours (most of it through the night-- a wild ride for a fifty-something retired schoolteacher), in a single town, and with a single focus. Sadie's character also made me laugh, but sometimes I can't tell if I'm laughing at her or laughing with her. Kilpack paints her as the kind of woman who would do a great job with a class of fourth graders or heading up a dinner committee, but I can't help but seeing her as more meddlesome than helpful when she involves herself in murder investigations. I felt it more in this book than in Lemon Tart, because in Devil's Food Cake she solves the murder only inadvertently, when the murderer shows up to off her and she manages to get away.

All in all, I'd say the book is enjoyable, but not great. I'll pass it along to my mom, who appreciates the genre more than I do, and seems to fit the intended audience demographic better than I do, but who will undoubtedly scoff at Sadie's choice of chocolate.