|
Post by shilgia on Oct 16, 2018 21:28:50 GMT -5
Not reading, but writing, is that allowed in here?
Like a flash of inspiration, a book idea came to me yesterday. Really I was wondering if a book about something existed, because I would want to read it, and based on some quick googling it appears it doesn't, so now I'm wondering if I should write it. It would be nonfiction. But of course I don't even know how to begin. (Sorry for keeping it vague for now; have to develop it a bit further first.)
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 17, 2018 0:04:47 GMT -5
Also reading the Power,
decided not to worry about the science and treat it as a metaphor for women suddenly have some way of taking physical power.
I have a feeling it won't end well.
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 17, 2018 0:04:58 GMT -5
shilgia re writing NaNoWriMo is coming up, you could take a look at their page for writing resources, otherwise look for a writing group.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 17, 2018 5:31:08 GMT -5
Oh shilgia, I'd love to read anything you write (well, except for legal documents which I will admit I find incomprehensible). I love my writing group, except for the fact that I haven't really been writing anything lately.
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 17, 2018 6:27:05 GMT -5
I'm rereading The Power. Although I think I won't be finished by book club tomorrow!
I'm enjoying it again second time round, but agree with q; it strikes me as in large part a fantasy - I don't mean as in non-realistic, I mean as in wish-fulfilment. What would it feel like if women, particularly young women, could magically shake off all their fear and oppression and rise up.
At least one person in my group is going to hate the violence and quasi-religious stuff. And there's even more violence than I remembered!
|
|
|
Post by shilgia on Oct 17, 2018 8:54:29 GMT -5
Liiisa, it won't be legal! Which is one of the things that makes it a bit daunting. To pull it off I'll have to learn a lot and write in a genre I haven't worked in before. And interview people and such. Queen, good idea, thank you! I'm thinking of doing nanowrimo with this. Not with the intention of creating an actual manuscript, but at least to do a daily brainstorm and some research. Right now I'm working on another writing project, but God willing (i.e., if I can get my act together) that should be done(ish) by late October, so for once the timing might actually work. Anyone else thinking of nanowrimo this year?
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 17, 2018 11:34:10 GMT -5
Agree with you lillielangtry on the wish-fulfillment/violence aspect of The Power - unfortunately the political situation in this country has lots of us having bloody imaginings lately. No nanowrimo for me - as always November is the busiest time for me at work. I have been writing snippets of something that might be considered poetry maybe. More like short, self- contained paragraphs?
|
|
|
Post by shilgia on Oct 17, 2018 15:40:21 GMT -5
Liiisa, how did you find your writing group? I wonder if something like it exists near me - I mean, this is Manhattan's Upper West Side; there are probably 10 writing groups on every block, but I don't now quite how to find a suitable one. Nano has some events that I might go to to see if that helps.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 17, 2018 18:07:54 GMT -5
shilgia it was originally run under the auspices of the nature center where I take classes/lead field trips/etc, so it's ostensibly about nature/environmental writing. To be honest one of the reasons I signed up for it was that an old friend who'd just moved back to town was facilitating it. I recognize that this isn't really answering your question.
|
|
|
Post by shilgia on Oct 17, 2018 18:28:52 GMT -5
Nah, it does. It tends to confirm what I'm thinking: that good writing-group matches come from direct referrals, not from internet searches.
|
|
|
Post by sprite on Oct 18, 2018 5:17:45 GMT -5
I think about Nanowrimo every year, but given that i can't force myself to write a paragraph a week, i don't think i'll be cajoled into cranking out 300 words a day by internet strangers.
go for it, shilgia. write the book, and then fill in the research-y bits later?
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 18, 2018 6:06:15 GMT -5
79. A Scone to Die For, HY Hanna. Again, better than the silly cover would suggest.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 18, 2018 23:29:47 GMT -5
Last night I finished "The Keepers of the House" by Shirley Ann Grau. It was a Bookbub special I'd never heard of, but it won the Pulitzer in 1965, and it was really good. Set in the South, with a bit of older history but mostly in the first half of the 20th century, the narrator's ancestors settled an area and built the community around them. In the end it's about race. And anger. And family.
The narrator is very well done. She sort of floats through life (until the big event), and isn't really all that sympathetic. And even when her spine of steel becomes apparent the reader doesn't necessarily like her, but at that point it's impossible not to respect her.
Weirdly, all the info on line says it's set in Alabama; but my impression from reading it was that they were in Georgia. They go to Atlanta sometimes, and there's one comment about "getting a fast Alabama divorce" which seemed to imply that they left their home state to get it. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention.
Or maybe not - just checked, and Wikipedia starts by saying it's set in Alabama, but then the plot summary says they live in Mississippi. Maybe it's supposed to be ambiguously "southern"?
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 20, 2018 22:29:02 GMT -5
Today I finished "The Wonder" by Emma Donoghue. Although it was flawed (for example, the main character was far too cliched - almost a caricature - at first) it was also gripping and left me really, really liking it a lot.
Set in Ireland 6 years after the potato famine ended, an English nurse travels there to take on a short-term private nursing contract, and discovers that her 'patient' is an 11 year old girl who has apparently not eaten for 4 months, and the community wants to know if it's a miracle or a sham. She and another nurse are to watch the child constantly for 2 weeks to confirm whether or not she is taking food.
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 21, 2018 3:56:52 GMT -5
I think about Nanowrimo every year, but given that i can't force myself to write a paragraph a week, i don't think i'll be cajoled into cranking out 300 words a day by internet strangers. more like 1700 - if you want to reach the 50K target. I've tried several years and never met it so I set myself a 30K target and I can reach that. I was thinking about doing it this year but instead of a novel writing 30 pieces of commentary because the world is so screwed up it's all I think about
|
|
|
Post by shilgia on Oct 21, 2018 8:04:09 GMT -5
Yeah. I signed up for this year and highly doubt I can get anywhere close to 50k, but that's not the point (for me).
|
|
|
Post by sprite on Oct 21, 2018 8:19:43 GMT -5
50K!!
I thought it was 10K. pfft.
|
|
|
Post by shilgia on Oct 21, 2018 8:38:14 GMT -5
10K is not a novel!
|
|
|
Post by lillielangtry on Oct 21, 2018 10:32:22 GMT -5
I've never done it, but now I'm becoming weirdly tempted. Perhaps we could start another thread for it, however?
|
|
|
Post by sprite on Oct 21, 2018 12:22:22 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 22, 2018 12:33:10 GMT -5
Finished a Faye Kellerman mystery called "The Ritual Bath". Set in a yeshiva in LA, the impossible attraction between a woman targetted by a rapist and the detective is the real focus of the book. It shows a lot of Jewish traditions - no idea how realistic it is. It is respectfully done, but maybe is just a bit too careful to have the 2 main Jewish characters be extremely intelligent and articulate and open minded, and not to show much/any bigotry from the Yeshiva community towards outsiders. Or at least, the only overt bigot is a guy who is an ex-con and really horrible person.
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 25, 2018 12:33:06 GMT -5
JUst finished David Sedaris' "Theft by Finding, Diaries 1977-2002". Since he writes about his life, lots of the events he wrote about in his diary were familiar but it was often from a different perspective. His voice is great, and although it evolved over the years (as he said, in the '70s he was on speed a lot of the time so he rambled a lot) it's distinctively him throughout.
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 25, 2018 20:47:20 GMT -5
53. Rick Wilson, Everything the orange menace Touches Dies
Wilson, a Republican campaign strategist, is one of the few Republicans out there who agree with sane people that Donald the orange menace is horrifying. He's also very funny on Twitter and in his columns in the Daily Beast.
The book is a little redundant in places, and of course I disagree with his lack of understanding that the US Republican Party has been problematic for a long, long time and it's not just the orange menace. (If the Republican ideal was as good as he thinks it is, hell I'd be a Republican.) (What am I saying, no I wouldn't.) But anyway, it was a worthwhile read. He really is a very funny writer - he skewers all the idiots we've had to live with for the past 2 years in very satisfying scathing language.
And now for the new Sarah Perry!!
|
|
|
Post by Liiisa on Oct 26, 2018 4:59:15 GMT -5
I also happened to finish the other book that I've been reading over the past month or so:
54. Dan Hoffman, Visual Intelligence
The author tells us that we "construct" everything we see; the image on the retina are two-dimensional, so the brain follows a series of rules in order to render those images in 3-d. He uses a series of illustrations of optical illusions to prove his point.
It's kind of wild to think about... an interesting book.
|
|
|
Post by fishface on Oct 26, 2018 9:47:15 GMT -5
Ed King, by David Guterson.
Gah just no. Updated/contemporary story following Oedipus Rex.
Not a spoiler as that was what the book cover said.
But it was just too insipid and bland but then too clever for its own good. The characters insane (title character), or inane (still the title character and now all rhe other ones) and unsympathetic. You knew what was going to happen (abandoned son marrying mother) but it was just...nothing. There were weird parts (like the rivalry with the brother) that again you were just wondering if part of a storyline had somehow been poorly edited out.
Knowing the plot idea before reading probably should have put me off but I was bored and the book did look interesting (different contemporary tale etc).
The only time it actually got interesting and any sympathy I had for one character occurred right near the end. Oh no, there was a burst or two l of humour when the author wasn't giving her some weird English sayings to say to her various husbands, lovers, clients.
Honestly. It was a book about a bloke growing up to fall in love with his mother and ultimately self destructing and that *wasn't* the weird unreadable part.
No I correct myself. There was weird in that part. But just generally, the author described sex scenes in the most bizarre way. And again, not just in the parts you would expect.
The most human and relatable character was an artificial intelligence computer.
|
|
|
Post by fishface on Oct 26, 2018 9:52:06 GMT -5
Should I have numbered that?
55. Ed King, by David Guterson.
Just no
|
|
|
Post by scrubb on Oct 26, 2018 11:51:14 GMT -5
THanks for the warning, Fishy!
|
|
|
Post by Queen on Oct 26, 2018 12:36:32 GMT -5
of course I disagree with his lack of understanding that the US Republican Party has been problematic for a long, long time and it's not just the orange menace Of course it isn't, he wasn't elected by magic, it was a strategic choice.
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Oct 27, 2018 23:21:43 GMT -5
The Knowledge by Martha Grimes. Another of her Richard Jury mystery novels. Well written, eccentric characters and a satisfying read. Great for a rainy evening.
|
|
|
Post by ozziegiraffe on Oct 28, 2018 9:25:45 GMT -5
80. Crimes Against a Book Club, Kathy Cooperman. This is a fun description of how two women manage to con some of their richer peers who have more money than sense. The law finally catches up with them. How will it end? Good chick lit.
|
|