The Bookish Sister

Day 261 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and my book group was reading The Used World, by Haven Kimmel, and discussed it last night in the summer world of women, to use a lingering image from the novel.

Hazel Hunnicutt is the bookish sister in that book, and characters are often found reading novels she has recommended, borrowed from her.  A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, out of which an important snapshot falls.  To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf, which makes Rebekah weep.  Other Voices, Other Rooms, by Truman Capote.

I have an ex-library first edition of Other Voices, Other Rooms on my own bookshelf at home--well, actually, right in front of me now--rescued from Discard (inkstamped on title page, alas!) from a school library.  Schools sometimes just throw these books away.  They don't recycle, donate, or take any special measures for them--no staff, no time for special efforts on behalf of books or readers, except that certain teachers and librarians put them on a cart or table for a time in the hall, free books for the taking, thank goodness!  (See Nancy Devine's blog today for more reflection on what's worth saving.)

Joyce Carole Oates was a bookish sister, evident in The Faith of a Writer, her collection of essays on reading and writing.  Here is an excerpt from the tiny, powerful opening essay, "My Faith as a Writer."

Through the local or regional, through our individual voices, we work to create art that will speak to others who know nothing of us. In our very obliqueness to one another, an unexpected intimacy is born.

The individual voice is the communal voice.

The regional voice is the universal voice.

I do believe that, too.  I see that it has been true in literary history, and I feel it in my heart.  I note the irony that some writers and readers tout the virtues of locally grown food but sometimes ignore or neglect the local or regional voice.  But a Winesburg, Ohio will always speak to someone at the right time in hir life!  (hir = the neutral-gendered "her" or "his" I just learned!)

I also believe that patience and persistence can see a writer through the long meandering process of finding a voice and living the writer's life.  I am honored to have my take on this featured in Her Circle Ezine at the moment, here another circle of women quietly, patiently, persistently supporting one another.

The Bronte writing women were all three bookish sisters!  And for a humorous excellent television version, see Modern Family, in which there's a bookish sister and a popular sister, and almost never the twain shall meet, except in love and fierce family loyalty and instructions involving how to talk on a cell phone.  (I see it on hulu.)  Alice James was a bookish sister in a bookish family!  And her book is her diary.

Next, my women's book group will be reading Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan, related by marriage to someone in my local wine-drinking circle of women.  Loving Frank, which I read when it first came out in 2007, and look forward to re-reading, as re-reading is what made The Used World astoundingly lovely to me, is a fictionalized account of the real relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney, seen by some as scandalous, by others as unconventional.  I don't send you to Wikipedia for her as that will spoil the suspense of the novel!  Actually, so will the Frank Lloyd Wright article, if you read it all, so don't read the midlife controversy part if you don't know it already!

And now let me send you to further delight.  The strawberry painting is by J. Bernard Kroch, who has given me permission to use his work. Here is his new website if you want to see more, or buy one of his spectacular small paintings!!

And here is the new Richard Jones poetry feature at Escape Into Life! You can find more great poetry features--Sarah J. Sloat, Nin Andrews, Susan Rich, Kelli Russell Agodon, Diane Lockward, Jannett Highfill, etc., etc.!--on the Poetry page.  And also, me, from before I was poetry editor!! I like being a bookish sister.

My Brain is Origami

Day 209 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and today book recommendations came in the comments on yesterday's entry--please read them for more detail--and I came across what a character is reading in a book I am reading, so my brain is origami.

Plus, I discovered a new website, with panspermia on it (which contains life not seen on earth). What the Heck! (Stuff to Talk About at Work When You Are Not Working). (I am not at work, and I am not working.)

So my brain is even further folded.

Ron is reading The Brief History of the Dead, by Kevin Brockmeier, which sounds amazing (see his comment), and I know I will love Laura, a character who free associates even more than I do!

Seana directed me to The Voices, by Suzanne Elderkin, which takes place in Australia, where the spirit world intersects with the tangible world perhaps more readily than here in the American Midwest, where I am taken by the wind.... Seana is great for international recommendations, so see her wonderful book blog, Not New For Long!

And a character in The Used World, a novel by Haven Kimmel, is reading A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, out of which an important photograph falls. I like this book except that I am having a hard time keeping track of all the characters, partly because I set the book aside so I wouldn't have one novel overlap another novel (The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman) before my book group meets to discuss it, but I am reading it early, anyway, because it is due back at the library, and partly because it folds back in forth in time, like origami, and like real life in various suspended states: alpha state between sleep and waking, death, dental procedures if you are given gas (and just happen to finish reading The French Lieutenant's Woman, by John Fowles, in your mind, giving it a few more variations.)

A Wonderful Book

Day 192 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project and my friend Kim is reading The Used World, by Haven Kimmel, I think because she has liked Kimmel before--The Solace of Leaving Early, a novel, and A Girl Named Zippy, a memoir. Everything is set in small-town Indiana.

Kim says it is a wonderful book. That was the actual subject line of her email. A wonderful book.

She is reading it at the beach, or was when she sent the email, from her handy laptop: "I'm reading The Used World by Haven Kimmel this vacation. It's great. The story involves 3 women who work together at a used furniture place. The story takes place in Jordan, Indiana, and Amos Townsend, the minister from The Solace of Leaving Early, is a minor (so far) character in the book, so some little bit of overlap with that book. I'm about halfway through. You would definitely dig this book, too. If you're looking for something to read. Or blog about. I got it from the library so you could check it out after I'm done (soon) if you don't have a copy at Babbitt's for cheap."

We don't have a copy cheap, alas, at Babbitt's--I looked--and no doubt Kim only read the library copy in the motel room, not actually at the beach, with sand and sunscreen, and red-flagged or yellow-flagged huge dangerous or semi-dangerous waves and small children to run after and save. With a handy laptop.

Used furniture! Meanwhile, I am reading our next book group book, The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman, and we are back to the used and rare cookbooks! And what's got to be a dark turn in the plot. And some twists in the love stories...

Speaking of love, the Lockward chocolate of the day, from What Feeds Us, is witty, clever, fun--and a ghazal--"Love Test: A Ghazal." The ghazal is a Persian poetic form with a repeating rhyme on the second line of every two-line stanza (or couplet)--a sort of perfect form for its original theme and the meaning of the word ghazal: "the talk of boys and girls." Ghazals were about flirtation, love, and drinking!

I have heard two main pronunciations of ghazal--gah ZAHL and GUZ zle. The first is more graceful; the second, more drunken!

Hafiz and Rumi were famous for their ghazals, and Diane Lockward has a lot of fun with hers! One fun aspect of the ghazal is that the poet incorporates his/her own name in the last line. Yep, she does it!