Andre Dubus III on Writing As An Act of Discovery

I attended the Connecticut Library Association annual conference for its second day on Tuesday, April 30th, at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell.  Andre Dubus III spoke for one of the sessions.  I confess that I have not yet read his books.  I've had a copy of National Book Award Finalist House and Sand and Fog on my bookshelf since I saw the movie, which I liked.  I've also been interested in reading his memoir, Townie.

This was one of those author talks that made me wish I went to a lot more of them.  I have to hand it to CLA, as author Geraldine Brooks spoke at last year's conference and was also an interesting speaker.

Dubus stressed curiosity above all as the necessary characteristic of a successful writer.  Talent is nothing without curiosity, he emphasized.  An author needs to know the what to start a book.  But what really is going on is the question that needs to be explored.

He talked about receptivity.  He used the example of wanting to write a story about a psychopathic male, but instead being derailed to tell the story about a woman who was only supposed to be a peripheral character.  Instead, her story seemed to be more real than the "sexy psychopath" he had really wanted to write about.  So he followed her story instead.  A member of the audience asked him what makes him go with one story over another and he responded, "intuition."  And went on to explain that he believes that intuition has to do with guarding truth.

As for his writing habits, he has an office he goes to in the morning, three sessions a week.  He says he gets himself into writing mode by reading poetry.

 

Yes, please!

And now for a brief concert-freakout post.  The Americanarama Festival of Music tour was just announced.  Presale tickets are set to go on sale April 24th, but dates and venues have not been announced yet.

Bob Dylan, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket all on one bill?  I want a ticket to this, like, yesterday!

Fun fact:  My Morning Jacket has opened for Wilco in the past.  I wish I caught that, but at least I saw Wilco with Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band opening!

Running a book group

I love discussing a book with others who've read it (and sometimes even if they haven't), and so do many people, as evidenced by the popularity of book groups.  A book group without a specific focus in terms of a theme or genre works perfectly well, but there are endless ways to narrow the focus a bit:  mystery, classics, science fiction, book to film, nonfiction, history, cooking, etc.  I've run nonfiction book groups at two libraries.  Doing so has been one of my favorite experiences as a librarian.  I've also always found it challenging--from choosing which books to discuss to formulating discussion questions to keeping a discussion going and interesting and both reining in tangent conversations and drawing out more reserved participants.

There are quite a few things to consider when choosing a book.  Many highly regarded nonfiction books exceed 500 or 600 pages, but I don't choose ones longer than that so that people won't feel overwhelmed in terms of finishing the book within a month.  So I set aside otherwise good ideas such as Far from the Tree:  Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, by Andrew Solomon or Catherine the Great:  Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie because they're simply too long to expect people to finish in a couple of weeks to a month's time with everything else (including other books!) they have going on in their lives.  I encourage people to come to the meeting even if they haven't finished a book (which is not as important for a nonfiction book discussion as it is for fiction) but obviously people would prefer to finish it before the discussion. It was recently suggested to me that longer books might be split into two monthly meetings, but I can't attest to how well that would work because I haven't (yet) tried it.

I look at a lot of best-of-the-year booklists for both the most acclaimed and the books that are most present in people's consciousness.  Books I choose have good critical and reader reviews and ideally some buzz around them as well.  That is more something to keep in mind when you're trying to build a group--which titles would most grab people's attention?  Once you've got a core group, perhaps you can relax a bit and include slightly more esoteric titles.  I also keep my eye on award winners (such as the Pulitzer and National Book Award).  A book winning an award piques my interest in that I want to judge for myself whether it deserves the distinction--and hear whether the other book group members think so.

Another consideration in choosing books for discussion is diversity.  With nonfiction groups, I have a little bit of bias in terms of what I'm interested in reading about, but it's important to choose books that stretch across a wide swath of what nonfiction books have to offer.  I've never been big on science, so I shy away from books that get too technical into that, but otherwise I choose a good variety.  I always look to what type of book I haven't chosen before, and being a library-sponsored group, what books might bring in curious new members as well.

It is important to come prepared with discussion questions, but I usually will not rely too much on them except if need be when there is a lull in the conversation.  I prefer to stay attuned to the direction in which the conversation naturally goes (unless it veers too far off topic).  I see discussion questions more as insurance to keep a conversation going than a structure that needs to be adhered to.  I like to start the discussion by asking whether people like the book and what their general impressions are.  The downside to this is that it puts people on the spot.  But I just throw the question out there and people can respond however they want--and it's not as though we have to formally go around the table.

Often the publisher will supply discussion questions that one can find online.  If those aren't available, other discussion groups or libraries may have questions posted online.  If there are no discussion questions to be found for a particular book, I use a combination of generic questions (for nonfiction, in the case of my group) and original questions.  Even if publisher questions are available, I come up with a few questions myself based on my reactions.  That way, I can talk with more enthusiasm and conviction.

Recommended web resources:
Book Group Buzz
Lit Lovers
Reading Group Guides

Books of 2012

Flavorwire posted  "The Books That Made the Most 'Best of 2012' Book Lists" (the lists consulted are linked at the end of the article).  Here are my favorite books published in 2012 that I've read so far.  Feel free to comment with yours.

The Middlesteins, by Jami Attenberg

Multiple generations of the Middlestein family populate Attenberg's novel. Matriarch Edie's overeating threatens her life and creates a rift between her and the rest of the family--particularly her husband of thirty years, Richard, who has given up on her and moved out. Their daughter Robin grapples with her feelings of resentment for her father and how to help save her mother from eating herself to death. Robin's laid-back brother Benny is married to high-strung, health-conscious Rachelle, who is planning their twin children's extravagant b'nai mitzvah party while also worrying about Edie.

This is a realistic portrait of a family with all its complex personalities and problems. The author saves the book from being a downer with her compassionate handling of the characters and her infusions of humor. 

The Elementals, by Francesca Lia Block

This is a new adult fiction book from a favorite author of mine who writes primarily young adult novels (I discovered her when I was a teenager).  Most of her writing can be considered magical realism.  She deftly incorporates mythological and mysterious elements into her stories.  She also excels at sensory description.

Ariel Silverman heads off to college amidst two tumultuous events:  her mother's diagnosis of breast cancer and the disappearance of her best friend, Jeni, who vanished on a school trip to Berkeley.  Ariel wants to get to the bottom of Jeni's disappearance.  In an old house in the Berkeley hills Ariel meets three mysterious and seductive strangers who envelop her in their world.  But there is a lot that she doesn't know about them.

Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

I've read several books on introversion, and this is the best yet, fascinating and useful.  In a society that idealizes and pushes extroversion ("the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight"), at least a third of the population are introverts.  Cain lauds their hidden strengths.  "Our reverence for alpha status blinds us to things that are good and smart and wise," she says.

Cain recounts the rise of the cultural ideal of extroversion and the emphasis of groupthink in the workplace.  She explains how "collaboration kills creativity" for introverts, who are more productive at brainstorming alone.  The leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked yet they can make effective leaders.  Cain sheds light on how introverts can understand their own contradictions, like the ability to act like extroverts in certain situations.  She also looks at how introverts and extroverts can best negotiate relationships together.  Cain includes plenty of examples from research as well as real-life stories of individuals.

Marbles:  Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me:  A Graphic Memoir, by Ellen Forney

Ellen Forney is a talented graphic memoirist (graphic memoirs being an intriguing genre that I dip into occasionally).  This book is about Forney's experience with bipolar disorder.  She chronicles what it is like for her to be manic and to be depressed, her diagnosis shortly before she turned thirty, the setbacks she faces, and tinkering with different medications.

At the crux of the book is her eagerness to determine the relationship between mental illness and creativity and whether medications inhibit creativity.  "Sometimes it seems like 'pain' is too obvious a place to turn for inspiration," she muses.  "Pain isn't always deep, anyway.  Sometimes it's awful and that's it.  Or boring."  The book reads as an honest, courageous, often humorous account with bold artwork to match.

Flatscreen, by Adam Wilson

In this darkly comic debut novel that I read with the howling wind of Hurricane Sandy outside my window, Eli Schwartz is basically a deadbeat, a couple of years removed from high school, jobless, pudgy, often stoned and clad in a bathrobe.  "People told me I was funny in high school," he says.  "It was good for awhile, the attention, until I understood what it meant.  It meant I wasn't other things:  sexy, interesting, smart, ambitious.  It meant I was going to have trouble getting laid.  It might have even meant I was fat." 

He takes on a rocky friendship with a troubled, larger-than-life, wheelchair-bound former actor.  Eli also heads in the direction of having a functional romantic relationship with an odd woman who also hasn't left town after high school.  "The most unlikely soul could find a counterpart.  Who was mine?" he wonders, and says, "everyone just needs someone to make them feel like death isn't a better option."  Despite his puttering existence, Eli searches for meaning.  This novel isn't for everyone--there are drugs, sex, snark, sentence fragments, and alternative endings--but besides the fact that it's funny, it has heart.

My year in music 2012

Fiona Apple:  musical artist of the year

My favorite albums of 2012:

#1.  Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel . . .
#2.  Jack White, Blunderbuss

Others I've enjoyed:

Band of Horses, Mirage Rock
Sara Bareilles, Once Upon Another Time EP
Dave Matthews Band, Away from the World
Brandi Carlile, Bear Creek  (This is her most flawed album to date, however.)
Shake The Baron, Ghost Hits
Tori Amos, Gold Dust
Whispertown, Parallel EP

Then there are a bunch I need to hurry up and listen to in their entirety, such as releases from Bat For Lashes, David Byrne & St. Vincent, Bob Dylan, Benjamin Gibbard, Beth Orton, Amy Ray, and The Wallflowers.

My concert attendance:

Apr. 21st: Death Cab For Cutie with Magik*Magik Orchestra, Wang Theatre, Boston, MA
June 22nd:  Shawn Colvin, Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield, CT

Conor Oberst in Boston, 12-6

June 29th:  Fiona Apple, Ives Concert Park, Danbury, CT
July 7th:  Shake The Baron, Great Scott, Boston, MA
July 27th:  Iron & Wine, Calvin Theatre, Northampton, MA
July 31st:  Wilco, Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA
Aug. 1st:  Wilco, Mortensen Hall at The Bushnell, Hartford, CT
Aug. 4th:  Brandi Carlile, Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, MA
Sept. 8th:  Shake The Baron, I AM Festival, New London, CT
Sept. 13th: Bon Iver, Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, MA
Sept. 28th:  Jack White, Agganis Arena, Boston, MA
Sept. 29th:  The Wallflowers, Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
Dec. 6th:  Conor Oberst, Orpheum Theater, Boston, MA
Dec. 9th:  Band of Horses, House of Blues, Boston, MA

On the Sandy Hook tragedy

I currently reside and work in close geographic proximity to Newtown.  The mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School stunned my coworkers and me last Friday as we hoped for minimal damage but instead heard that twenty-six had died.

I find "Oh Very Young" by Cat Stevens to be a fitting tribute to the twenty children, all six and seven years old, who lost their lives.

Oh very young, what will you leave us this time

You're only dancin' on this earth for a short while

And though your dreams may toss and turn you now

They will vanish away like your dad's best jeans

Denim blue, faded up to the sky

And though you want them to last forever

You know they never will

(you know they never will)

And the patches make the goodbye harder still.

Oh very young, what will you leave us this time
There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
And if you want this world to see a better day
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you ride the great white bird into heaven
And though you want to last forever
You know you never will
(you know you never will)
And the goodbye makes the journey harder still.

Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you ride, oh, ooh

Oh very young, what will you leave us this time
You're only dancin' on this earth for a short while
Oh very young, what will you leave us this time

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'" --The Bible, Mark 10:15.

For the teachers who protected the children in their care:  "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." --The Bible, John 15:13.

The Civil Wars is an awesome duo

It often takes me awhile to get into musical artists.  I first heard The Civil Wars on the last Grammy Awards (which I watched very sporadically) when the pair performed briefly before introducing Taylor Swift.  (They won two Grammys:  Best Folk Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance.  I would describe their music as Americana--not fitting neatly into either of the narrower classifications of folk or country.)  I kept them in mind as performers in whom I might be interested, and eventually got their 2011 CD through the library system.  Barton Hollow is a great album.

Joy Williams and John Paul White met during a songwriting session in Nashville, TN in 2008.  Their vocal harmonies are great as is the male-female dynamic. White plays the guitar and Williams the piano (the guitar is a constant, the piano brought out more selectively).

"Poison and Wine" is the album's standout track.  It is about the love-hate duality in a relationship, with its oft-repeated line, "I don't love you but I always will." "I've Got This Friend" is another highlight, a song that is playful and touching at the same time. "The Violet Hour" is a hauntingly beautiful instrumental piece with guitar, piano, and strings.  By far the most upbeat song, title track and single "Barton Hollow," is strategically placed in the middle of the album's tracklisting.

A week ago, the duo announced the cancellation of their upcoming tour dates, citing "internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition."  Williams is a new mom and perhaps that has something to do with the tour being halted.  But she and White don't appear to be breaking up:  "Our sincere hope is to have new music for you in 2013."

Rating:  4.5 out of 5 stars