Libby Says...
I'm off for a few days to help my friend Margo (Philip's sister-in-law) drive from Baltimore to Houston as she moves back here. So, expect some radio silence as we try to do the trip in as few days as possible. I've been thinking about Fibs since my post the other day, so here's one for the road (remember, the format is 0-1-1-2-3-5-8...) Drive Through. Without a real stop. Not to see the world, But to help a friend to come home. Okay, boring? Here's another. Work. School. Yoga. I'm breathing, Hoping to finish With my sanity and a smile. Here's hoping you'll leave some for me while I'm gone... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Too much going on to get all these in a single post, but... Part of the reason I've been so quiet around here recently is that I've been working on some papers for grad school. On the bright side, one of those papers required (ok, required may not be accurate, but... that's the way I worked it...) a lot of reading. Below is an annotated list of some of what I've been reading lately, including those books for my paper (although this first batch is what I snuck in before, after, and around the paper)... Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl - I read this one recently for my book club. The book tells the story of Mary (Boleyn) Carey (Queen Anne's sister) and her relationship with King Henry, her sister and brother, and Anne's rise and fall. I really enjoy historical fiction, so this one was enticing, but I prefer when the authors tell you how much is historical and how much fiction (in an author's note, for example). One of our book club members was offput by the way-too-common comma splices in the writing, but overall, a light, fun read. Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner - I just finished a break between school semesters, so I took a moment to get a book ahead on our book club reading. This book fit in nicely with the class on Islam I just finished, as it takes place in Afghanistan. The narrator tells of his privileged life as a young boy, the mistakes he makes by being a coward when his closest friend needs him, and his trip to becoming a writer living in America. After his marriage, he goes back to Afghanistan to adopt the son of his friend and atone for his mistakes. A moving read that was so realistic I had to keep reminding myself it was fiction and not memoir. There were some places where the narrative jumps forward further than I expected and leaves me feeling a gap, but in general, I really enjoyed it. Neil Gaiman, Sandman: The Dream Hunters - I've been working my way through the Sandman graphic novels from Gaiman and enjoying them thoroughly. My friend Cindy tried to get me to read them way back when but I wasn't really interested. Of course, she was right, and I'm loving them. This one was written less as a comic-style than as an illustrated novel, and those illustrations are so beautiful. Of course, the story - a retelling of a Japanese fable -- is also done incredibly well. Others from the series that I read recently were: Neil Gaiman, Sandman: Endless Nights and Neil Gaiman: Death: The Time of Your Life. Sadly, I think I've finished those off, but I've got some of Gaiman's "children's" books and short stories left to explore. Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie – Keeping on the memoir kick (you'll see what I mean in part 2), I took a few quick hours (really about an hour and a half – quickie read) for this book, in which Mitch tells about his relationship with a former college professor of his, Morrie. Morrie is dying of ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) and Mitch happens to see a TV interview about it, prompting him to get back in touch. He and Morrie spend some Tuesdays together talking about the important things in life, which Mitch had lost touch with and which Morrie feels so pressingly. I didn't pick this up when it came out because it seemed a bit cloying, but after the life lessons I've learned over (and over and over) the last two years, it was actually a nice read. Felt very…Buddhist, I guess. :-) And reminded me that I might want to stay in better touch with the people I love. They add so much to our lives. The next group of books are all books of memoir, written either by Iranians or by "Westerners" traveling or living in Iran. Stay tuned for part 2. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As long-time readers know, Rocky and I have had a long-running Haiku relationship. Reading today's NYTimes, I saw not one, but two articles that link to a fun kind of related poetic form that sparked some interest in my brain: the Fib, which refers to a poem that uses the Fibonacci sequence to determine its syllables. Apparently, blogger, poet, and children's book writer Gregory K. Pincus started the current Fib craze with a post about his use of the the Fib as a writing exercise. It happens to have sprung to even more widespread popularity thanks to a post on Slashdot.org. And so, in honor of the intersection of National Poetry Month (something we celebrated quite late around here last year) and Mathematics Awareness Month, here's my post linking you all to the fun. :-) According to the NYTimes, here's how the Fibonacci sequence (mathematicians should feel free to elaborate) and the Fib form work: The Fibonacci progression is a mathematical formula that starts with 0 and 1 and then continues to add numbers that are equal to the sum of the previous two numbers. Thus, the first seven numbers in the sequence are: 0-1-1-2-3-5-8. To write a Fib, a more complicated version of the classic, highly constrained haiku, the poet composes a six-line poem that has the correct number of syllables in each line corresponding to each digit in the sequence. (The real first line of each Fib is silence.) So... here's my first crack at a Fib:
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Interesting article in Slate today about a NYT book critic who is more about the thumbs up or thumbs down judgement -- using all those adjectives and superlatives that don't really mean much -- than she is about telling you something about the book. "But the sour-grapes sniping from spurned authors should not obscure the fact that Kakutani is a profoundly uninteresting critic. Her main weakness is her evaluation fixation. This may seem an odd complaint—the job is called critic, after all—but in fact, whether a work is good or bad is just one of the many things to be said about it, and usually far from the most important or compelling...One has the sense of her deciding roughly at Page 2 whether or not a book is worthy; reading the rest of it to gather evidence for her case; spending some quality time with the Thesaurus; and then taking a large blunt hammer and pounding the message home." As I write more essays about books, plays, memoirs, and movies, I recognize that my opinion on whether the work is good or bad is only a small part of what is to be said about it. Comparing the work to other works in its subgenre is sometimes interesting, but more to see what's similar or different, than to say which one is best. "The core question is how the current piece fits into the oeuvre, and we expect reflective reviews to address it. In this case, I'd be curious to see a critic consider Hornby's oft-stated and almost obsessive pledge to write books that are entertaining and ultimately uplifting—and how such a project could be expected eventually to encounter artistic and philosophical difficulties. You'd want this Platonic critic to touch on other stuff,
too. He or she could share some insights about the nature of novels written
in dramatic monologues, or novels about suicide, or novels, or art, or
life. Kakutani's refusal ever to take her eyes off the thumbs up/thumbs
down prize, or to lay any of her own prejudices, tastes, or tangentially
relevant observations on the table, is dispiriting."
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Via I Speak of Dreams, a meme about women authors you've read. Of course, it's not a complete list, by any means, but it's an interesting start... Instructions: Bold the ones you've read. Italicize the ones you have wanted/might like to read. ??Place question marks by any titles/authors you've never heard of?? Put an asterisk if you've read something else by the same author. * Alcott, Louisa May–Little Women * Allende, Isabel–The House of Spirits * Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings * Atwood, Margaret–Cat's Eye * Austen, Jane–Emma ?? Bambara, Toni Cade–Salt Eaters ??Barnes, Djuna–Nightwood *de Beauvoir, Simone–The Second Sex * Blume, Judy–Are You There God? It's Me Margaret Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden *Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre *Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth Byatt, A.S.–Possession Cather, Willa–My Antonia Chopin, Kate–The Awakening *Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express Cisneros, Sandra–The House on Mango Street *Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History ??Cooper, Anna Julia–A Voice From the South Danticat, Edwidge–Breath, Eyes, Memory Davis, Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics Desai, Anita–Clear Light of Day *Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems Duncan, Lois–I Know What You Did Last Summer DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca Eliot, George–Middlemarch ??Emecheta, Buchi–Second Class Citizen *Erdrich, Louise–Tracks Esquivel, Laura–Like Water for Chocolate Flagg, Fannie–Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl Gilman, Charlotte Perkins–The Yellow Wallpaper Gordimer, Nadine–July's People Grafton, Sue–S is for Silence Hamilton, Edith–Mythology Highsmith, Patricia–The Talented Mr. Ripley ??hooks, bell–Bone Black * Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road Jacobs, Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Jackson, Helen Hunt–Ramona Jackson, Shirley–The Haunting of Hill House Jong, Erica–Fear of Flying *Keene, Carolyn–The Nancy Drew Mysteries (any of them) Kidd, Sue Monk–The Secret Life of Bees ??Kincaid, Jamaica–Lucy * Kingsolver, Barbara–The Poisonwood Bible * Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior ?Larsen, Nella–Passing * L'Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time * Le Guin, Ursula K.–The Left Hand of Darkness Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird *Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook ? Lively, Penelope–Moon Tiger ?Lorde, Audre–The Cancer Journals Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series (any of them) McCullers, Carson–The Member of the Wedding *McMillan, Terry–Disappearing Acts ?? Markandaya, Kamala–Nectar in a Sieve ?? Marshall, Paule–Brown Girl, Brownstones Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables ? Morgan, Joan–When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost * Morrison, Toni–Song of Solomon Murasaki, Lady Shikibu–The Tale of Genji Munro, Alice–Lives of Girls and Women Murdoch, Iris–Severed Head * Naylor, Gloria–Mama Day Niffenegger, Audrey–The Time Traveller's Wife * Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys * O'Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find ?? Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time * Picoult, Jodi–My Sister's Keeper * Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar * Porter, Katharine Anne–Ship of Fools * Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News * Rand, Ayn–The Fountainhead * Ray, Rachel–365: No Repeats * Rhys, Jean–Wide Sargasso Sea ?? Robinson, Marilynne–Housekeeping ?? Rocha, Sharon–For Lac Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Smith, Zadie–White Teeth Spark, Muriel–The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Spyri, Johanna–Heidi Strout, Elizabeth–Amy and Isabelle Steel, Danielle–The House * Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club Tannen, Deborah–You're Wearing That? ?Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife's Tale ? Urquhart, Jane–Away * Walker, Alice–The Temple of My Familiar *Welty, Eudora–One Writer's Beginnings * Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence * Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods * Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women * Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One's Own Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Giggled when I ran across this discussion of kissing-as-greeting etiquette in the NY Times. For most of us in the US, kissing-as-greeting is fairly uncommon and restricted to close family or friends. On the other hand, if you do business with or have friends who are European (or Canadian), kissing is much more common. I actually really like the custom -- it feels so warm and friendly. You can see a guide to who to kiss when in European customs at Blistex. Knowing who to kiss, when to kiss, and how to handle the kiss can make you look very smooth and well-traveled... (or the opposite, of course...) When do you kiss? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've been working on the handstand for the past six to eight months with my teacher, Kay. Like many others, I was skeptical when Kay first suggested that it was time to stand on our hands; I'm not exactly thin and sylph-like and it worried me. Still, Kay has a very easy and soothing method of learning to handstand that has worked for me -- I can pretty consistently stand on my hands for 30 seconds to a minute. So -- start next to the wall, maybe 3-4 inches away. Go into something that feels like a high-heeled downward dog. Hands should be about shoulder-width apart, and facing straight toward the wall. I usually spread my fingers wide. Eyes should be toward the wall, which lifts your head a bit -- don't drop your head until you're fully in the handstand. By keeping your focus "forward," it helps keep your perspective, which is one of the toughest parts of handstand. Okay, next, test out to find which leg is your stronger lead leg. Lift a leg and kick up toward the wall a few times, hopping on the other foot. Then try kicking with the other leg. The very first time you're trying this -- that's probably more than enough. Once you've picked a leg, start focusing on finding the wall with the kicking foot. Again, the next few times you try this, it may be plenty to just practice the hopping and kicking -- the purpose behind this is to get used to carrying your weight on your hands and arms and get comfortable with the new and different perspective you get from being upside-down. So, you've spent a few sessions putting more and more weight on your hands, kicking up with your lead leg, looking for the wall with your foot. Once you start finding the wall with that one foot, bring the other leg up to meet it. At first, you'll probably kick hard, crash, and lean your legs and glutes against the wall to get into the pose. At this point, you really need to tighten your core muscles to hold yourself in alignment -- pull your hips away from the wall, center your hips and shoulders over your hands and feel as though you are reaching up with your feet, stretching toward the ceiling. I like to imagine someone is holding my ankles and pulling upward -- it gives me the right feeling of lift. It sounds kind of odd, but by lifting actively, the weight on my hands feels less. So, lifting, feeling your ribs and hips come apart, expanding through the torso, chest, shoulders (shoulders should be broad, but not bunched up around your ears -- neck long)... Overall, a feeling of lifting and lightness, as well as active, working muscles. As you get comfortable on your hands, you can drop your head and relax your neck muscles. The breath: I breathe out when I'm kicking up to the wall, take deep breaths while I'm in the handstand, and then inhale to prepare for the dismount, exhaling as I come down to the floor, inhale again as I stand up. Keep in mind that "dismounts count" as Kay likes to say. Your lead foot will gracefully come back toward the floor, followed by the other foot. Think about placing the foot gently rather than plopping. Keep thinking about controlling the feet, going both directions. I spent about a month away from yoga because of school, and because of my downstairs neighbor, I can't practice in the apartment. But I did spend a lot that time visualizing the handstand that I wanted -- and my first day back to it, I felt as though I floated up to the handstand, held it, and dismounted gracefully and lightly. Of course, the next day, I was pretty tired, and it didn't go as smoothly. Still, we have to forgive our bodies for being different every day and do what we we can, right? So, I practiced my kicking and breathing and we'll try again tomorrow. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Ran into this fantasy novelist's exam recently (I think it was via Will Shetterly, but I'm not sure anymore) and since I know that I'm not the only one around here who loves to read SF/Fantasy, thought you might be interested in this exam. All fantasy writers should take this exam as they're planning their story -- it might be a good way to avoid some of the more obvious derivative plot devices that sometimes sneak in. I'm not quite as snarky about the rules as this exam is -- I admit to reading and even enjoying many books that wouldn't have passed this exam, but avoiding these problems is still a good way to write a better book. Beyond this, it's a good thought process to improve your writing for almost anyone, whether writing a creative story, novel, poem, or even essay (or blog entry?!) -- can you trace your ideas? Are you just following someone else's pattern, or have you modified the ideas so that they are not only your own, but also not a too-used cliché? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link |
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