B. Morrison's Blog, page 63

Under My Skin, by Doris Lessing

A friend loaned me this first volume of Lessing’s two-volume autobiography. The Nobel Prize winner passed away November 2013 at the age of 94, and reading the articles about her reminded me that I hadn’t read any of her books for a long time. Back in the 1970s I gobbled up books like The Golden Notebook and the Children of Violence series. They were a huge influence on my emerging understanding of myself as a person and of women’s roles in society. The Golden Notebook also influenced me as a...

Boston Noir, edited by Dennis Lehane

I enjoy mysteries. I like the puzzle-solving aspect, the attention to characterisation, the recognition of the world’s chaos and the restoration of order. I don’t like detailed descriptions of brutality—some writers seem to compete to gross our the reader—but a good writer can overcome my reluctance. Dennis Lehane is one of those writers. He captured me with his first book, A Drink Before the War, and continues to engross me with his artistry.

I also like Boston. I lived nearby for some time...

Hollywood, by Larry McMurtry [2]

A few weeks ago I mentioned that memoirs about the lives of celebrities seem to find a ready market. McMurtry is a celebrity within the world of writers, thanks to the success of books such as Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment, and the phenomenal success of movies made from them. This third memoir from him is about his interactions with Hollywood, his screenwriting career, which began almost by accident before he was famous, and his later efforts to have his books m...

Hollywood, by Larry McMurtry

A few weeks ago I mentioned that memoirs about the lives of celebrities seem to find a ready market. McMurtry is a celebrity within the world of writers, thanks to the success of books such as Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment, and the phenomenal success of movies made from them. This third memoir from him is about his interactions with Hollywood, his screenwriting career, which began almost by accident before he was famous, and his later efforts to have his books m...

A Perfect Stranger, by Roxana Robinson [1]

I enjoy short stories, especially at times like these when my attention is a bit fractured. Just now about all I can handle is a powerful short story that can pull me in, tumble me about and let me go, as changed as the person in the story.

This is the first I’ve read Robinson’s work, which was recommended to me by my local indie bookstore. Unsure what to expect, I steeled myself for pranks and allusions and metafictional games. But no. These stories stand four-square, solid and traditional....

A Perfect Stranger, by Roxana Robinson

I enjoy short stories, especially at times like these when my attention is a bit fractured. Just now about all I can handle is a powerful short story that can pull me in, tumble me about and let me go, as changed as the person in the story.

This is the first I’ve read Robinson’s work, which was recommended to me by my local indie bookstore. Unsure what to expect, I steeled myself for pranks and allusions and metafictional games. But no. These stories stand four-square, solid and traditional....

World Within World, by Stephen Spender

This autobiography by the well-known British poet was completed in 1950, when he was 41. He meets the objection that he was too young to sum up his life by explaining that “events both public and private tended to make my pre-war life seem complete in itself”, the public event being the end of WWII. John Bayley, in his introduction calls the book “the best autobiography in English written in the twentieth century.”

I have not read widely enough to assess that claim, but it is certainly very f...

Telegraph Avenue, by Michael Chabon [1]

Since we enjoyed Kavalier and Klay and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union so much, my book club selected Telegraph Avenue for this month’s read. Chabon’s 2012 novel has gathered a lot of critical praise, but we struggled with it. Only one person besides me finished it, and most of the others couldn’t make it past the first 50 pages.

Old friends Archy and Nat run a used record store—yes, records as in vinyl—called Brokeland Records on the title’s street in North Oakland. Their struggle to keep the...

Telegraph Avenue, by Michael Chabon

Since we enjoyed Kavalier and Klay and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union so much, my book club selected Telegraph Avenue for this month’s read. Chabon’s 2012 novel has gathered a lot of critical praise, but we struggled with it. Only one person besides me finished it, and most of the others couldn’t make it past the first 50 pages.

Old friends Archy and Nat run a used record store—yes, records as in vinyl—called Brokeland Records on the title’s street in North Oakland. Their struggle to keep the...

Best books I read in 2013 [2]

As a writer, I learn something from every book I read. These are the ten best books I read in 2013. Please check the links to the blog archive for a fuller discussion of each book.

1. Human Chain, by Seamus Heaney

I was saddened to learn of Heaney’s death this week at what seems to me now the young age of 74. In his honor I salvaged this 2010 collection of his poetry from the depths of my to-be-read pile. In these poems he brings together and shares tesserae from all of his ages—climbing with...