Lilian Nattel's Blog, page 46
April 8, 2011
April 7, 2011
It Arrived!
My new laptop arrived today. I ordered it from Lenovo at the end of March when my last computer started making ominous noises. I had visions of being in the middle of a revision with the deadline looming and hard drive being chewed up. However as soon as I ordered the new laptop, my old one calmed down marvellously and is now in the hands of my older d.
I waited for my new laptop with bated breath, really, checking UPS every day for news. None came, it seemed to be languishing in customs, and then unexpectedly the bell rang this morning. I spent the day getting it up and running, transferring files from my old laptop, and customizing it to d's preferences.
Then I went for a walk, very short due to hunger (too busy to eat enough) and cold (where did the sun go while I was busy getting everything up and running?).
And I took photos with my new camera, though nothing very interesting because I was too cold to stay out long. Here's a sample.
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Filed under: Fun, Personal Tagged: new toys
April 6, 2011
Today's Anti-Procrastination Experiment
I tried Freedom yesterday, a software program that cuts internet connection for the time specified (though you can circumvent it by rebooting). I didn't much like it; I found the yellow dot bouncing around the wireless icon distracting. So today I just didn't turn my computer on until 10:00 am.
For that hour I wrote on the Neo, an electronic device that does nothing but type into files, which can be uploaded to a PC. I turned on my computer at 10, and much procrastination subsequently ensued. But that small amount of focused time percolated throughout the day, making me think more about my new book.
I wonder what will happen if I try again tomorrow.
Filed under: Literary, Personal Tagged: anti-procrastination, Neo, writing process
the anti-procastination device for writers
Not long ago, I interviewed Dave Eggers. He is a good man and I liked him. But for me, our meeting was also life-changing. During our talk, we got on to the internet: the noise of it, the breadth of it, the way it gobbles your time. He confessed to having once wasted a day watching Kajagoogoo videos on YouTube; I confessed to the self-loathing that is born of Wi-Fi, a seductive cloud that follows you wherever you go and makes you feel all dirty, like Pig-Pen in Charlie Brown.
via guardian.co.uk
The solution is Freedom–a program that locks you out of the internet for as long as you specify. You can get around it by rebooting, but do you want to? I'm going to test this out today. I'll let you know how it goes. Find it here.
Filed under: Miscellany
April 5, 2011
Women Doing Literary Things
Please come visit with me and leave a comment at WDLT.
I live in a world of women and gentle men. My husband is one of those, a good guy who won my heart by cooking a nourishing and tasty soup.
Continued at the link above.
Filed under: Literary, Personal Tagged: thoughts on writing
What I've Been Reading
The last 3 books I've read, while different from each other in every respect, have this in common: I was not entirely satisfied.
I'll start with The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard, first published in 1980. This is the latest book read by the online book club Slaves of Golconda. I ordered it via Abebooks from a used bookstore in the UK, and it's the first paper book I've read for a while. The blurb was enticing, as it should be, describing the novel as the story of 2 sisters from Australia who settle in postwar England, following their lives and romances over several decades. Of course as blurbs do, it's vastly oversimplified, but what I really want to talk about is the author's immense skill, how it serves and disserves.
Hazzard's language is impressive, inventive, descriptive, unusual–in every sentence. I couldn't lose myself in it. I was always reminded I was reading. The characters never speak as people speak, but are simply another vehicle for the author's voice. And the author's voice is what this book is all about, its strength, inventiveness, and its weakness, distance and density. Is it worth it? Sometimes. She constantly analyzes the characters' reactions to each other, their awareness and consciousness of such. At times this is brilliant and the insight profound. But I found it hard going. I couldn't forget that I was reading and so I didn't care all that much about the characters.
Let's move from 1980 to 2007 and Remainder by Tom McCarthy. I got this book because the library had it as an ebook and the blurb made it sound intriguing. At first I loved it. The novel begins with the first person narrator learning that he has won a multimillion pound settlement as a result of an accident. His recovery from the accident took a very long time of rehabilitation and his emotional recovery is questionable. The first person narrator is quirky, the attention to mundane detail delightful. At first.
I nearly stopped reading a couple of times but persisted to the end because of periodic hints that the book would become profound or surprising, but ultimately it was repetitive. The narrator, in trying to arrive at a sense of reality, orders the re-enactment down to the minutest details, of an apartment building complete with inhabitants (the liver lady who cooks liver all day; the pianist who makes mistakes; the motorbike guy who fixes his bike over and over). Seemingly infinite money makes this possible. Having accomplished this, he sets out to order other re-enactments. The objectification of the people and animals involved, cold at first, increases in violence and a sense that the narrator's quirky view is actually sociopathic. Or perhaps he is actually still in a coma after all and all this is a dream.
At the end of the book I was glad it was over.
Last, and going back now to 1864 is The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant. This book was one of the reasons I'd bought a Kobo; it had been recommended and was available on Gutenberg but not my library. It's a more conventional book than either of the two above, being about the difficulty of making a living as a son among numerous sons in the petty gentry, and the difficulty of marriage when that living has to be got before love can be fulfilled. Oliphant's social observation is brilliant and funny, and I was driven to read right to the end to find out if the curate got his beloved Lucy. But it was repetitive. If Aunt Dora cried
Margaret Oliphant
and wrung her hands one more time I was going to tear my hair out. (That is the real reason for my thinning hair and not menopause as some might think.) About a 100 pages shorter, and I'd have loved it.So there you have it: 3 books with much to recommend them and yet not entirely satisfactory, one in each century.
Filed under: Literary Tagged: Margaret Oliphant, Shirley Hazzard, Tom McCarthy
April 4, 2011
photo by Vivian Maier – what's the story in it?
via vivianmaier.blogspot.com
I love what she finds of life in a photo. It's poetry.
Filed under: Miscellany
April 3, 2011
Chasing Arcturus: Why Do You Twinkle, Little Star?
To the naked eye, but not the telescope. Explanation here. http://ow.ly/4sf1K
Filed under: Miscellany
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