Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 17

From Slaughter to Laughter

There are words in English (I assume this is true in most languages) that when you change a single letter in their spelling, they have an entirely different meaning. One that comes to mind is ‘laughter.’ Add an ‘s’at the beginning and you’ve got ‘slaughter.’ Take away slaughter’s ‘s’ and you’ve essentially got the absolute opposite meaning of the word.

It came to me today while thinking of this that the same could be said of a person’s life. Add or subtract one “letter”or in this case one sing...

This is my schedule for the Poland trip this month to promote ‘The Crow’s Dinner’

This is what I know so far:17/5 — Szczecin 18:00 Empik bookstore
18/5 — Poznan 19:00 Empik bookstore
20/5 — Warsaw 16:00 Warsaw Book Fair
21/5 — Wroclaw 19:00 Biblioteka Grafit, ul. Namysłowska 8
22/5 — Brzeg — 17:00 venue unknown — I’ll let you know
22/5 — Olawa 19:00 Biblioteka Koronka, Ratusz, Rynek 1

This is my schedule for the Poland trip this month to promote ‘The Crow’s Dinner’ was originally published in Jonathan Carroll on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighti...

Patterson takes a break

Patterson liked roadside rests; liked the busy pound and rush of cars and trucks whizzing by on the turnpike nearby. He liked the idea of people past and future sitting at the now-empty picnic tables having a bite to eat and a small intermission while on the long drive home — or to who knows where. Lousy gas station white bread sandwiches in transparent plastic wrappers. Or great food cooked at home and packed with care and love in preparation for the long trip ahead. Paper napkins, plastic f...

The Crow’s Dinner, due out in August from Subterranean Press in the U.S.,

The Crow’s Dinner, due out in August from Subterranean Press in the U.S., is master novelist Jonathan Carroll’s debut essay collection, and that is very good news. Gathering together hundreds of entries that initially appeared on the website Medium, The Crow’s Dinner is at once a wide-ranging spiritual autobiography and an annotated guide to what Carroll calls “The Map of Me.”

Beginning with an appreciation of “The Invisibles,” those insignificant moments we overlook at our peril,The Crow’s Di...

A New Book on the Horizon

I have a new book coming in May to Poland, to the US in August. Nonfiction this time and lots of it. I’ll be in Poland in the middle of May for the Warsaw Book Fair and other cities as well. Details to follow as they come in.

A New Book on the Horizon was originally published in Jonathan Carroll on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Buk

I used to write fan letters to people whose work I admired. I don’t do it nearly as much anymore and that’s wrong. It’s a very important thing to tell someone that what they do genuinely matters to you. Especially artists, who work so much of the time in solitude and receive little feedback other than reviews. I read there’s a new film of a Charles Bukowski novel out now. That reminded me of the letter I received from Bukowski years ago.

I’d written to tell him I’d been reading his work nonsto...

His Alligator Roommate

Read an article about a man in Siberia who bought a baby alligator and brought it home to his two room apartment with the goal of training it into a house pet. Two years later the creature weighs hundreds of pounds, has completely taken over one of the two rooms, prefers lying on the couch all day, and is now hungrily eye’ing the man’s cat. Although the owner has made a number of queries, no zoo in the area wants to take the beast off his hands, so for the time being he’s stuck with his large...

My moth holes, your needle and thread

I like to read how people phrase the things they’re selling on sites like eBay or etsy.

“This bespoke suit is in perfect condition except for some hard to see moth holes in the crotch.”

Or “Only 170,000 miles on this rare classic car. Give it the care it needs and it’ll be ready for a second marriage.”

Wouldn’t it be cool to see descriptions like that on a dating site like Match.com?

“I’m a perfect mate except for a few moth holes in my soul. Easily repaired with some tender loving care.”

My moth...

A map of her universe

Much later, he wrote and asked if they could meet somewhere and talk. There were things, important things he wanted to tell her; things he didn’t know or realize about himself back then that in hindsight had affected everything. He wrote that he didn’t know if he wanted to meet to apologize, to explain or simply clarify. He was hoping she would be generous and say yes, despite the way he had ended things. All he asked was that she listen.

She answered, “These days you are so far from my heart...

My Neighborhood Zorba

The park is absolutely empty at seven o’clock on Sunday morning except for two people: a man and his very young daughter who is no more than six or seven. The man is teaching her a Greek dance. Side by side, arms held high in the air, slowly and carefully they do the formal steps together: leg crossing leg, slapping the knees, jumping in the air and shouting “Hopah!” at the end of the cycle. You can almost hear plinky bouzouki music playing in their background. The girl is very bad at it, ver...