Sara Paretsky's Blog, page 23

Waiting for???

Earlier this year I was at a dinner for the Freedom to Read Foundation, and was privileged to be seated at the same table with a gifted Y/A writer, who is not only an outspoken supporter of freedom to read and write, but is also very popular.  Her publicist was at the table and mentioned that thousands of kids line up when this woman appears at events.

This remark sparked a hot argument among the rest of us: who would we wait in line for hours to meet?  I said, "No one." Not because there...

Life and Death in Shanghai

Nien Cheng died on November 2.  She is one of my heroes.  She spent almost seven years in one of Mao's prisons for the crimes of having worked for Shell, studied abroad, and speaking fluent English.

Nien Cheng

While she was in prison, her only child was murdered by the Red Guards for refusing to denounce Cheng.  She survived horrifying conditions with wit and anger, and, according to her memoir, Life and Death in Shanghai, poetry.  She had memorized a great deal of classical Chinese poetry...

How Much Is Enough?

I have a friend whose husband won the Nobel Prize.  We were all thrilled, but he didn't interpret it as success: he thought he needed two before the restless face in the mirror, the critical voice in the head, stopped saying, "You're basically a failure."

I cringed at the time, mostly because I really did feel his pain–I have a good career, I have good success, but I must not really be any good because Fred and Lily and Cindy outsell me, or are on op-ed pages more often, or have more friends t...

How do you define success?

I have a friend whose husband won the Nobel Prize.  We were all thrilled, but he didn't interpret it as success: he thought he needed two before the restless face in the mirror, the critical voice in the head, stopped saying, "You're basically a failure."

I cringed at the time, mostly because I really did feel his pain–I have a good career, I have good success, but I must not really be any good because Fred and Lily and Cindy outsell me, or are on op-ed pages more often, or have more friends t...

Mad as Hell?

Or, Testosterone Fights Back.  Publishers Weekly has published its list of the ten best books of 2009, and they are all by men.  Some, like Richard Holmes's Age of Wonder, are deeply thought and researched.  Others, like Geoff Dyer's Jeff in Venice, are tired old paeans to the Male Member–and I don't mean of Parliament.  Yes, doing lines under a Tintoretto ceiling in Venice after your well-humped lover has left you in the lurch, that is a worthy addition to the canon.

WILLA has started a Wiki...

A Nail and a Piece of Glass

Last night, I was at a benefit for the Marjorie Kovler Center, which helps treat survivors of torture, and works to try to end torture.  One of the women who spoke had been a prisoner in Argentina, and survived torture there.  She was presenting a vase of flowers to an honoree, and added a nail in her gift.  She said that "a nail and a piece of glass" were the most prized possessions of women in their cells because you could use them to create art, drawing on walls, or sculpting a piece of...

Edgar Allen Poe & Joyce Kilmer

While I was at the Bouchercon, I took part in a panel on Poe with John Lutz and Peter Lovesey, who share my interest in him and had both done a fair amount of background reading on him.  Sue Grafton, also on the panel, along with Michael Connelly, read a contemporary obituary of Poe by a man named Griswold, who didn't like Poe, and who started the rumor that Poe was an opium addict.  Poe was a heavy drinker, but there's no evidence that he abused drugs.  John Lutz said that a number of...

Home is the Sailor

Or the writer, I guess.  I got back late yesterday from the Indianapolis Bouchercon.  It was a great chance to reconnect with old friends–especially Liza Cody, from London & Bath, who

Liza in front of bus (coach) pointing out Michael's fame

is showing off Michael Lewin's tour of Indianapolis.

MWA-Midwest organized breakfast with a group of readers and writers, for which I thank, especially, Michael Black, Michael Dymmoch and Jeanne Dams.

Michael Black and other readers & writers at breakfast

Sara...

The Book Pirates

The October 4, New York Times business section offers a disturbing look at book piracy.   With e-readers becoming widespread, the electronic piracy business isn't far behind.  For those of us who write for a living, a bleak future has been looking bleaker.  The publishing industry, which has been aware of the impending problem for some time, doesn't have any advice to offer beyond  going every day to look for all your titles and report them when found.  So–who out there in the blogosphere...

Wrapping Up the Tour

Signing a book for one of my dad's graduate students in OakBrook, IL

Thanks to everyone who came out to support me on the road.  I go to Watermark Books in Wichita on October 9, and Barnes & Noble, Milwaukee on October 12, with a final event–before the Bouchercon–at the Newberry Library in Chicago on October 13.  Details on addresses and times are on my events page.

My camera isn't the greatest, but here are a few snapshots:

With White House staffer Maude Baggetto--and one of First...