Clifford Garstang's Blog, page 177

The New Yorker: "Midnight in Dostoevsky" by Don DeLillo

This story is going directly onto my top-ten list for the year. I enjoyed this more than any DeLillo I've read, and I'm going to assume that it's not excerpted from a novel. (Readers will remember "The Falling Man," a DeLillo "story" in The New Yorker that was, in fact, a single story line extracted from his novel of the same name; DeLillo himself didn't even do the extracting.) Although I have some qualms about the ending, the rest of the story is completely engaging.

Two college students, To...

I'm leaving!

I mean, I'm going outside on a lovely fall afternoon to rake some leaves. In past years I have let the wind blow the leaves, mostly from the huge sycamore in my front yard, down the hill, into the creek, to be washed down to the Shenandoah/Potomac/Chesapeake Bay/Atlantic Ocean. That has worked, mostly, except for the leaves that get stuck around the bushes at my front porch.

However, this year I'm thinking about my vegetable garden. Leaves make fine compost, so I'm trying to maneuver the leave...

"You lie!"

No, this isn't about Joe Wilson's rude outburst during President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. It's about one of my many pet peeves (imagine that, a house full of peeves running around, crying for attention, making a mess everywhere) – the verb "to lie."

My students get this wrong all the time and they groan in frustration whenever I bring it up, because (a) they don't get it, and (b) they don't understand why it matters. Actually, lots of people don't understand why it matte...

Status Update: Work in Progress

I've been working on my novel (all the livelong day . . .) and it's coming along. I'd say that it's coming along nicely, except I'm pretty sure it's too soon to judge. Today I'm working on the penultimate chapter and this weekend I expect to work on THE END. In both cases, I'm adding to drafts that are already complete, layering in some developments that I've been building throughout the current draft of the book.

This doesn't mean that I'll be done this weekend, although I AM getting close. I...

Giving Thanks

It's the day, after all, and here it is:

Life is good. I am a very fortunate man. I worked very hard for years at a couple of jobs that I mostly loved, that took me to fascinating places and brought me in contact with equally fascinating people. As a result, I feel that I have much more to say now than I did when I was in my early 20s, at the time when I thought I might pursue a career in writing. I wasn't ready then, and so it's just as well that I realized I needed to pursue other interests...

NYT 100 Notable Books of 2009

Here's the list of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year.

Surprises?

I'm happy to see Brad Leithauser's new book, The Art Student's War, but I didn't know it was out yet. The review will appear on Nov. 27.

There are a bunch of short story collections, including those by Wells Tower, Jean Thompson, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Aleksandr Hemon, John Updike, Kazuo Ishiguro, Antonya Nelson, Paul Yoon, Alice Munro, and Mary Gaitskill. That's a lot of stories!! (And, by the way, it's so great to see...

Top Books of 2009

Lots of lists floating around about the best books of the year. I haven't really focused on them much, but here's a manageable list of just ten: Janet Maslin's Top Ten Books of 2009. Congratulations to Dan Chaon for making this list with his Await Your Reply. As that's the only one here I own, it's likely to be the only one I'll read any time soon . . .

Reading at Blue Ridge Community College -- December 1

On Tuesday, December 1, at 12:30 pm, as part of the Blue Ridge Community College Brown Bag Speaker Series, I'll be giving a reading from In an Uncharted Country and will also discuss linked short story collections generally. I hope a lot of people will turn out, and I'm grateful to BRCC for giving me this opportunity. The College bookstore will be on hand with copies!

The New Yorker Story of the Year -- 2009: Nominations are Open

For the past couple of years I have been commenting on each piece of fiction appearing in The New Yorker, and I've also been naming at Story of the Year with the help of my readers. The winner of the New Yorker Story of the Year for 2008 was the terrific "Dinner Party" by Joshua Ferris. And now it is time to turn our attention to this year's stories. Please leave a comment here, or send me an email, nominating a story for the Top Ten. Voting will take place in the last half of December.

Will t...

New Issue: Ginosoko #9

Ginosko #9 is available for download (in a pdf file). I don't recognize the names of any of the contributors, but I like the cover and I also like being able to download the magazine. Check it out!