Clifford Garstang's Blog, page 180

The Missing Link Project: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout is a fine, fine writer, and I'm not just saying that because she wrote a nice blurb for my book, In an Uncharted Country. Her recent book, Olive Kitteridge, won the Pulitzer Prize this year, and deservedly so. It's a finely crafted novel in stories, each of which is about—to greater or lesser degrees—the seventy-year-old Olive, a woman who doesn't seem very likeable, at least at first. As the stories go by, though, and we anticipate her next appearance—sometimes she doesn't s...

The Missing Link Project: Dubliners by James Joyce

The linkages in James Joyce's Dubliners are a bit harder to see than those of some of the modern linked story collections or even its near-contemporary, Winesburg, Ohio. Instead of continuing or overlapping characters, the primary connector in this book is thematic. The setting also brings these stories together—mostly they provide glimpses into working class Dublin—but the real link is that they examine the morality of the Dubliners.

Several of the stories are familiar, most notably "The Dead...

The New Yorker: "While the Women Are Sleeping" by Javier Marias

A couple from Madrid is on an island vacation where they observe other people at the beach, including the attractive Inés and her older, far less attractive companion, Alberto. The most remarkable thing about this pair is that the man is constantly video-taping the woman, and it's clear that he adores her. She, on the other hand, is "appropriately indifferent." Their behavior puzzles the Madrid couple and eventually the man finds Alberto alone, by the pool late at night. Alberto explains, alt...

Signing the Book

On October 17 I did booksignings at both Bookworks in Staunton and Books & Co. in Lexington--the debut of my cool poster of the book cover (no, that's not a gigantic copy of the book). These were "sit and signs"--no reading, but I did have a great time talking with shoppers, plying them with candy, etc.

Andrew's Book Club--November Picks

It's November 1, so that means it's time for . . . Andrew's Book Club. This month Andrew has chosen two fine books (as usual).

The Indie Press book is Laura van den Berg's What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us from Dzanc Books. I've read Laura's work and I know this will be a terrific book. (I've had some trouble getting a copy, but I'm told mine is on it's way.)

Andrew's "Big House" pick is Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness, which won the Man Booker Prize this year. This is...

The Missing Link Project: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

I won't deny that The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank was entertaining, in the way a mindless romantic comedy is a pleasant distraction. That's not a bad thing at all. I don't think it's timeless literature, but I don't regret having read it.

Having said that, I don't think I'm going to remember much about it, and certainly won't remember individual stories, except possibly the only story in the book that isn't told from the point of view of Jane Rosenal. That story, "The ...

NaNoWriMo is almost upon us

November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, and it's the 30 days in which crazed writers write a 50,000 page novel (um, that's not a novel, but never mind) and/or die trying. And they report their progress each day. And urge each other on. And, at the end, get a certificate.

I'm not participating, but I did a few years ago. And the result didn't completely suck, which is why it forms the seed inside the novel I'm currently working on.

So, to all you NaNoWriMo-ers, get those pencils ...

The Missing Link Project: Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry

There's one terrific story in Rebecca Barry's Later, at the Bar, which is supposed to be a novel in stories, according to the cover. That story is "How to Save a Wounded Bird," in which Elizabeth, one of the many bar-goers in this book, rescues a wounded bird and ends up relying on one of her students to get a ride to the wildlife center that has promised to treat it. Except Elizabeth is a wounded bird, of course, because Bobby, her husband has left her (for another man). She lashes out at he...

The Missing Link Project: Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock

There is a disappointing sameness to the stories in Knockemstiff, Donald Ray Pollock's collection, which in no way is a novel, although that's what Publishers Weekly called it. Some of the stories are, considered separately, quite appealing--I remember reading the title story somewhere awhile ago and I would have to say that's still the one story that holds up well under scrutiny--but mostly the book is about very unsympathetic, addicted, abusive jerks. The fact that they all live in or aroun...

North Carolina Readings

I'm looking forward to next weekend's swing through North Carolina for a series of readings with my good friend Mary Akers (Women up on Blocks).

First up is our appearance at McIntyre's Fine Books in Pittsboro on Friday, November 6, at 2:00pm.

On Saturday afternoon, November 7, at 1:00pm, we'll be at Shakespeare & Co. in Kernersville.

And on Sunday afternoon, November 8, at 3:00pm, we'll be doing our thing at Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe in Asheville. (Although I see that Barbara Kingsolver is re...