Averil Dean's Blog, page 2

12th Street Bridge

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Oh Lucy!

In the month of July, I read these books:

Foster – Claire Keegan *****Wrong Place Wrong Time – Gillian McAllister ****The Red Notebook – Antoine Laurain *****Anything is Possible – Elizabeth Strout ****The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot – Marianne Cronin *****On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong *****Walk the Blue Fields – Claire Keegan ****Elevation – Stephen King ****Breath – Tim Winton *****A Full House – Maeve Binchy ****Yellowface ...

Starlings

Do you sometimes get this whoosh of ideas? An onrush, a wave, an ascending flock. Words making patterns in your mind like a murmuration of starlings, slipping across a pale sky. Do you daydream on and on, stories taking shape and then dissolving, scattering, coming back together as though guided by some internal force of nature that cannot be defied? Are you one with the starlings or do you watch from below. Are you in it, part of it, catching a vibe? Does the story exist in your mind, bright as...

Gorgeous

I’ve been sitting here in my bedroom, with Rosie pressed into the space between my thigh and the arm of my chair, looking over the list of books I’ve read since the middle of June when I decided to keep track of them. It seems that I go through about five a week—that is, I see five books through to the end; that number would climb if I included all of those I didn’t finish. I’m ruthless about that, by the way. I’ll pull the cord no matter how close to the ground.

Here are the books I finishe...

Friends

I had coffee with my son yesterday. He’s a high school English teacher and an avid reader whose tastes align almost perfectly with mine. We both love literary fiction, try to love cozies, and feel torn (me) and turned off (him) by J.K. Rowling. We gobbled up Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. We share a couple of all-time favorites—The Sense of an Ending and The Remains of the Day—and while he’s urging me toward Kingsolver, I’m trying to lure him into Christieland with The Murder of Roger Ack...

Twenty Books I Love

Absent in the Spring – Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin Foster – Claire Keegan My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout The Age of Miracles – Karen Thompson Walker Coming Home – Rosamunde Pilcher Persuasion – Jane Austen Dept. of Speculation – Jenny Offill The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro Scarlet Feather – ...

Mythos

I haven’t been writing much. My lap has been mainly occupied by a warm puppy, possessed of four busy puppy paws and whatever bedraggled toy she’s into at the moment. It doesn’t leave much room for a laptop.

But there’s always room for a Kindle, always time for a book. I’ve been reading so much lately, really wonderful books that have been waiting on the back burner or have recently crossed my path and caught my eye. I think I’m coming to understand my taste in books a little better, and thou...

Jump

It’s been a minute. I do find that sometimes, when journaling, there is simply nothing to report. The neighborhood is peaceful, the house is quiet, and the slope seems too gentle for that mad acceleration into a new piece of fiction or a poem or a post. At other times the opposite is true. So much is happening with the family and in the wider world that I find it hard to get a toehold, to pause long enough to reflect and form an opinion, let alone sit for a few moments and write it all out.

...

Steps

Things are happening. Lots of things, and most of them are good. Last weekend we had a party for all the March and April birthdays in our family. It was a special celebration for both of my boys, as one is turning thirty and the other twenty-one. My oldest is finishing up his first year as a high school teacher, and he’s a newlywed as well, so this is a period of change and growth for him as much as for his little brother. We’ve had many conversations about his experiences with the teenagers in ...

Popcorn

I love a good list. This one is especially satisfying, as it’s made up of books I already own and intend to read or reread before buying anything new.

In the Unlikely Event – Judy BlumeDeep Water – Patricia HighsmithAmsterdam – Ian McEwanLevels of Life – Julian BarnesTransgressions: Ten Brand-New Novellas – edited by Ed McBainThe Best American Short Stories 2016 – edited by Junot Diaz and Heidi PitlorThe Candy House – Jennifer EganMy Sunshine Away – M.O. Walsh...