Patrick’s Comments (group member since Mar 05, 2009)

Patrick’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

this is closer to Portland than Seattle- not sure how everyone feels about that... it may be too big or too pricey- i haven't done the math yet but it looks lovely and the calendar had the last week of july open

http://www.vrbo.com/311341

the ocean shores place was actually 5 bedrooms, wasn't it? it would still be a cozy fit for 18- not sure how that works, but it's better than 3 bedrooms.

do we have an idea how many people are coming this year?

Jennie- if i'm correct- Ocean Shores is about 3 1/2hours from Sequim.

Patty- i think that place looks great- and the idea of being right at the coast is appealing.
and 3 1/2 bathrooms is a bonus.

but, honestly -i'm ok with whatever y'all decide.

a friend who knew i was pissed at him, bought me an issue of the literary journal, Conjunctions, because it had a steve erickson story that i wanted. at first, i was grateful to recieve it but, quickly, it became this tainted object for me. a compensatory gift. in lieu of an apology- it was as if, here is this thing that i know you want, a suprise, so you can't be mad anymore cause now i did this sweet and thoughtful thing for you.

ugh.

in tandem with some sincere attempt to amend, gifts can be nice. but otherwise, compensatory gift giving
leaves me queasy and cranky.

Glad you like it, Elizabeth. I wasn't planning on posting the entire thing. it's long and the mid-section where he lapses into the genius part is somewhat less interesting to me. not that i'd argue he is wrong about Delany, but, genius is just one of those easy, overused terms that starts to lose meaning when tossed around. (i'm guilty myself)

was most curious what others thought about his reference to a "...very violent anti-intellectual streak..." even with American arts and literary culture.

I just watched again, The Polymath, a documentary about Samuel R. Delany. Jonathan Lethem, an outspoken fanboy when it comes to Delany, had this to say...

"American culture, even American urban culture, even American arts culture has a very violent anti-intellectual streak in it. if you look at the ethos of being a novelist, being a great writer, being a Hemingway or a Faulkner it often includes its own version of this typical American anti-intellectual suspicion. You are meant to be a sort of raw primitive in the sense of a kind of Henry Miller or Jackson Pollock, someone sort of inarticulate and macho. What's striking is how completely, Delany, reverses this for himself. He embraces the whole of intellectual curiosity while remaining committed to an artistic practice. He's a philosophical, confessional and fictional genius. How often is this encountered in American literature. I don't know that there is any precedent. Geniuses are usually mono-maniacs, they do one thing to the utmost. Well, Chip, does several things to the utmost. His essential and most singular asset is that he's multi-faceted. He never saw the boundaries between comic books and high art, literary criticism, autobiography, fiction; he never saw the formal restrictions between narrative and radical textual innovation, typographical innovation, even. He always embraced every contradiction that art offered and made it unified in his work. And his existence in the world is equally disregarding of boundaries. He doesn't see them. And therefore, he makes us see boundaries differently, he makes us question them by his very existence."

i didn't relate it to the head injury, but that's interesting. the end made me want to start over.
i still feel as though it wrapped up too quickly for me. but a handful of his earlier novels felt that way to me as well. Cutting Lisa, may be the prime example. very spare, skeletal even. and really troubling. and like Assumption, in some ways, he clearly telegraphs where things are headed. or, at least you have the sense that something is not right. and even though, i felt like i could see what was coming- the end still startles.
I don't think i gave Cutting Lisa as high a rating as i've given some of his other books, but may be the one i find myself thinking about the most.

and for anyone interested...

http://youtu.be/s5RDfcoMZEs

http://youtu.be/Kmk6qdE7Jo0

http://youtu.be/n49ChDsDdPs

you can listen to his story "The Appropriation of Cultures" here"-
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v19965005Cp...

and read another story, "Confluence" here -
http://www.theliteraryreview.org/Word...

I finished up a couple nights ago and have been waiting, hoping to hear what others think. I really enjoyed it. Have wondered if the end/last third maybe was a bit too abrupt? It could have been more fleshed out. Maybe, because i was enjoying it so much, i wasn't ready for it to end.

Dan, i trust the others assessment that Not Sidney is a good place to start. oddly, i haven't read that one cover to cover yet. It definitely seems to be one of his most popular.

'tis the season, Halloween around the bend. I've been hankering for spooky, creepy, crawly, f- with your head scary for a while now. I have some Shirley Jackson and Tom Piccirilli's A Choir of Ill Children- on hand so far.

So any of you have suggestions, maybe some lesser known tales that scared the bajeezus out of you??

my friend, john eklund, sent me this earlier- various contributors with some frightful recommendations...

"something spooky this way comes"
http://thesecondpass.com/?p=7856

No worries, Patty. I haven't gotten very far. Same day it arrived two inter-library loans arrived at work.

For Her Dark Skin

and

The Body of Martin Aguilera

also still reading his two earlier books of poetry.

you can find mini-review/descriptions of most of his titles here:
http://www.dzancbooks.org/imported-ew...

thanks for starting this thread.

mary wrote: "i'm getting freaked out about a lot of my opinions lately on books, because you become one with the book when you read it, and i'm such a different person now.....would i still like these? I'm hesitant to tout books any longer if it's been more than two years since i've read them."


i decided long ago that i had to reconcile myself to my own fickle, fumbling and often contradictory nature. no doubt there are things i swooned over years ago which hold no allure what so ever anymore. and, yes, it can be embarrassing but i try not to worry
about it. evolution can always a bit messy, no.
when fretting over this issue myself once, a friend (weary of my hand-wringing) said "...most intelligent and thoughtful people are hypocrites sometimes. find me an interesting person who never contradicts himself"

so my opinions are always in flux. i reserve the right to change my mind about things at will. just as i reserve the right to be annoyed and righteously indignant at others inconsistencies. :-)

and mary, it's fun seeing you in here.

and that "swoon-worthy" sign is just silly.

my results were

the family fang
and
You Deserve Nothing

mau-
frozen fruit smush sounds fantastic. karen sounds fantastic too.

my bad. sorry again Adrian.

if need be, i am certain the Black Angels could kick Sendak's ass.

but, that said, i kind of enjoy his grumpy old man routine. maybe he tried some soup recipe he found on GOOP and it left him gassy.

the other i day i picked up a book by jesse ball- it's one i'd had out about a year ago and never found time to read it- so i thought i'd try again. i opened it and found an employee paystub inside. it was mine. from a year ago. oops. wasn't sure who i felt worse for... jesse, cause clearly no one, besides me, is checking out his book, or myself, cause once i saw that i was reminded what i make an hour. ouch.

Adrian, that Alan Bennett story is hilarious. thank you.

there once lived a woman who tried to kill her neighbor's baby -Ludmilla Petrushevskaya'

thanks. geoff dyer is funny. as a reader, i prefer an unmarked book, but the artist in me still likes to see the wear and the notes and what not.

i loved the old marginalia thread.

at work at the library, above our checkout desk, is a small cubby stuffed & overflowing with things we found left in books. old bookmarks, notes, recipes, postcards, playing cards, doodles, stickers, etc.,. i hope to create a bit display with it all at some point.

old joy- jonathan raymond

well, i wish i could say i loved it but...
for all the lovely lines and passages- and there are plenty, i felt really detached -and not in a useful way. part of it may have been just bad timing (i was in the mood for something else). i did love the near plotless, episodic nature of it. but, i didn't care for Jim very much, so having the entire thing refracted through him didn't help.

i will definitely try more Willa. a coworker suggested O'Pioneers and Song of the Lark, two of her favorite books. but this time around i had that feeling i get sometimes while reading some Steinbeck or watching certain Quentin Tarantino movies- where i'm simultaneously both really impressed and a bit bored.

i first heard the word, Selah, from Lauryn Hill. that was the title of the track she did for the divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood. in the lyrics she keeps repeating that it means prayer and meditation. i think, as in the wiki entry and other things i've read...pause/reflection, seems close.