BOOK CLUB AGENDA
■ Books recommended for book groups by
definition are not works of literature but
craft objects--scrapbooks.
■ No one renders plot as superfluous as
the Irish. This is not a criticism.
■ Wit is unconnected, and often inversely
related, to the happiness of the characters.
Repeat after John Banville, “Life at its
worst is hideously funny.”
■ I will never again masticate a Costco box of
corn flakes for an infinitesimal plastic prize:
I’m looking at you, Russo’s Bridge of Sighs.
■ If the book triggers an immediate anecdote
from your life, I – perhaps unfairly –
will dismiss you as a shallow reader.
Literature is not a mirror, unless from
the fun house.
■ If Claire Messud indeed is not a victim of
poor translation, no excuse exists.
■ When author admits that first draft written
with a friend over a bottle: karaoke saves trees.
■ Lionel Shriver anagram: Lo, Viler Shrine.
■ Eat, Pray, Love: I routinely
disregard any epiphany wrested from
a bout with sex-overdose cystitis.
HERR KEPLER'S NOTEBOOK
Time is the bully anchor of the opposing tug-rope team.
The person with a happy home life tracks glitter through the world; the solitary person leaves snowprints.
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"The grasshopper warbler's song comes up out of the earth just as you think the day is quietening down. It has no prelude or warm-up: it starts midperformance, as if switched on by the dark, as it if has been singing like this beneath the earth until it was dark enough to come to the surface. As if, though we hardly hear it, this singing never stops."
A Year on the Wing (Tim Dee)
All writing and cartoons on this site copyright 2008-2010 Julia Martin, unless otherwise credited.
The person with a happy home life tracks glitter through the world; the solitary person leaves snowprints.
-------------------------------------
"The grasshopper warbler's song comes up out of the earth just as you think the day is quietening down. It has no prelude or warm-up: it starts midperformance, as if switched on by the dark, as it if has been singing like this beneath the earth until it was dark enough to come to the surface. As if, though we hardly hear it, this singing never stops."
A Year on the Wing (Tim Dee)
All writing and cartoons on this site copyright 2008-2010 Julia Martin, unless otherwise credited.
It's All Second Hand
ReplyDeleteI met you on the way
To the book club gathering
(This is derivative)
Where we would discuss
Russo's book, called Bridge Of Sighs.
You agreed with me there.
The book's about them,
The ones who think they know stuff
Who struggle with those
They know don't know stuff.
But only because they love them
Beyond all reason.