R.I.P. - John Updike

I'd be lying if I were to say I am terribly versed in John's books. In fact, my understanding of his writing is limited to say the very least. In fact, I think I should stop reading the book I am reading and change over to one of his books out of respect for him to aquaint myself better with this fine man of letters. In highschool I got to read one of his stories for a creative writing class and have since then only on occassion read a handful of his stories. Though I have no idea which one it was. I wish I could say why this is the case. One thing I do know is he does have the tendency to write about things that are very painful in a realistic fashion without giving us the easy out to feel better about ourselves afterwards. He was the rare write who could stare lifes ugliness in the eye without blinking, even when the other side pulled a gun. If his stories don't make you feel uncomfortable and make you squirm then you are probably not human. That is probably why I do not read more of his works. I do not want to be faced with the ugly side of my own humanity. That I can be just as much the adulterer given the chance as any of his protagonists. What a terrifying idea espcially as a Christian. One thing I do know for certain is that he was forever the bridesmaid and never the bride. He was often on the short list for the Nobel Prize never having received it. What a shame.

Bye, Bye Dodge

A friend of mine sent me an article on how the state of the economy will impact the 2010 Dodge Poetry Festival. I have many fond memories of my years making the long drive to central Jersey and going all poetry geek at meeting and getting autographs from some of my favorites. The atmosphere was relaxing and open to allow us to just enjoy the day. We could sit back outside the tent listening in the warm sun or take a nice stroll along the river. Then came my last visit this past September. I tried to blog about it after the fact, but a poet who was a speaker there didn't take too kindly to my representation of the festival. Trying to do the right thing and being a bit of a wuss I removed the post. Sadly I regret that because to this day I feel I was right. Long gone was the relaxed atmosphere that I enjoyed to be replaced with a more regimented schedule. Everywhere you turned there was something going on and instead of giving the poets the freedom to speak organically about their experiences as a poet and what the craft means to them allowing us, the attendees, dictate the direction of subject matter. No, now the directors created lectures so pretentious if it weren't for the talent of the poets speaking it would have died a quick and painful death. All this to say I was disappointed. I missed being able to walk along with a poet and discuss any such matter without feeling rushed, sitting under the trees with people I never met before and enjoying the moment, and I missed how relaxed I felt. I am not surprised in the least. I am sorry this is the case, but I am hoping that this will be a lesson they will learn to not take the reader for granted.

Life After Potter

With the final Harry Potter book coming out I saw on the news this morning a psychologist teaching parents coping skills to get through their loss. OK, I can appreciate people love the Harry Potter series. Heck, I was giddy as a school boy when I heard they were making a new Dr. Who series. I even dressed up as Doctor Who for Halloween. Twice! And when Sci-fi or fantasy series I particularly loved were done I just moved on to the next series I could find or just re-read them at a later time. All things come to an end. And as scripture says, "...all flesh is like grass". Are we so soft that this is the worse that can happen to us?

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Considering the glut of Christian books out there, much of which is bad (I'm trying to be nice and not call it crap. Oops, I just did.). When I was a wee lad my mother worked in the local sewage treatment plant testing water for heavy metals like lead, mercury, and Metallica. Every so often she'd have to go out to the sludge pile to get a sample. At the pile there were workers who'd go out for her sinking up to their knees in all sorts of vile waste to get her sample. My mother, being barely 5'1" would have sunk up to her neck. I see the Christian writing community in much the same light as that pile of sludge. Sometimes you have to get waste deep in it in order to find what you need and you hope to God you don't sink up to your neck before you do! Few in the publishing world are taking notice. I for the most part have greatly reduced the amount of Christian books I read. I almost never read Christian fiction. My pastor introduced me to CCEL where I gladly spend most of my time combing through the great minds of our Christian fathers. I am reading a very well known Christian book right now (being a bit of a Johnny come lately and will comment more on that at another time), but am wondering: Who do you guys read? Who do you think is worth a salt and why do you think so? I need to consider my own library. I'll spare you m poetry collection which more than over runs my shelves far more than books on Christianity. Here is a good introduction of what I usually read.

You guys had the rennaisance!

While working in a book store a friend of mine asked me, "How can you guys go from writing Dante's Inferno to The Left Behind Series? What happened? You guys had the rennaisance!" Good question. It's one I think more believers are starting to ask themselves. According to Chuck Colson there is a modern rennaisance in literature going on. Is this a good thing? I haven't read any of the books mentioned in the article, but going through Chronicles Of Narnia for Sunday School it is making me wonder what role art, literature, and music plays in the life of a believer. I thought I was pretty secure in my belief as the best way to use art for God's glory. Now I am no longer too sure.

Who Influenced Lewis?

We are watching Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe at church. The person teaching the class had a few of Lewis' books set up for people to thumb through with one exception. At the end was a beaten up old book called Phantastes by George Macdonald. According to the teacher Lewis was taking a long train ride and picked the book up at the station. The book is still in print, but if you don't want to shell out the $13 to buy it there is a free down loadable version. The book was written in the 1800's so there aren't any copyright laws to worry about. Enjoy. I wonder how people reacted to a minister using fairy tales and fantasy to get the message of Christ across?

UPDATE:
Just for the record, some wisenheimers got a little confused. It's CS Lewis.

Faith In Fiction Survey

Want to help choose the publishing fait of someones novel? Ever look at a book cover and wonder, "What the crap does that mean?" Faith in Fiction is asking for people to take a survey to help choose the cover for a novel. Make your voices heard!!

Over Rated / Under Rated: Burroughs Vs. Mitchell

I admit I am totally stealing this idea from a magazine I read a few years back. I want to say it was the Utne Reader, but I am not too sure. Every so often they'd look at what was popular at that time and what is going unnoticed. Since I don't have any other ideas I figure it wouldn't hurt to do a few of my own from time to time. For the first I am looking at non-fiction writers.

Over Rated: Augusten Burroughs
This guy is the big man on campus right now. On top of the best seller list for an infinite number of life times this guy got rich telling all about his struggles with alcoholism and growing up in a wacko Doc's house. The premise sounded promising and potentially quite an amusing and touching book. I bought it with much glee just to give up on it with about 30 pages left to read when I realized I just didn't care what happened and I didn't believe a word the guy was saying. Having grown up on fantasy and sci-fi novels I have no problem dispelling disbelief if it's well done. This book doesn't cut it at all. For a book that is supposed to be about his life I am not sure if I believe he's telling the truth. More than likely he is, but I still find it hard to believe. They just finished making a movie based off the book. I'll probably go see it and be amused, but not too overwhelmed by it. Snakes on A Plane is a much more convincing premise.

Under Raterd: Joseph Mitchell
He had brief re-emergence of fame in the late nineties thanks to Stanley Tucci making a movie based on Joe Gould's Secret. Mitchell was a boring average everday guy. He didn't have a wacky life of misadventures. He wasn't a drunk or a social misfit (other than being a southerner in New York and extremely self-conscious). Mitchell wrote for the New Yorker ignoring the big news stories of the day to write about common characters, bums, rejects, street preachers, strippers, etc. because those are the stories worth hearing. He visited dive bars and cheap flop houses hoping to meet someone who was worth writing about. That's where he met Joe Gould an eccentric who came from a family of means who wandered the streets of New York looking for people to listen to in order to add their stories to his "Oral History Of The World". A book claimed to be ten times as long as the Bible. Mitchell wrote a profile of him for the new yorker which is part one of Joe Gould's Secret. The second part was written several decades later going into a more detailed account of their friendship. It is a strange book, but it is so believeable. It is a shame that Mitchell is forgotten. His writings have the truthfulness and honesty that is lacking in a lot of modern literature. No matter how strange or honest a subject is if you don't have the qualities Mitchell had all you are writing is a forgettable little story.



Pic of Joe Gould the eccentric. I also highly recommend: My Ears Are Bent & Mcsorely's Wonderful Saloon.

Rattle Online

Rattle is one of the better lit journals out there. They just produced their first online version of the journal.

And I also joined the 3rd day blog roll mainly because I thinkt hey are an awesome band. I do not necessarily endorse any of the blogs on there, so bear that in mind if you check any of them out.

UPDATE
Here is the link to it. Because of some problems re-loading I had to start again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe5p1BXNCQM

What do Joyce Carol Oates and Salman Rushdie Have in Common? Nothing

Joyce Carol Oates has an impressive resume: Princeton University Professor, prolific author, winner of numerous awards including being short listed for the Nobel Prize. I have read a bunch of her stories in the past usually taking an extended break because they tend to be so dark I can get berried in the story. Recently her reputation has taken on a more notorious side when she based a story off of the local murder of a college student. It isn't uncommon for writers to draw off of news events or another persons life story. Truth is stranger than fiction and life can have a stronger dramatic impact than anything a person can make up. Joyce capitalized on that fact by writing a particularly harsh story based on recent events surrounding the death of a local college student. The story is well written and can be used as a cautionary tale warning of the dangers of binge drinking on college campuses. What many people will find disturbing is how you are never left with a clear resolution. If it's done well you can get a sense of closure even if you never know what really happens. In this case it leaves you feeling cold. The story is nothing but drama for the characters come off as honest to a fault as people distraught over the death begin to let their more selfish side come through. More often than not when a young person dies everyone tells the world how tragic it is and the world is a worse off place because the person is no longer in it. Not this time. The characters paint a more fleshed out characterizationi of the deceased that is less than an idealization. It is no wonder this story upset a lot of people who knew the young student. I do not blame them for the student in the story comes off as very immature and self-centered. They have given Oates a lot of heat over the story. And I was ready to defender her until she made this comment:

In an e-mail sent Wednesday to The Associated Press, she likened the school's criticism to the reaction of Muslim fundamentalists who issued a fatwa, or religious edict, against Salman Rushdie for his "The Satanic Verses." (read the full article here)

Why did she have to say that? Any legitimate argument she may have had is now out the window. It only makes her look more ridiculous. I wanted to be on her side. How can she possibly make the same comparrison between her and Rushdie? She doesn't have to watch her back. Her life isn't in danger. People will probably be a tad ticked with her for a bit then forget all about it. Have we gotten such an inflated sense of self that we think every little thing we do will make the world stop?

In spite of it all, if you want to read the story and find out what the big deal is I'd still recommend it.