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September Reading #3
I went to the library hoping to get Ian Wedde's Good Business, but there was no copy available. I settled for a copy of Wedde's Commonplace Odes (poetry, NZ), which was okay but wasn't really what I was after. Maybe in October...
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I sat on my first two interview panels this past week. I'm looking forward to applying the lessons learned next time I'm the intervewee (like talking about lessons you've learnt and how you've applied them -- interviewers lap that up).
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All The Poems by Muriel Spark. I'm a bit fan of Spark's fiction, so thought I'd check out her life's poetic output. Again, okay, but nothing to make my tongue tingle with excitement. I think I'll read another of her novels soon though.
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The deadline for submissions to Turbine is 22 October. I've had a range of things in Turbine over the years (novel extract, short story, poem, reading journal extract), but the well looks dry at the moment. If I find a spare three hours (ha!) I'll write a list-poem called: '10 places I could be when the big one hits'.
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Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. I rather liked this book. At times I felt pulled in two directions: was this a PG Wodehouse 'romatic romp with manners' or was this the sort of serious E.M. Forster 'tea-table tet-a-tet' novel? In the end I'd say this is comic writing (example of a phrase) first, campus satire with a deep moral core second and there's nothing wrong with that.
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Three columns in (2 published, one more submitted and will appear Saturday 9 Oct) and I'm starting to get my head around the form. The challenge at the moment is dealing with the two week lead time between submission and publication, which nixes writing about anything 'in the news' which will be overdone by the media in two week's time (e.g. Chch earthquake) or something like seeing the first pohutokawa blossoms (unless I write about last year's and time it before this year's arrive…)
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My idling bus this morning sounded like the start of 'Pinball Wizard' by The Who. I wish I was better at putting sounds into type. The best I can do is: Brrrrrrrr-ditta-ditta, brrrrrrrr-ditta-ditta.
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September Reading #1 and #2
Haven't you been paying attend? I've already mentioned The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris and Legend of a Suicide by David Vann. One will be in my 'Top ten books I read in 2010', one will not.
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