Howdy Folks!
Did you read much during November, or were you too focused writing for Nano? Either way I hope you had a great month and a great holiday. My attempt at Nano this year fell apart since I was working on revising TWO BOOKS (my YA novel in Novel Revision class and my memoir for Thesis) so I got some good reads in instead. The dates below are from when I posted these in my reading group facebook page, shared for you below.
Keep Reading. Keep Writing.
11/4
Did you know that Jack Kerouac’s On The Road received bad reviews when it first came out? Well now you do! The only people more insane than Jack are the people he writes about. This book feels like one huge run-on, rush-rush-rushing drug trip. Which it kind of is.
11/22
For a book I owned but had not yet read I read Jack Kerouac’s On The Road Scroll. Think rough draft, more content, no paragraphs. At all.
11/24
For a book published the year I was born (1982) I read Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Like the original Pooh books, it is silly and simple and lovable. Just don’t go into it looking for an argument. When he says stuff like Knowledge is ruining our planet, it’s like…a parable…
11/28
I read The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier but I don’t think it fits any of my remaining categories. I read it for a book club meeting that I then had to miss last minute because I woke up sick. Which was not great, but the book is great. And I got to explain magical realism to friends at a party, so that was fun, too.
11/29
For a book by an author who shares my initials I read The Dubliners by James Joyce. I think I only have a couple more years of this (Araby, Exiles) before I’ll have to read the dreaded Finnegan’s Wake.
11/30
I’d like to move the book Roswell to the show that became a book or book that became a show category. And my new book for the high school category is Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden. It’s about two girls who fall in love and it was published in 1982, which struck me as really ahead of its time. I discovered it (as you may have guessed) when I was looking for books published during my birth year.
J. Jobe 