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A Castle in Air, Truly

6/2/2023

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A WRITER'S WIT
My thoughts went round and round and it occurred to me that if I ever wrote a novel it would be of the “stream of consciousness” type and deal with an hour in the life of a woman at the sink.
​Barbara Pym
Author of ​Quartet in Autumn
​Born June 2, 1913
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B. Pym

My Book World

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Loe, Nancy E. Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History of W. R. Hearst’s San Simeon Estate. Aramark. Santa Barbara: Companion P, 1994.

I first visited Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California, in 1978. The tour was conducted more like an informal swirl through a friend’s home. The lighting was poor, and items seemed casually thrown together. The second time I visited the park, in 1997, it had been acquired by the state of California and a visit to the new museum was divided into separate tours. My partner and I were so fascinated that we took all four, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We became so well acquainted with the docent that we later had drinks . . . that is not true . . . I wish. He was a handsome blond man. Anyway, by that time, the entire property had been curated and updated so that it looked more as it would have in its heyday, the 1920s and 1930s.
 
Loe’s book, which I bought on that latter trip, has remained on my shelf until now, but it is no less interesting. The content is as much about the original owner, William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate, and his architect partner, the renowned Julia Morgan, as it is about the property itself. In fact, the book seems more about Morgan, an early feminist and a rare woman architect at that time. Hearst may have liked her in part because she was able to create almost every feature he wanted, even if it meant destroying a newly built basement wall to widen his bowling alley to three lanes from two—a whimsy that he scarcely utilized in his lifetime. But he also respected Morgan’s opinion and taste, because she was usually correct in her judgment. I still find the idea fascinating that a mere mortal could make his every wish come true (except that wish to live forever). What it must do to one’s psyche to get one’s way ninety-nine percent of the time.
 
To some eyes, the castle is a mishmash (or is it now mashup?) of every major historical architectural period and every major culture in the world. To others it represents the hubris of the ultrawealthy. To me it sings of the creativity of two people rich with ideas and nearly unlimited resources. Late in life, Hearst would be forced to sell off certain assets in order to take care of his $126 million dollar debt. Now that’s living! And yet he would still hold onto his Casa Grande, as he so fondly called it, for a bit longer.
​Nice work if you can get it!

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Marian Wright Edelman

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Gwendolyn Brooks
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Frank Lloyd Wright
FRI: My Book World | Gabor and Guttenberg, 
American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence (School Safety, Violence in Society)

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A Writer's Wit: Christopher Lasch

6/1/2023

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It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life. 
​Christopher Lasch
Author of 
The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations
Born June 1, 1932
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C. Lasch
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Nancy E. Loe, 
Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History of W. R. Hearst's San Simeon Estate
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Marian Wright Edelman
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Gwendolyn Brooks
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Frank Lloyd Wright
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A Writer's Wit: Jane Green

5/31/2023

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Whether you are inspired or not, the only way to unlock your creativity,  is to start writing.
​Jane Green
Author of ​Sister Stardust
​Born May 31, 1968
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J. Green
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Christopher Lasch
FRI: My Book World | Nancy Loe, 
Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History of W. R. Hearst's San Simeon Estate
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A Writer's Wit: ​Colm Tóibín

5/30/2023

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Writing tends to be very deliberate. A novelist could probably run a military campaign with some success. They could certainly run a country.
​Colm Tóibín
Author of The Magician
Born May 30, 1955 
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C. Tóibín
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Jane Green

THURS: A Writer's Wit | Christopher Lasch
FRI: My Book World | Nancy Loe, 
Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History of W. R. Hearst's San Simeon Estate
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Angels Indeed

5/26/2023

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A WRITER'S WIT
It reminds me to say that staying local should never be about looking at the world through a closed window, but about making a home then throwing the doors open and inviting the world in.
​Simon Armitage, Poet
Author of ​Out of the Blue
​Born May 26, 1963
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S. Armitage

My Book World

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Johnson, Denis. Angels: A Novel. New York: HarperCollins, 2002 (1977).

I wouldn’t have thought of these words, but a blurb located on the back of the book describes the novel as being about two born losers. And I believe that is the case, unfortunately. A poor woman with two small children meets a divorced man, and they wind up in Phoenix. In the desert city, after mishaps with drugs, the woman finds herself in rehab, on the path toward a new life. The man and his two brothers, however, make a plan to rob a bank, believing their idea is brilliant. The heist, of course, goes awry, and the man winds up in prison killing someone. The account of his execution may be one of the most realistic and chilling scenes I’ve ever read in fiction. Angels makes a fine title on several levels of irony.

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Colm Tóibín
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Jane Green
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Christopher Lasch
FRI: My Book World | Nancy E. Loe, ​Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History

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A Writer's Wit: Bennett Cerf

5/25/2023

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Middle age is when your old classmates are so grey and wrinkled and bald they don’t recognize you.
​Bennett Cerf
Author of ​Bennett Cerf's Book of Laughs
​Born May 25, 1898
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B. Cerf
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Denis Johnson, ​Angels

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Colm Tóibín
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Jane Green
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Christopher Lasch
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A Writer's Wit: Elsa Maxwell

5/24/2023

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I make enemies deliberately. They are the sauce piquante to my dish of life.
​Elsa Maxwell
Author of How to Do It or the Lively Art of Entertaining
​Born May 24, 1883
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E. Maxwell
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Bennett Cerf
FRI: My Book World | Denis Johnson, ​Angels
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Margaret Wise Brown

5/23/2023

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In this modern world where activity is stressed almost to the point of mania, quietness as a childhood need is too often overlooked. Yet a child’s need for quietness is the same today as it has always been—it may even be greater—for quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.
​Margaret Wise Brown
Author of ​The Runaway Bunny
​Born May 23, 1910
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M. W. Brown
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Elsa Maxwell

THURS: A Writer's Wit | Bennett Cert
FRI: My Book World | Denis Johnson, Angels
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Gorman Carries Weight of World

5/19/2023

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A WRITER'S WIT
A man can do what is his duty; and when he says “I cannot,” he means, “I will not.”
​Johann Fichte
Author of 
Wissenschaftslehre (“Theory of Scientific Knowledge”)
​Born May 19, 1762
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J. Fichte

My Book World

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Gorman, Amanda. Call Us What We Carry: Poems. New York: Viking, 2021.

This collection of poetry may be the most innovative one I’ve ever read—quite fitting for one of our youngest and most distinguished poets. Gorman uses a wide variety of poetic forms. Concrete poetry portrays Melville’s whale, and a poem about the Covid Pandemic is a black mask with white print. She devises a series of free forms fitting the subject matter. Yet others are truly novel, for example, in “The Soldiers (or Plummer),” in which her lines representing a young soldier’s diary appear as dated diary pages. The poet seems to be telling the broad sweep of African-American history by searching out every appropriate form and by sweeping out every ignored corner of said history. One reading, as with most fine poetry, will not be enough. And I look forward to Gorman’s next collection.

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Margaret Wise Brown
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Elsa Maxwell
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Bennett Cerf
FRI: My Book World | Denis Johnson, ​Angels


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A Writer's Wit: Diane Duane

5/18/2023

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There is a rule for fantasy writers: The more truth you mix in with a lie, the stronger it gets.
​Diane Duane
Author of ​Deep Wizardry
​Born May 18, 1952
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D. Duane
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Amanda Gorman, ​Call Us What We Carry

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Margaret Wise Brown
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Elsa Maxwell
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Bennett Cert
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A Writer's Wit: Robert Surtees

5/17/2023

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The only infallible rule we know is, that the man who is always talking about being a gentleman never is one.
​Robert Surtees
Author of ​The Horseman's Manual
Born May 17, 1803
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R. Surtees
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Diane Duane
FRI: My Book World | Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry
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A Writer's Wit: Jean Hanff Korelitz

5/16/2023

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As a writer, I have this compulsion to take characters who appear formidable and bombard them with adversity until they crumble. What's interesting is watching them rise again, and seeing how they've changed and grown, if indeed they have.
​Jean Hanff Korelitz
Author of ​The Latecomer
​Born May 16, 1961
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J. H. Korelitz
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Robert Surtees

THURS: A Writer's Wit | Diane Duane
FRI: My Book World | Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry
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Irving's Last Book?

5/12/2023

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A WRITER'S WIT
I was much distressed by next door people who had twin babies and played the violin; but one of the twins died, and the other has eaten the fiddle, so all is peace.
​Edward Lear, English Poet Known for His Limericks
Author of "There Was an Old Lady Whose Folly"
​
​Born May 12, 1812
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E. Lear

My Book World

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Irving, John. The Last Chairlift: A Novel. New York: Simon, 2022.

I’m a big fan of most of Irving’s early and mid-career books, including his nonfiction. I loved reading Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, and A Prayer for Owen Meany. I had to begin the latter three times until it finally ensnared me and I couldn’t put it down. Perusing The Last Chairlift, sadly, is not like that.
 
I read this book aloud to my partner evenings over a period of three months. I kept waiting for Irving’s Dickensian afterburner to kick in at about page 100, that thrust that would propel us to the end. It did not engage, not for me anyway. Almost nine hundred pages seems too long for a contemporary novel, I believe. It might have been better served to come in at four or even five hundred pages. Why?
 
For one thing, there is too much of a certain kind of repetition. Normally, I like some recapitulation, little wrap-ups of or references to earlier events to remind readers what has come before. However, in this novel, Irving has an annoying habit of attaching endearing monikers like the little snowshoer to characters instead of using the character’s name (and his practice seems clunky compared to the Russians who do this rather well). Of course, he alternates their usage with their real name at times, but by the time he does, one forgets who the little snowshoer is . . . or was.
 
And did someone say ghosts? A few of the characters die along the way (the novel does cover quite a life span), but do they? They keep reappearing as ghosts, but Irving doesn’t have much of a mechanism for readers to grab onto. We’re just supposed to know it. Rather than being led to believe this is some kind of flashback, it is really encounters with ghosts we’re having. I will accept responsibility for sloppy reading, but I’m not sure it’s all my fault. Or are ghosts merely an easy, perhaps sloppy, representation of how the main character misses the people in his life who die?
 
Finally, Irving has a careerlong fascination with a number of images or motifs: bears or people in bear costumes, an almost homoerotic fascination with wrestling, and also, among others, a perhaps erotic fascination with trans people (and a son who accepts his trans mother, see The World According to Garp). This novel is populated with trans people, yet I never get the sense that Irving has a real feel or understanding of them. There is not enough information present on the page for readers to believe he knows what he’s talking about: complex physical and psychological transformations, surgical or other medical procedures, the emotional angst that must come with such metamorphoses. And always, I wonder why he avoids other LGBTIQA+ iterations, mostly the G one (except for a lesbian couple who must be the last vestige of vaudeville, appearing nightly in Two Dykes, One Who Talks, har har har). Just saying.
 
It seems that Irving may have wished for this book to be his swan song, and he puts his entire heart and snippets of every motif from his entire oeuvre and mixes them all into a fine pea soup with not a little ham. I don’t know about others, but as I finished this go-around with the latest Irving novel, I could only stomach so much of this rich pea soup. And only so much ham.

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Jean Hanff Korelitz

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Robert Surtees
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Diane Duane
FRI: My Book World | Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry: Poems

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A Writer's Wit: Benjamin Dreyer

5/11/2023

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I am a copy editor. After a piece of writing has been, likely through numerous drafts, developed and revised by the writer and by the person I tend to call the editor editor and deemed essentially finished and complete, my job is to lay my hands on that piece of writing and make it . . . better. Cleaner. Clearer. More efficient. 
​Benjamin Dreyer
Author of Dreyer's English: 
An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
​Born May 11, 1958
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B. Dreyer
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | John Irving, ​The Last Chairlift

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Jean Hanff Korelitz
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Robert Surtees
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Diane Duane
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A Writer's Wit: Ariel Durant

5/10/2023

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It is good a philosopher should remind himself, now and then, that he is a particle pontificating on infinity.
​Ariel Durant
Author of ​The Lessons of History
Born May 10, 1898
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A. Durant
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Benjamin Dreyer
FRI: My Book World | John Irving, ​The Last Chairlift
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A Writer's Wit: Sophie Scholl

5/9/2023

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Just because so many things are in conflict does not mean that we ourselves should be divided.
​Sophie Scholl, anti-Nazi activist
Subject of Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005 film)
​Born May 9, 1921
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S. Scholl
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Ariel Durant

THURS: A Writer's Wit | Benjamin Dreyer
FRI: My Book World | John Irving, The Last Chairlift
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Less, More Lost Than Ever

5/5/2023

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A WRITER'S WIT
On an exhausted field, only weeds grow.
​Henryk Sienkiewicz
Author of ​Quo Vadis
​Born May 5, 1846
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H. Sienkiewicz

My Book World

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Greer, Andrew Sean. Less Is Lost. New York: Little, 2022.

My only criticism of Greer’s first novel in this series, Less, was that readers had to play a guessing game as to whom the narrator was. I felt there were some problems with that mechanism (see my complete profile). Why not just write the narrative in third person? I asked at the time. Less’s lover, Freddy Pelu, could not possible know some of the things Less had experienced. At least, that is what I reasoned.
 
In this novel, Freddy Pelu is an openly open gay narrator, Less’s partner (the one he finally winds up with in the first novel). And yet, his similar narration of this novel sets up different but similarly disturbing questions: 1) Since the two men are once again separated, we don’t see them together. Less is on an extended book tour, trying to scare up extra money, Freddy off somewhere else. 2) Again, Freddy seems to be narrating Less’s story about the death of Less’s previous lover. Is he actually there to witness all of Less’s torments? 3) Why even have a partner if Less is not even going to engage with him, the least of which would be coitus?
 
Still, as a summer beach read, Greer’s mixture of apt literary allusions and familiarity with pop culture, the novel is not disappointing. It kept me reading right to the very end when Less, after crisscrossing the USA—combining literary lectures with personal journey—finally meets up with Freddy (although it is only a good guess on the part of readers). If Greer squeaks out a sequel, I do hope that, even if Freddy narrates this one, too, that readers will experience the partners being in the same room!

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Sophie Scholl

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Ariel Durant
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Benjamin Dreyer
FRI: My Book World | John Irving, The Last Chairlift


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A Writer's Wit: Anna Olson

5/4/2023

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Baking may be regarded as a science, but it's the chemistry between the ingredients and the cook that gives desserts life. Baking is done out of love, to share with family and friends, to see them smile.
​Anna Olson
Author of ​Set for the Holidays
​Born May 4, 1968
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A. Olson
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Andrew Sean Greer, ​Less Is Lost

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Sophie Scholl
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Ariel Durant
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Benjamin Dreyer
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Reza Aslan

5/3/2023

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Religion doesn’t make people bigots. People are bigots and they use religion to justify their ideology.
Reza Aslan
Author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Born May 2, 1972
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R. Aslan
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Anna Olson
FRI: My Book World | Andrew Sean Greer, Less Is Lost
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Margaret Hill McCarter

5/2/2023

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Joy does not kill any more than sorrow. 
Margaret Hill McCarter
Author of 
A Master’s Degree
Born May 2, 1860
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M. Hill McCarter
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Reza Aslan

THURS: A Writer's Wit | Anna Olson
FRI: My Book World | Andrew Sean Greer, Less Is Lost
0 Comments

New Thinking about Boys and Men

4/28/2023

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A WRITER'S WIT
In Monroeville, well, they’re Southern people, and if they know you are working at home they think nothing of walking right in for coffee. But they wouldn't dream of interrupting you on the golf course.
​Harper Lee
Author of ​To Kill a Mockingbird
​Born April 28, 1926
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H. Lee

My Book World

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Reeves, Richard V. Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It. Washington: Brookings, 2022.

Reeves’s thesis may be that while the liberation of women in the last fifty years has been a much-needed, even transformative, change in our society, men and boys have been left behind in their liberation or growth. He believes, for example, that boys should be red-shirted, in other words, begin school a year later. Many parents already do this when they see their sons are not ready. An added benefit is that when the boys reach their teen years, they’re in a class of young women whose maturity more closely matches their own. Reeves also includes in his research how black boys and men differ yet from white males and other ethnic groups in their experiences—thus expanding his work.
 
To solve the employment problem of boys and men he advocates more sophisticated tech programs to train boys (as well as girls) for tech jobs that are sorely needed, perhaps entire high schools, not just a single department. He suggests that we as a society make it acceptable for men to train for more HEAL professions (health, education, administration, and literacy), in the same way women and girls have increased their presence in STEM professions (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In the manner that women have made headway in achieving fifty percent occupation of STEM jobs and professions that used to be closed to women, men and boys should be encouraged and supported financially to enter HEAL professions. He cites research that suggests many boys perform better when they are tutored by male teachers.
 
There are those who will see this book as overlooking women and girls, but Reeves insists that that is not so. An apparent feminist in thought and deed (a somewhat stay-at-home-dad), he believes that progress should continue for women and girls. It’s just that he believes men, because of societal changes occurring in the last half-century, should be allowed to grow in areas that they weren’t previously. And he offers an entire chapter on how these new roles for men may be accomplished. The task will take considerable resources, both financial and human, but if we don’t begin by considering the ideas put forth by our scholars, where else can we begin, and how do we expect to progress as a civilization?

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Margaret Hill McCarter

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Reza Aslan
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Anna Olson
FRI: My Book World | Andrew Sean Greer, Less Is Lost


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A Writer's Wit: Cecil Day-Lewis

4/27/2023

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First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it.
​Cecil Day-Lewis,  Poet and Novelist
Author of ​A Hope for Poetry
Born April 27, 1904
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C. Day-Lewis
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Richard V. Reeves, Of Boys and Men

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Margaret Hill McCarter
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Reza Aslan
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Henryk Sienkiewicz
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Anita Loos

4/26/2023

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The rarest of all things in American life is charm. We spend billions every year manufacturing fake charm that goes under the heading of public relations. Without it,  America would be grim indeed.
​Anita Loos
Author of ​Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
​Born April 26, 1893
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A. Loos
​Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | C. Day Lewis
FRI: My Book World | Richard V. Reeves, ​Of Boys and Men
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Edward R. Murrow

4/25/2023

0 Comments

 
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.
​Edward R. Murrow
Broadcast Journalist 
​Born April 25, 1908
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E. R. Murrow
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Anita Loos

THURS: A Writer's Wit | C. Day Lewis
FRI: My Book World | Richard V. Reeves, Of Boys and Men
0 Comments

Desperation Creates 'Character'

4/21/2023

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A WRITER'S WIT
Research for fiction is a funny thing: you go looking for one piece of information, and find something altogether different.
​Nell Freudenberger
Author of ​Lucky Girls
​Born April 21, 1975
Picture
N. Freudenberger

My Book World

Fox, Paula. Desperate Characters. With an introduction by Jonathan Franzen. New York: Norton, 1999 (1970).

This story is indeed one of desperation. Set in the late 1960s amid a crumbling New York City (Brooklyn), the middle-aged characters are desperate in different respects. Sophie, married to Otto, an attorney, feeds a feral cat that bites her. Otto’s longtime law partner, Charlie, leaves their firm, but he also becomes involved with Sophie unbeknownst to husband Otto. Sophie postpones having her bite checked to see if she might be the victim of rabies. After she and Otto finally trap the cat to have it examined, she and Otto travel to their country place to find that it has been ransacked and vandalized. Perhaps only a bottle of booze has been stolen, but many items, including books, are completely unusable due to the destruction. They consult with the man whom they pay to care for their property in the off season, not getting much satisfaction when he claims he and his son just checked it a few days before.

Much about this book is unsettling. People with a comfortable life are no longer comfortable with each other or their lives, yet they are loath to abandon them or do anything to change them. The cat bite seems to stand in for the unseen sore that is festering beneath the surface of their marriage. Unless I’ve missed something, we never learn the result of Sophie’s test, whether she’ll have to undergo the twelve rabies shots given to the stomach, one per day for nearly two weeks. Much in the way that we never learn what happens to these desperate people. The way the author must want it. The way many of our lives end up, with more questions posed than answered.

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Edward R. Murrow

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Anita Loos
THURS: A Writer's Wit | C. Day Lewis
FRI: My Book World | Richard V. Reeves, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It
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    AUTHOR
    Richard Jespers is a writer living in Lubbock, Texas, USA.

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