Blog - www.richardjespers.com

Amy Tan: Author of Opposites

7/29/2022

A WRITER'S WIT
Certainly almost everything we do and think is colored in some way by memes, but it is important to realize that not everything we experience is a meme. If I walk down the street and see a tree, the basic perception that's going on is not memetic.
Susan Blackmore
Author of Ten Zen Questions
Born July 29, 1951

S. Blackmore

My Book World

Tan, Amy. The Opposite of Fate. London: HarperCollins, 2003.

The Opposite of Fate is a joy to read, I would venture, whether you’re a Tan fan or not. The celebrated author modestly shares her wisdom with readers. Wisdom derived from her childhood, the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Wisdom derived from a life marred with tragedy (family deaths, physical violence, and murder of a friend). Wisdom derived from her relationships, family and friends alike. Wisdom derived from her courage to try new things (from joining a rock band made up of other famous writers to escaping from a dangerous flood while camping near Lake Tahoe to traveling to China with her mother). Wisdom derived from her trial-and-error career in writing (as most writing careers may be). Wisdom about medicine as she suffers through a long (and undiagnosed) bout of Lyme disease. The book is composed of essays arranged in thematic sections, and some anecdotes or fragments tinkle like little bells of remembrance from one essay to the next, but you don’t mind the repetition because it demonstrates how interrelated all the parts of her singular life are. I wish I’d read it when it was published, but it is still a valuable document in understanding one of our most important American authors.
Coming Next:
TUES: AWW | Rose Tremain
WEDS: AWW | Steven Millhauser
THURS: AWW | Helen Thomas
FRI: My Book World | Reynolds Price's The Promise of Rest

A Writer's Wit: Malcolm Lowry

7/28/2022

Success is like some horrible disaster
Worse than your house burning.
Malcolm Lowry
Author of Under the Volcano
Born July 28, 1909

M. Lowry

TOMORROW: My Book World | Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate
TUES: AWW | Aldous Huxley
WEDS: AWW | Elizabeth Hardwick
THURS: AWW | Malcom Lowry

A Writer's Wit: Elizabeth Hardwick

7/27/2022

This the unspoken contract of a wife and her works. In the long run wives are to be paid in a peculiar coin—consideration for their feelings. And it usually turns out this is an enormous unthinkable inflation few men will remit, or if they will, only with a sense of being overcharged.
Elizabeth Hardwick
Author of Sleepless Nights
Born July 27, 1916

E. Hardwick

Coming Next:
THURS: AWW |Malcolm Lowry
FRIDAY: My Book World | Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate

A Writer's Wit: Aldous Huxley

7/26/2022

A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author’s soul.
Aldous Huxley
Author of Brave New World
Born July 26, 1894

A. Huxley

COMING NEXT:
WEDS: AWW | Elizabeth Hardwick
THURS: AWW | Malcom Lowry
FRIDAY: My Book World | Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate

Bite-Sized Poems Are Good for the Soul

7/22/2022

A WRITER'S WIT
Life's sharpest rapture is surcease of pain.
Emma Lazarus
Author of The New Colossus
Born July 22, 1849

E. Lazarus

Summerfield, Ellen, Ed. Bite-sized Poems: An Anthology. Oregon: Independently Published, 2021.

This carefully curated and edited volume of poetry might be the beginning classroom teacher’s dream for teaching poetry. Summerfield, herself a poet, brings together over forty indeed brief poems (one as short as nine words but packed with meaning). Not only does she guide readers lovingly through each poem with thoughtful exegesis but she also provides at the end of each presentation references to YouTube and PBS readings of the poem or a poet’s website so that the curious persons might read on. However, not to limit the book’s appeal to an educational setting alone, it stands alone as one poet’s generous interpretation of a group of disparate but equally enchanting poems—each one a delicious chocolate lifted from the front cover of bite-sized delights: Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Bertolt Brecht, as well as Edna Kovacs and Gwendolyn Brooks, make up just a few of the poets whom she anthologizes.

Coming Next:
TUES: AWW | Aldous Huxley
WEDS: AWW | Elizabeth Hardwick
THURS: AWW | Malcolm Lowry
FRI: My Book World | Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate

A Writer's Wit: Sarah Waters

7/21/2022

I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall in a few Victorian parlours.
Sarah Waters
Author of The Little Stranger
Born July 21, 1966

S. Waters

Coming Next:
TOMORROW: My Book World | E. Summerfield's Bite-Sized Poems
TUES: AWW | Aldous Huxley
WEDS: AWW | Elizabeth Hardwick
THURS: AWW | Malcom Lowry

A Writer's Wit: Cormac McCarthy

7/20/2022

Even if what you're working on doesn't go anywhere, it will help you with the next thing you're doing. Make yourself available for something to happen. Give it a shot.
Cormac McCarthy
Author of No Country for Old Men
Born July 20, 1933

C. McCarthy

Coming Next:
THURS: AWW | Sara Waters
FRIDAY: My Book World | Ellen Summerfield's Bite-Sized Poems

A Writer's Wit: Ethan Canin

7/19/2022

The historical background is one of the easier aspects of writing a novel. Far more difficult is dreaming up the smaller, character-based scenes, scenes that rise entirely from one's own imagination.
Ethan Canin
Author of The Palace Thief
Born July 19, 1960

E. Canin

COMING NEXT:
WEDS: AWW | Cormac McCarthy
THURS: AWW | Sarah Waters
FRIDAY: My Book World | Ellen Summerfield's Bite-Sized Poems

Her Name Forever

7/15/2022

A WRITER'S WIT
Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.
Arianna Huffington
Author of On Becoming Fearless...in Love, Work, and Life
Born July 15, 1950

My Book World

Pellegrino, Charles. Her Name, Titanic: The Untold Story of the Sinking and Finding of the Unsinkable Ship. New York: McGraw, 1988.

I’ve been a fan of the Titanic’s story since I was a child. I read every magazine article, every book I could find on the subject—even as an adult I collected books. I watched every film, fiction or documentary. This book, though dated now in some ways, does combine two strands: 1) the eyewitness details left behind by those who were there to witness the sinking: passengers, crew members, children—always the more interesting narrative, to me. Pellegrino also unveils the thread of how oceanographer Robert Ballard locates the Titanic’s remains and visits them in a, for the time (1987), innovative “submarine” equipped with cameras.

The most astounding part of Ballard’s story seems to be that he is so overcome with emotion on seeing the pristine quality of certain artifacts left behind—china, passenger shoes, and other memorabilia—that he has no desire to lift any of it for souvenirs. Rather, he disguises the exact GPS location from journalists and the world, so that the site might remain what it has been since it all came to rest in the icy North Atlantic floor in 1912, and that is a place of memorial. Of course, other parties do locate the ship and make a commercial venture of it, but Ballard’s stance must be the higher ground, in a manner of speaking.

Coming Next:
TUES: AWW | Ethan Canin
WEDS: AWW | Cormac McCarthy
THURS: AWW | Sarah Waters
NEXT FRI: My Book World | Ellen Summerfield's Bite-Sized Poems: An Anthology

A Writer's Wit: Owen Wister

7/14/2022

When you can't have what you choose, you just choose what you have.
Owen Wister
Author of The Virginian
Born July 14, 1860

O. Wister

TOMORROW: My Book World | Charles Pellegrino's Her Name, Titanic
TUES: AWW | Ethan Canin
WEDS: AWW | Cormac McCarthy
THURS: AWW | Sarah Waters

A Writer's Wit: Wole Soyinka

7/13/2022

One's own self-worth is tied to the worth of the community to which one belongs, which is intimately connected to humanity in general. What happens in Darfur becomes an assault on my own community, and on me as an individual. That's what the human family is all about.
Wole Soyinka
Author of Aké: The Years of Childhood
Born July 13, 1934

W. Soyinka

THURS: AWW | Owen Wister
FRIDAY: My Book World | Charles Pellegrino's Her Name, Titanic

A Writer's Wit: Pablo Neruda

7/12/2022

I continue to work with the materials I have, the materials I am made of. With feelings, beings, books, events, and battles, I am omnivorous. I would like to swallow the whole earth. I would like to drink the whole sea.
Pablo Neruda
Author of Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
Born July 12, 1904

P. Neruda

COMING NEXT:
WEDS: AWW | Wole Soyinka
THURS: AWW | Isaac Bashevis Singer
FRIDAY: My Book World | Charles Pellegrino's Her Name, Titanic

'Structures of the World' Photography Exhibition

7/11/2022

I am happy to announce that my photograph, "One World Trade Center," has been accepted to appear in the "Structures of the World, Works on Paper" Exhibition soon to open at the International Cultural Center Gallery, at Texas Tech University. Reception: Wednesday, July 13, 2022, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. On display July-August. If you can't make it in person, you can view a slideshow of all the artists and photographers by way of clicking on the link here. Scroll down to see more. Thanks and hope you make it. RJ

One World Trade Center — 2018

COMING NEXT:
TUES: AWW | PABLO NERUDA
WEDS: AWW | WOLE SOYNKA
THURS: AWW | ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER
FRI: My Book World | Charles Pellegrino's Her Name, Titanic

'Weird Pig' Talks

7/8/2022

A WRITER'S WIT
I am prepared to believe that a dry martini slightly impairs the palate, but think what it does for the soul.
Alec Waugh
Author of A Spy in the Family
Born July 8, 1898

A. Waugh

My Book World

Foreman, Robert Long. Weird Pig. Cape Girardeau: SEMO P, 2020.

Reading this book is almost like perusing a graphic novel except, as with most reading, readers must imagine the cartoon images themselves. And it may be less scary that way, for Foreman tackles the satirizing of some tough subjects. Industrial farming, something about which a pig (if it could talk . . . and this one does) would have something to say. Creative writing and the publishing business—awash in their own absurdities. Gun violence—a germane topic right now. The character Weird Pig is basically an asshole, but for some reason, we like him and some of his antics. Why? He may give voice to some of our own discontent, some of our own worst impulses either to straighten out society or blast it all to hell. And eventually, Weird Pig does get his in the end, so you wouldn’t want to like him too much.

COMING NEXT:
MON: STRUCTURES OF THE WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY
TUES: AWW | Pablo Neruda
WEDS: AWW | Wole Soyinka
THURS: AWW | Isaac Bashevis Singer
FRIDAY: My Book World | Charles Pellegrino's Her Name, Titanic

A Writer's Wit: Eleanor Clift

7/7/2022

Looking at female candidates today, other women are the hardest on them, especially older women who were brought up in a different culture.
Eleanor Clift
Author of Madam President
Born July 7, 1940

E. Clift

COMING NEXT:
TOMORROW: My Book World | Robert Foreman's Weird Pig
MON: 'Structures of the World' Photography Exhibition TTU
TUES: AWW | Pablo Neruda
WEDS: AWW | Wole Soyinka
THURS: AWW | Isaac Bashevis Singer
FRI: My Book World | Charles Pellegrino's Her Name, Titanic: The Untold Story of the Sinking and Finding of the Unsinkable Ship

A Writer's Wit: Josh Elliott

7/6/2022

I was a subscriber to Sports Illustrated like so many of us, and I was overwhelmed by a toxic mix of naiveté and arrogance, and just thought to myself, “I think I can write like this.”
Josh Elliott
American Television Journalist
Born July 6, 1971

J. Elliott

COMING NEXT:
THURS: AWW | ELEANOR CLIFT
FRIDAY: My Book World | Robert Long Foreman's Weird Pig

A Writer's Wit: Amy Jo Martin

7/5/2022

Social media is the ultimate equalizer. It gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage.
Amy Jo Martin
Author of Renegades Write the Rules
Born July 5, 1979

A. J. Martin

COMING NEXT:
WEDS: AWW |JOSH ELLIOTT
THURS: AWW | ELEANOR CLIFT
FRIDAY: My Book World | Robert Long Foreman's Weird Pig

Just for Fun: Anatomy of Hair

7/4/2022

A WRITER'S WIT
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who walk into a room and say, “There you are” and those who say, “Here I am.”
Pauline Phillips
[Abigail Van Buren]
Author of The Best of Dear Abbie
Born July 4, 1918

P. Phillips

For about ten years, I either gave myself a crew cut or shaved my head. At the beginning of the Covid Pandemic, March 19, 2020, I gave up and began to grow my hair again—to what length I wasn't sure. It seems that every few months I was dealing with a new hair style. Don't worry, I've never left the house looking like Martha Grahame (bottom row, second from left) or Christopher Lloyd (bottom row, third from the left). Never will.

COMING NEXT:
TUES: AWW | Amy Jo Martin
WEDS: AWW | Josh Elliott
THURS: AWW | Eleanor Clift
FRIDAY: My Book World | Robert Long Foreman's Weird Pig

England: Island of Last Hopes

7/1/2022

A WRITER'S WIT
Discouragement seizes us only when we can no longer count on chance.
George Sand [Amantine Dupin]
Author of Middlemarch
Born July 1, 1804

G. Sand

My Book World

Olson, Lynne. Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War. New York: Random, 2017.

This book ostensibly is about the United Kingdom and its role in World War II, but its story is so inextricably woven with the war on the continent, as well as U.S. involvement, that it becomes a much larger tale. Author Olson writes history in an absorbing fashion by doing two things. She, of course, follows and reports the facts (spending ten years writing this book), but she also unfurls the story with a narrative flair sometimes missing from history books. She achieves the latter by developing major and minor characters so that they are three-dimensional. For example, with regard to some major players—Belgium, Holland, France, and Norway—she helps readers become acquainted with both the strengths and weaknesses of its leaders: Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, Leopold III of Belgium, de Gaulle of France—as they take refuge in London for the duration.

While relating the story of Nazi cruelty and the utter depravity of war, Olson stops to tell “little” stories: that one Czech citizen, Madlenka Korbel, one day grows up to be Madeleine Albright. That fifteen-year-old Audrey Kathleen Ruston, living with her mother in Arnhem, Holland, the site of a major conflict, is so emaciated at the end of World War II that she barely weighs ninety pounds. Nutrition will always be a problem for the girl who is to become actor Audrey Hepburn. Olson quotes Hepburn: “I still feel sick when I remember the scenes . . . . It was human misery at its starkest—masses of refugees on the move, some carrying their dead, babies born on the roadside, hundreds collapsing with hunger” (387). These are the sorts of details that make this book a pleasure to read.

One other thread is particularly poignant, that of Brigadier General John Hackett, “Shan,” originally from Australia but serving the UK. He is paratrooper who is shot down and injured as part of the Arnhem conflict. He is taken in by three Dutch unmarried sisters—Ann, Mien, and Cor de Nooij—and nursed back to health for many months until he can return to England. He is so moved by their love and care and their courage that in years to come, he returns to Arnhem again and again; likewise, he and his wife open their home to the sisters in the UK for future visits. They become family. This chapter is titled “I Was a Stranger and You Took Me In.” It is just one of the many moving stories interlaced with the UK’s status as the “last hope island” of the war. I’m delighted I found time to read this book.

NEXT FRIDAY: My Book World | Robert Long Foreman's Weird Pig