Category Archives: novels

the forgotten waltz and voice

Posted on February 22, 2012 by

Really? you might be thinking. More on The Forgotten Waltz? Yes, there’s more. Consider the following: …there was no doubt that we felt easier about the world, for the fact that our father was no longer in it. We loved … Continue reading →

Posted in Anne Enright, craft of writing, details, novels | Tagged | 2 Comments

my writing notebook: the forgotten waltz

Posted on February 18, 2012 by

Here are some examples I’ve just added to my writing notebook– On chronology: Still, I can’t be too bothered here, with chronology. The idea that if you tell it, one thing after another, then everything will make sense. (55) On … Continue reading →

Posted in Anne Enright, craft of writing, my writing notebook, novels | Tagged | 3 Comments

the forgotten waltz, unreliability, and wine lines

Posted on February 17, 2012 by

If you were to ask me to recommend a novel written in the first person, I would say Anne Enright’s The Gathering. I’ve read it twice and I’m thinking about reading it again. But I just finished her most recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Anne Enright, character, craft of writing, journeys, novels | Tagged | 5 Comments

watching the sea

Posted on December 17, 2011 by

My writing group just finished reading Colm Toibin’s collection, The Empty Family. Although some people in the group loved it, I didn’t. I’ve started giving away the books I know I won’t read again, and this one will be sent … Continue reading →

Posted in novels, obsession, reading, stories, writing group | Tagged | 9 Comments

no place on earth

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

It’s difficult to think of anything other than the stunning crimson and gold leaves outside my windows. I have been doing too many other things lately. And I have come to the place where I need to set aside time … Continue reading →

Posted in character, fall, form, journeys, leaves, mfa, novels | Tagged | 8 Comments

I second that emotion

Posted on September 28, 2011 by

In a stack of books I wanted to write about, I found Elizabeth Strout’s Amy & Isabelle that I reread in November of 2010–almost a year ago. (I really should clean out my study more often–yes, I’m still going–down to … Continue reading →

Posted in craft of writing, novels | Tagged | 6 Comments

the girl who fell from the sky

Posted on August 31, 2011 by

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, the debut novel by Heidi Durrow, is a story that will make you ache in all the best ways. Barbara Kingsolver chose it as the winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction in 2008, and it was published … Continue reading →

Posted in awards and prizes, family, first novels, reviews | Tagged | 7 Comments

await your reply 3: repetition with new detail

Posted on August 17, 2011 by

In Await Your Reply, published in 2009, Dan Chaon uses repetition in a very cool way. Instead of bogging down the original scene, he pushes the action forward first, then a bit later, moves in for a close-up or two, … Continue reading →

Posted in Contrary, craft of writing, details, novels | Tagged | 3 Comments

await your reply 2: nods

Posted on August 16, 2011 by

In the surprisingly interesting Reader’s Guide at the back of Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply, Chaon writes: As a writer, I feel like I’m always in conversation with the books that I’ve read. Yiyun Li, the author of The Vagrants, feels … Continue reading →

Posted in accumulation, Contrary, craft of writing, novels, stories, time | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

await your reply 1: three threads

Posted on August 15, 2011 by

From the first page of Dan Chaon‘s novel: On the seat beside him, in between him and his father, Ryan’s severed hand is resting on a bed of ice in an eight-quart Styrofoam cooler. Enough said? Dan Chaon’s second novel … Continue reading →

Posted in Contrary, craft of writing, details, novels, recurring images, structure | Tagged | 7 Comments