February 9, 2012

Foreword / July 2009 / Summer Reading

Summer Reading

Okay people, you are in for a treat.

In yet another attempt to avoid writing anything that requires me to miss out on the beautiful weather we’re having here in Wisconsin (minus today ... it’s a little brisk) I have pestered some of the nicest and most talented writers in the state, no, in the world, to find out what they are reading right now.

Dwight Allen, author of the newly released novel The Typewriter Satyr:

"I have been reading the new translation of War and Peace, and given its length and my tendency to shut my eyes at ten at night, I will probably be reading it until at least the beginning of the second Obama Administration. I am almost finished with Mario Vargas Llosa’s Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I gave this novel to my son last Christmas, when he was in South America, and when he got back, he told me to read it. Vargas Llosa is a South American T. Coraghessan Boyle—antic, full of surprises. I recently read A. Manette Ansay’s Good Things I Wish You. (I reviewed it for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.) Ansay tries to answer the question of whether men and women can be friends, whether friendship can survive passion. She is a sure-handed storyteller. I am also reading In Love With Jerzy Kosinski, the new novel by my friend (and fellow Madisonian) Agate Nesaule. It’s about a Latvian woman living alone in Wisconsin, trying to find her way, after leaving her nutty control freak of a husband. It is written with great heart and quiet humor."

Well, speaking of Agate Nesaule: she tells me what she’s reading, too:

"Here are two books I love. Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News? is suspenseful, funny, and smart; it also deals with the serious theme of survival after extreme experiences. But I don’t believe I have been as head-over-heels in love with a character since I read Jane Eyre. Sixteen-year old orphan Reggie is brave, resourceful, loyal, and a terrific liar. I want to go live with Reggie, her employer Dr. Hunter, and the baby. Larry Watson’s Montana 1948 is a small jewel. It’s a short, compelling, and morally complex account of courage and of prejudice and crimes against Native Americans, which never once descends into racial stereotypes. The writing is beautifully nuanced and understated."

Soon after I received this e- from Agate I got a P.S. e-mail.

"I should have said that I haven't been in love like that since I read Jane Eyre AND A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And, incidentally, I am about to read Montana 1948 a second time just to see how Larry Watson does it."

I’m glad I got in touch with Dean Bakopoulous, author of Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon, because I learned some news about a fascinating life change:

"We’re in the process of moving to Iowa, and my wife and I are selling and/or giving away most of our stuff, burning our mortgage, and heading west. I’ve been inspired to do this, in part, by a classic book, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For, by Henry David Thoreau, which made me hate most of my possessions and despise the idea of debt. It’s remarkably apt in the age of economic collapse. (The book was recently published in a very cool new “Great Ideas” series from Penguin Books.)

"I’ll be joining the faculty at Iowa State University’s MFA program in Creative Writing & Environment. The great Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Jane Smiley recently retired from there, so, in hopes of getting some of that good karma, I’ve been reading Smiley’s wonderfully insightful Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel, as well as her hilarious satire of academic life in the Midwest, Moo."

I was bummed when Dean moved from Madison to Mineral Point, but Iowa? At least it’s for all the right reasons:

Meanwhile, I found David Marannis, whose most recent work is Rome 1960, “happily enjoying these beautiful Madison days” at his home on the near west side:

"I’m reading a collection of short stories by Mavis Gallant’s Paris Stories. I had just read an interview with her in Granta magazine that made me want to read her, and I’ve not been disappointed. The stories are amazing. Other than that, I’m reading books on Kenya, Chicago, and Indonesia for my next book, a multigenerational biography of Barack Obama."

Just reading up on some books for his next biography on Obama. Um, wow.

Me? What am I reading? How nice of you to ask. I recently put down The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. I have an old dog who also may have to be put down soon and if you’ve read the book I think you know where I’m going with this. So I switched to non-fiction, which doesn’t inflict as much emotional damage on me even when a real human dies. I’m now back to reading Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg. Writer Frank Bures gave it to me and for a while I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment to us both or a subtle hint to switch careers. Perkins is the guy who discovered F. Scott Fitgerald, among other famous American authors of the early-to-mid 20th century. I’m obviously hoping to learn how he did it so I can discover and edit more talented writers like Frank. It’s a great biography and literary history and I haven’t cried once.

So, what are you reading this summer?