A sequel to What If?, this book begins to include counter-factual history of all kinds. While generally the non-military essays are interesting some of them just seem to ramble on about remote political possibilities. So while still highly recommended this may not be for you if you really only enjoy military history.
What If is a collection of military counter-historical essays which while at fiction at there core end up being a great history lesson. Each essay has an in-depth introduction of what really happened, so you learn some history before twisting it into fiction. So, if you enjoy military history and want an interesting read it is highly recommended.
Michael Chabon writes about comic books, Philip Pullman, the ghost stories of M. E. James, and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Along the way, Chabon talks about how he became a writer. In some of these essays, Chabon uses his magic to cause you to run to the computer and order the book he’s talking about. Here’s an example:
“Start anywhere; start with Odin. First he murders the gigantic, hideous monster who whelped his father, and slaughters him to make the universe. Then he plucks out his own right eyeball and trades it to an ice giant for a sip—a sip!—of water from the well of secret knowledge. Next he hangs himself, from a tree, for nine days and night nights, and in a trance of divine asphyxia devises the runes. Then he opens a vein in his arm and lets his blood commingle with that of Loki, the worst (and most appealing) creature who ever lived, thus setting in motion the chain of events that will lead to the extinction of himself, everyone he loves, and all nine worlds (beautifully mapped on the book’s endpapers), which he himself once shaped from the skull, lungs, heart, bones, teeth, and blood of his grandfather.” (p. 62)
The book under discussion is D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths. Don’t you want to read it now?
“To choose the best among the many good is one of the most hazardous attempts of criticism.” Samuel Johnson’s words apply to this fat collection of his work: poems, plays, essays, and of course, his DICTIONARY. Johnson’s life was a rocky one with heartbreak and poverty and illness dogging all his attempts to succeed as a writer. That Johnson became the legendary writer of his era and can be read with profit today is a testament to his grit and determination.
THE NEW WRITER’S HANDBOOK 2007 is the start of a yearly series of volumes to help the novice writer. There are plenty of essays on how to write, how to revise, how to find an agent, how to get published, and what to do after you get published. Contributors include Barry Lopez, Richard Powers, Jane Yolen, Ridley Pearson, and William G. Tapply among others. And I really liked the introduction to this volume written by the irrepressible Erica Jong. It begins with a quote from George Orwell: “All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing unless driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” Orwell nails it.
After Middlemarch, Jonathan Lethem’s The Disappointment Artist was a much needed change of pace. Through his essays which are mostly autobiographical/memoir, we learn about the incredibly obsessive adolescence of the author. Which is really the best descriptor of what he was, really really obsessive.
The essays lead us through his influences, his influence largely having driven his young life: collecting all of Philip K. Dick’s work (and reading the “irv” twice), seeing Star Wars twenty-one times in a single summer, matching that number with 2001, jumping from author to author, compulsively digesting their style before moving on to the next.
The focus mostly stays on reading and film-viewing, with some nods to music-listening, and a reasonably thorough description of his parents and their nyc-hippie lifestyle. Most interestingly to me though is so clearly being able to state who his influences are, and each with an associated time period. This is something I simply cannot do; I know generally who and what I have read, but never anyone so many times or so completely sit in my mind with a period of my life. I am too scattered for such determined focus.
A book from the woman who brought us When Harry Met Sally, it addresses all types of seemingly random problems we face as women, such as the bottomless pit that is our purse. While she is reminiscing about being “old,” I think that readers of all ages can find something to identify with, be it the apartment that you fell in love with, and refuse to move out of, or the process of aging. A collection of short thoughts, it is an easy read.
