The Staples of a Reading Life

2010 at 5am     Posted by Rebecca Schinsky

When I met Belle Boggs a few weeks ago, we chatted quite a bit about how her experiences as a teacher informed her writing of Mattaponi Queen, which I LOVED. This led to a discussion of ways to expose readers to new material, and since I know many of you haven’t quite come around to short fiction, it only made sense to ask Belle to write a guest post about the books and short stories she loves, in hopes that you’ll give them—and, of course, Mattaponi Queen—a try. So get out your TBR lists—here’s the lovely Belle Boggs with an annotated reading list for you!

My day job, if you could call it that, is teaching—not university teaching, but up-at-six, detention-giving, bulletin-board stapling, where’s-your-homework schoolteaching. I always have a few Crayola markers and stacks of Post-it notes in my pocketbook, and during the school year you can often find me at Staples, buying chart paper.

Even though teaching can be an exhausting job, I get a lot of energy and perspective from my students and their parents. Mattaponi Queen includes a few school settings—there’s the (almost) all-girl art room in “Deer Season,” the high school football field in “Homecoming,” and the ill-conceived elementary school career day in “Opportunity.”

Rebecca and I thought it might be fun (and hopefully useful) if I put together a list of books I love for the classroom. Post-MFA, I’ve taught everything from first grade to GED classes, so my list is pretty broad, but these are books and stories I love (or look forward to) sharing with students, and that I can read again and again.

Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel. This series is mentioned in “Opportunity,” when Lila, a lonely elementary school principal, compares herself to Frog: If she really thought about it, she was not much like Frog at all. Frog was always quietly right. He was self-contained; he didn’t gossip. He went barefoot and swam with no clothes on. I can’t say enough about the wisdom and gentle humor of Arnold Lobel, whose Mouse Tales and Owl at Home are also wonderful. One reason I would like to have (my own) children someday is so that I can read these books to them.

Holes by Louis Sachar. A friend of mine once described Louis Sachar as Kurt Vonnegut for kids, and I think that about sums his work up—funny, clever, incisive. Holes is also a masterfully plotted novel.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I read this with a group of advanced fifth-grade girls a few years ago. Completely on their own, they mapped the secret annex, made their own diaries, and dissected Anne’s honest, searching, sometimes sarcastic appraisals of her family and housemates. I was astounded by the depth of their discussions, which included the profound and sad realization that Anne might have written so much more had she survived.

In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall.  A few years ago, I read most of this book aloud to my fifth graders, then took them to see Jane Goodall speak. She was amazing, and this book is amazing—and a great example of science writing and true environmental activism.

I Remember by Joe Brainard. Reading aloud just a snippet of this quirky book, which is part-memoir, part prose-poem, is a great way to get people writing with detail about their adolescence.

A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind. This nonfiction book traces Cedric Jennings’s journey from a public high school in Southeast D.C. to Brown University. It’s honest, gripping, and beautifully written, and a great way to generate discussion in a high school class about the sometimes-difficult path to college.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I’m hoping to teach this book in an interdisciplinary science-history-journalism unit this year. Skloot’s story of the Lacks family and their quest to know more about their mother and her immortal cells will spark conversation about injustice, health care, race, education, and family.

Seriously Funny: Poems about Love, Death, Religion, Art, Politics, Sex, and Everything Else, edited by Barbara Hamby and David Kirby. I picked up this anthology for my husband but was soon devouring it myself; I plan to use a few of the great, irreverent poems with my classes next year. The title says it all–students should know that poems can be funny and serious at the same time.

“I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen and “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid. These short stories are wonderful to read with high schoolers, both for the different perspectives they provide on mother-daughter relationships and for their forms and point of view. I also like to notice, with my students, how long it took Olsen to write “I Stand Here Ironing”:  two years.

“The Heavenly Animal” by Jayne Anne Phillips. Kids who have been through divorce seem to relate strongly to this one, and the imagery is fantastic.

“Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie. List-like or formally unconventional works seem to open up reluctant writers, so this is a great place to start reading Alexie.

The stories of The Moth and The Monti. These aren’t books, but I’m excited to teach using some of the recorded personal narratives from both of these sites. You have to screen them for language and content, of course, but both sites allow you to download or stream brief true stories from the famous and the unknown, and oral storytelling is a wonderful way to talk about the craft of story—how to grab and audience and hold them, how to take them somewhere surprising.

And here are a few books for teachers:

Lessons That Change Writers and Naming the World by Nancie Atwell. If you teach writing to middle grades or above, these books will make your life a lot easier (and going to hear Nancie Atwell speak might just change the whole way you teach). Naming the World, in particular, includes a poem for every day of the school year, along with helpful annotations for starting discussions or writing exercises.

Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle. I love Kittle’s ideas for quick-writes, book talks, and mixed-genre writing.

Third Mind: Creative Writing Through Visual Art. This anthology, from the wonderful Teachers and Writers Collaborative, features essays about incorporating art into the reading and writing K-12 classroom.

Sing the Sun Up: Creative Writing Ideas from African American Literature. Another TWC classic, this collection of 20 essays includes great ideas for K-12 writing lessons.

And if you’re a teacher or someone who works with kids and you haven’t read it, I think you owe it to yourself to read Suskind’s A Hope in the Unseen. Please share your favorite picks for the classroom in the comments—I’d love to read them!

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What do you do when the muse refuses?

2010 at 5am     Posted by Rebecca Schinsky

Interviewers and book event attendees often ask writers “What do you do when you get writer’s block?” And the answers are always interesting, but they leave me wondering: why doesn’t anyone ever ask this of book reviewers?

Like most writers—and yes, bloggers are writers—, I have a routine. Coffee, morning news, some Twitter, then writing. I write roughly a thousand words a day, at least five days a week.  If I had started a novel instead of a blog two years ago, I’d be finished by now!

But instead of writing a book, I write about books (mainly because I don’t have people living in my head, demanding that their stories be told), and that means that there are times when I find myself staring down a stack of completed books, with review notes finished and passages marked, and I just. can’t. write. anything.

And it’s not that I don’t know what I want to say. By the time I sit down to write a review, I’ve already worked out the key phrases I’ll use, the way I want to talk about the book, the quotes I’ll include. I’ve pulled links to the author’s website and relevant material. It’s all there. Except for, you know, the writing.

Sometimes the muse just refuses.

I know I’m hardly alone in suffering the occasional writer’s block (and the last thing I want to read is another whiny blog post about how blogging can be such a chore sometimes), so rather than suffer by myself (or make you suffer through one of the aforementioned whiny posts), I did what any sensible modern girl does when faced with a dilemma.

I took it to Twitter.

Suggestions fell into a few noticeable categories. Here’s what my tweeps had to say:

Write Anyway

@QuercusBooks: get a routine & then write about *anything* (your day, what chores you need to do etc.) just get the ink flowing

@uberlibrarygirl: I look for questions to answer like favorite childhood memory and then write about it. Gets me in the writing mood.

@ChrisyKrueger: I switch to another writing project to get it flowing.

@picky_girl: Put pen to paper – but on something else.

@jimking108: BIC: Butt in Chair

Change it Up

@Vasilly: I just stop writing for awhile and do other things. I slowly try to bounce back without putting too much pressure on myself.

@bookswim: Play word association with the word of the day from dictionary.com…

@BiblioEva: I switch up formats! So I’ll do super mini-reviews or something.

@krisriggle: I sometimes write longhand in a journal when I’m stuck. Being away from the screen and keyboard takes the pressure off.

Take Your Mind Off the Writing

@RachelShukert: I take a really, really long shower. It’s like being in an isolation tank and it always helps me figure out the next step.

@NOMinatrix: Lots of music and a long drive in the car

@homebtwnpages: Eat! Or rather, cook and then eat. I get some of my best ideas while I’m cooking something a bit more involved.

@GodinePub: Music!

@AlexGeorge: Don’t know why, but I find having a shower often helps shake things loose (in my head, that is.)

@leahcstewart: Go for a walk, drive around w/the radio on, take a shower, switch locations, change methods (computer to pen or the reverse).

@just_jotter: Take a nap at some point. I find my best story ideas come in that moment right before dozing off. Have pen/paper handy.

@whatsheread: Sleep! My best ideas occur just as I’m falling asleep.

@jchristie: Unfortunately, I tend to just not write. Often, doing something physical (skiing, hiking, etc) gets my brain moving again.

Drink!

@StackedBlog: Vodka

@BrianaEaster: Start drinking. It’s what all the greats do, right?

Punish Yourself

@jasonpgignac: Put a really emotional song on repeat. Or, squeeze the sharp tip of the fingernail really hard into the palm of your hand.

@stratfordsj: Flagellation can work too – although the drawback is it does wear one down.

….and my favorite:

READ

@TrishRyan: READ. Anything/everything. Novels, memoir, recipes, warnings on vitamin labels…Reading breaks the block…It proves writing is possible

@hollowaymcc: Read something you love. Exercise. Pretend no one will ever read what you’re going to write. Start short, but start.

@chrishenriquez: Read! Always gets me going again.

I firmly believe it takes a good reader to be a good writer (more later on why I’ll never trust an author who can’t answer the questions “What are you reading now?”), and when I get writer’s block, I tend to read first and then go into mindless activity mode.  Chopping onions, working out on the elliptical, walking the dog, and taking long showers have all helped me find the way into difficult reviews, but it’s always nice to hear about what works for other people.

And, you know, next time chopping onions doesn’t work, I can always try drinking.

What do you do when the inspiration for whatever your creative endeavors are just won’t come?

Filed Under Blogging, Reading Life

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A Teaser from THE TYPIST

2010 at 5am     Posted by Rebecca Schinsky

I’ve been anticipating Michael Knight’s The Typist for several months, and now that I’m halfway through the slim volume (it checks in at just over 200 pages), I’m reading as slowly as possible because I don’t want it to end. Long story short, The Typist is a different kind of war story.

Here’s the description from publisher Grove/Atlantic:

When Francis Vancleave (“Van”) joins the army in 1944, he has every reason to expect his term of service will pass uneventfully. After all, the war is winding down and Van’s one singular talent—typing ninety-five words a minute—keeps him off the battlefield and in General MacArthur’s busy Tokyo headquarters, where his days are filled with paperwork in triplicate and letters of dictation.
Little does Van know that the first year of the occupation will prove far more volatile for him than for the U.S. Army. Bunked with a troubled combat veteran cum-black marketer and recruited to babysit General MacArthur’s eight-year-old son, Van is suddenly tangled in the complex—and risky—personal lives of his compatriots. As he brushes shoulders with panpan girls and Communists on the bustling streets of Tokyo, Van struggles to uphold his convictions in the face of unexpected conflict—especially the startling news that reaches his barracks from his young war bride, a revelation that threatens Van with a kind of war wound he could never have anticipated.

I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of a war book as quiet before, but The Typist is certainly that. Knight’s writing and the character’s voice—Van narrates in first-person—are wonderful, and I really don’t want to say goodbye to them. And I’m surprised by how many passages I’m underlining as I read. The Typist is full of unexpectedly beautiful sentences.

Like this, as Van describes a show he and his roommate saw, in which women posed on stage as the subjects from famous works of art.

I didn’t know enough about art to recognize many of the paintings, but I remember women under trees and in bathtubs and on rumpled beds, all of them naked and pale, all bathed in the perfect silence of our adoration.

The perfect silence of our adoration.

I just love that.

The Typist will be available August 3, 2010 from Atlantic Monthly Press. Do yourself a favor and order one today.

Filed Under The Book Lady's Buzz

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Book Review: Mattaponi Queen by Belle Boggs

2010 at 5am     Posted by Rebecca Schinsky

Published May 2010 by Graywolf Press

You don’t have to read much of Belle Boggs’s short story collection Mattaponi Queen to figure out why it won the Bakeless Prize in 2009. In fact, you don’t have to read beyond the preface, in which the illustrious Percival Everett, who selected Bogg’s work as the fiction winner, writes:

The stories are good because they are strongly imagined, finely controlled, and well-crafted. These stories are good because they are true, true in that way that only good fiction can be.

Of course, after a statement like that, you’ll want to keep reading, and you won’t regret it.

Mattaponi Queen is comprised of twelve stories set primarily in and around King William County, Virginia (not a far piece up the road from where I live in Richmond) and on the Mattaponi Indian reservation. Boggs’s stories vary in length (three pages to more than thirty), theme, characterization, and tone, defying the one-trick-pony problem that often plagues collections of short fiction, and they are unified by consistently fantastic writing that is, as Mr. Everett stated, “finely controlled…and well-crafted.”  It is obvious that Boggs chooses her words carefully, and she makes every last one matter.

Mattaponi Queen is chock full of beautiful phrases, as when, in the opening story “Deer Season,” Boggs describes a deer standing unnoticed outside a school and says, “long dry fronds brush against its limbs and it holds still as a gasp.”

Still as a gasp. That’s good stuff.

Boggs’s characters live middle-class lives and grapple with the tension between their big dreams and the feeling that their lives are moving toward a certain inevitable, disappointing outcome. In “Good News for a Hard Time,” a young woman named Ronnie, who grew up on the reservation but left for art school (and then dropped out), reflects:

Almost three years out, Ronnie knew that she didn’t care as much as she hoped she would about art. She wasn’t going to New York; she wasn’t going to L.A. She got married in her dad’s backyard to a boy she knew in high school, and now she was going to have his baby, a soldier’s baby, probably in the county she’d grown up in. Probably on an Indian reservation that advertised on its weathered sign: Stone Age Relics: 1,000 years old!

In the same story, we meet Skinny, a friend of Ronnie’s father, who appears in several stories throughout the book.  And that’s one of the things that makes this collection shine: Boggs presents characters more than once and from multiple perspectives.

We first meet Mrs. Cutie Young in the story “Imperial Chrysanthemum” when her nurse Loretta describes her:

I do not know why Cutie Young has a nurse, or why, for that matter, people call her Cutie. She’s mean and stubborn and takes a long time in the toilet, but other than that there’s nothing much wrong with her.

Cutie pops up again in “Election Day,” when we learn that she votes (and by votes, I mean that she writes herself in) not out of a sense of civic duty but because “she knows that whether you voted, though not for whom, is a matter of public record, and she has a private horror of being discovered to have missed an election,” and we see Loretta again in the title story “Mattaponi Queen.”

“Buckets of Rain” explores the challenges of being a child with an alcoholic parent and coping with being asked to do more and be more grown-up than one should have to be, and “Homecoming” examines the ways in which a second chance isn’t always a guarantee for change.

All of the pieces in Mattaponi Queen are wonderful, and each is remarkable in its own way, but the one I loved with a capital L was “Jonas,” in which Melinda, a middle-aged cheerleading coach, discovers that she is actually quite relieved when her husband announces that he wants to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Boggs’s treatment of a difficult and often controversial topic is sensitive and sympathetic, and her characters’ responses to the announcement are pleasantly surprising in their refusal to capitulate to stereotypes about small town folk.

Though Melinda wishes she had the answer to the question “How old do you have to be to understand how love works?” she is “used to taking things as they come.” While visiting a museum display of Fabergé eggs:

What Melinda liked best, she decided, was the idea of the surprise inside the egg, something special and hidden and fine, something to make you catch your breath.

Mattaponi Queen is filled with moments like this, quiet revelations, both explicit and implied, that shape and re-shape the reader’s experience of characters whose understandings of their lives are, like Cutie Young, “delicate in [their] moods” and always changing.  We’re all always changing, and Belle Boggs’s ability to capture that in snapshot vignettes and traditional stories makes this collection immensely recommendable.

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