This is a lyrical explosion of a book, a challenge to literature, and particularly to narrative non-fiction, as we know it.
Our books no longer reflect the way we understand our lives, Shields argues. They are not fractured enough, not various and stolen, too hemmed in. We are all of us increasingly hungry for the "real", and have created monuments of commodified irreality in a desperate attempt to find it.
This book is indeed a manifesto in the best sense, a call to action for readers and writers. Shields is demanding reader interaction, greater risk, more serendipity and - as difficult, possibly, to acheive as it is easy to say - more reality in our use of the written word. It's a stirring book full of more questions than answers, and one I'm very excited to have as the topic of a conversation here at the store..
News of Note
Staff Picks
Shah of Shahs
Written by David
By Ryszard Kapuscinski (Vintage, $13.95)
Those in the know know that Ryszard Kapuscinski's books of reportage are like no one else's. He's mastered an unique and utterly fascinating style of literary journalism that makes the events he depicts vivid with an incredible immediacy. I came to his books only recently, but have already read three, and so far, his Shah of Shahs is my favorite.
Finding a Form
Written by Dustin
By William Gass (Dalkey, $15.95)
I know, I recommend far too many books that are themselves about writing and books. Let's have done with that, shall we? The title piece of this book is one of the only essays about writing you will ever need. It's truly remarkable, full of insight for writers and readers (we are all both). The rest of the book is just as hilarious, insightful, endlessly quotable, and, if one is to pluck out all the names Gass mentions with admiration, could comfortably furnish a reading list for a lifetime.
Bird by Bird
Written by Adjua
By Anne Lamott (Penguin, $15.00)
Thanks, Anne Lamott. Thanks for being so funny and so human and making an guide for new writers that leaves them with the sense that anyone can do this--that the road through writing is circuitous and imperfect and fun and very difficult but also very manageable if you look at it just right and that it is above all beloved and peopled with a wide range of kinds of writers who cherish and applaud its complexity. Thanks for being for honest and generous and open about all this. Really nice of you. Cheers.
Those in the know know that Ryszard Kapuscinski's books of reportage are like no one else's. He's mastered an unique and utterly fascinating style of literary journalism that makes the events he depicts vivid with an incredible immediacy. I came to his books only recently, but have already read three, and so far, his Shah of Shahs is my favorite.
I know, I recommend far too many books that are themselves about writing and books. Let's have done with that, shall we? The title piece of this book is one of the only essays about writing you will ever need. It's truly remarkable, full of insight for writers and readers (we are all both). The rest of the book is just as hilarious, insightful, endlessly quotable, and, if one is to pluck out all the names Gass mentions with admiration, could comfortably furnish a reading list for a lifetime.
Thanks, Anne Lamott. Thanks for being so funny and so human and making an guide for new writers that leaves them with the sense that anyone can do this--that the road through writing is circuitous and imperfect and fun and very difficult but also very manageable if you look at it just right and that it is above all beloved and peopled with a wide range of kinds of writers who cherish and applaud its complexity. Thanks for being for honest and generous and open about all this. Really nice of you. Cheers.