I am a member of a book club and a writing club. I am going to form a Writers Book Club to examine the authors written about in this newsletter. I am sure we will all become better writers and readers and enjoy it more than studying via an MFA. Keep 'em coming!
I have become a loyal reader of this newsletter (I love waking up to these!) and this is one of my favorites so far. I read and loved this book and, in addition to giving me another dimension on which to appreciate it (like an amateur jazz listener, I must have felt the effect of Packer's literary techniques even if I hadn't noticed or understood them), this piece also provides a much better description of the book than I've ever come up with. Whenever I've recommended it, it's taken me waaaaaay too many words to describe what, exactly, it is that I'm recommending. "A series of fractured profiles," "a miserable masterpiece," "a mind incinerating in its own clarity," "a cruelly perfect rendering," "The sort of thing that inspires historians to haul out the capital letters." Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes!
This article so eloquently captures the gist and feeling of the book's vignettes... and how ironic that such concision and precision is found in a review of an excessive and effective run-on sentence!
It's unfathomable that, as bad as things currently stand, tens of millions are gleefully leaping into the fire, while tens of millions pretend it's not happening, and tens pull the strings.
I am a member of a book club and a writing club. I am going to form a Writers Book Club to examine the authors written about in this newsletter. I am sure we will all become better writers and readers and enjoy it more than studying via an MFA. Keep 'em coming!
Gosh, I don’t know where you live, but I’d love to be close enough to join. I’ll keep dreaming.
Most of the year in Tucson. Summers on Long Island. You?
I live in north Texas, but originally born and raised in Southern California. Have fun with your writer’s book club. :)
I have become a loyal reader of this newsletter (I love waking up to these!) and this is one of my favorites so far. I read and loved this book and, in addition to giving me another dimension on which to appreciate it (like an amateur jazz listener, I must have felt the effect of Packer's literary techniques even if I hadn't noticed or understood them), this piece also provides a much better description of the book than I've ever come up with. Whenever I've recommended it, it's taken me waaaaaay too many words to describe what, exactly, it is that I'm recommending. "A series of fractured profiles," "a miserable masterpiece," "a mind incinerating in its own clarity," "a cruelly perfect rendering," "The sort of thing that inspires historians to haul out the capital letters." Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes!
This article so eloquently captures the gist and feeling of the book's vignettes... and how ironic that such concision and precision is found in a review of an excessive and effective run-on sentence!
It's unfathomable that, as bad as things currently stand, tens of millions are gleefully leaping into the fire, while tens of millions pretend it's not happening, and tens pull the strings.