What I Read in January

Rather than just list the books I’ve read in 2008, I thought I’d copy what Tim Hallinan started doing and post about the books I’ve read each month.

Forgetfulness, by Ward Just is a book I picked up while browsing the front table at the Tattered Cover. This was at times a bit slow, but it explored some significant issues with regard to our post 9/11 emotions and views on terrorism and on being an American. I liked Just's narrative style and this book made me want to read more of him.

Josie and Jack, by Kelly Braffet: I bought this one based on Josephine Damian’s review. For anyone who reads Josephine’s blog, you’ll know I was intrigued by her enthusiasm for this one since JD starts far more books than she finishes. She’s a tough critic. I enjoyed the book and I thought it was well plotted and well written.

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, Illustrated by Joe Ciardiello. I hesitated to even list this one because it’s only 96 pages and most of them have illustrations or single sentences on them. I bought it when Tim Hallinan referenced it in his Writers Resources pages. It’s quite charming; it cuts right to the chase and is a good book to leave around just to have a quick reminder about some of the fundamentals. This would be the perfect gift for a writer.

Twinkle, Twinkle, by Kaori Ekuni was a book Tim Hallinan read and posted about a couple of months back. I was interested in it primarily because the chapters alternate between the points of view of a married couple. The book was translated from Japanese, so it takes place in Japan. The wife is a young, very confused and very unhappy woman who is married to a gay man. They both went into the marriage knowing what their situation was and the evolution of the relationship is painful and touching. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It was a beautiful story.

On Love, by Alain de Botton was a book I learned about from this review at The Book Book. It is a novel about falling in and out of love, but it’s written in the style of a series of essays. I loved this book and kept reading passages from it aloud to Scott. He actually read it after I did and he very seldom reads fiction. I adore this author and have recently added four more of his books (all non-fiction) to my TBR stack.

Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill. I found Mary Gaitskill when I was bemoaning the lack of truly flawed female protagonists to Andrea Dupree, the director of my favorite place to learn writing, Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Andrea recommended Mary Gaitskill and I got what I was looking for. This was a gritty novel and when I think about how to describe it, the words that keep popping into my head are “grotesquely beautiful”. If I could craft one sentence as beautifully as Mary Gaitskill does, I would die a happy woman.

How Proust Can Change Your Life, by Alain de Botton. I loved On Love, but this one may have changed my life. In a series of chapters with titles like, “How to Take Your Time”, “How to Suffer Successfully”, “How to be a Good Friend”, and “How to Open Your Eyes”, de Botton explores topics by drawing on the works and the life of Marcel Proust. This is the best book I’ve read in a very long time. I’ve been eyeballing the mammoth copy of Swann’s Way on my shelf and trying to decide how soon I’m willing to tackle it.

The Sky Isn't Visible From Here, by Felicia C. Sullivan is the memoir of blogger and host of Writers Revealed, Felicia Sullivan. The author grew up in Brooklyn with a cocaine addicted mother who would never reveal the identity of Felicia’s father to her. The book alternates chapters recounting a childhood filled with poverty, insecurity and a rotating entourage of the men in her mother’s life, alternating with chapters of her own successful escape to Fordham and then to Columbia to pursue her MFA. Throughout her transformation from neighborhood girl to a successful Manhattanite, Felcia shares her struggles with identity, recreating herself and her plunge into and recovery from alcohol and cocaine addiction. Felcia’s mother disappeared the night before her college graduation and hasn’t been heard from in eleven years. This painful memoir recounts the struggle with this difficult relationship. I already thought Felicia was superwoman, but I am truly awed by all she's accomplished now that I know her story.

What was the best book you read in January?

A note to my Colorado blog pals. Please check out this post about an important bill going before the Colorado House Judiciary Committee on February 20^th. Please urge Governor Ritter to support this bill on the juvenile direct file law.

Felicia C. Sullivan: Writers Revealed and So Much More

I will be the first to admit, I spend far too much time online but every once in a while I run across a site that is too good not to share. In this case it’s more than one.

Felicia Sullivan is going to think I’m stalking her.

She is a New York based writer with an MFA from Columbia. She’s a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and her work has been published in many literary journals and anthologies. Recently, an excerpt from her memoir was a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2006 collection. Her memoir, The Sky Isn’t Visible From Here:A Daughter’s Story will be published by Algonquin books in January of 2008 and is available for pre-order on Amazon. There’s an interview with Felicia from early 2005 in Gothamist that provides more insight into this fascinating and talented woman.

She’s also the host of Between the Sheets: Writers Revealed, a new weekly podcast featuring live discussions with some of today’s most fascinating authors. It gets even better. Felicia has started a unique Virtual Book Club featuring not only an opportunity to speak live with the author, but to receive a free book as well. She’s also got plans to launch a new monthly book club on literary classics. I've signed up for the October book and will be prowling the site daily for updates on the lit classics club.

Felicia is the founder of one of my favorite online literary magazines, Small Spiral Notebook. This online magazine is full of great poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction from emerging writers, as well as insightful author interviews.

I was sufficiently bowled over by her talent and energy and then discovered coincidentally, that Scott Esposito of Conversational Reading, also editor of another of my favorite haunts, The Quarterly Conversation is a regular contributor to Small Spiral Notebook.

It is a small world and I feel like I just hit the literary jackpot.

So many blogs, so little time -- check out links to these sites -- I promise you'll be glad you did.