January 2008 Archives

On my nightstand, waiting to be read:

LAURA BLUNDY, a Victorian-era dark historical by Julie Myerson (a peek at the first page has already convinced me that I'll love it)

ANGER, by Thich Nhat Hanh (I recommend all of his books)

GOULD'S BOOK OF FISH, a historical novel by Richard Flanagan (recommended by the NY Times Book Review)

THE WISDOM OF YOGA, Stephen Cope

Since I'll have little time to read until March, these are currently gathering dust, but I've promised myself that this year, I'll read a lot more fiction.

Reading recommendations, anyone? Comments?

"I have been an author for twenty years and an ass for fifty-five." -- Mark Twain

Mark Twain has always been one of my favorite authors; I got hooked on him back in tenth grade, when I played Twain in a skit for Mrs. Dodamead's English class. (Alas, she wouldn't let me light that cigar, but I spent a year toying with Swisher Sweets...)

So for those of you who wish to know the rules I l write by, here they are, both large and small, as Twain designated them:

Large rules:
1. A tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.

2. The episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help develop it.

3. The personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others.

4. The personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there.