The Lit Life: Recent Comments

Comment on Damn Those Authors and Their "Filler Words"

Cherie Parker — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:24:01 GMT

In the spirit of openness, I've been trying to re-examine "On a Hill They Call Capital" for a longer review on this blog. But I'm afraid it's just too clearly a political tract for me to be of much use in critiqueing it. What I do is most correctly called literary criticism; books whose main purpose is not artistic really are not in my purview. What I can do is analyze the literary aspects of a book such as "On a Hill They Call Capital". But in this case, the writing and narrative work are a little too amateur to engage me. Let me be clear: I'm all for everyone who wants to be able to publish to find the means to publish whatever they have to say. And, even if I don't like "On a Hill" (and it should be no surprise that the books radical anti-tax message doesn't warm my Scando-socialist heart) I'm happy it was made. And I respect anyone who puts forth the kind of work required to communicate his or her thoughts in the long written form. I respect the fans of this book. But I'm not one of them.

Comment on Greetings from the Land of Sky Blue Water

Cherie Parker — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:12:12 GMT

I know literally hundreds of people in this area in one way or another: blood relatives, siblings' and cousins' in-laws, step-family, siblings' and cousins' ex-inlaws, childhood friends, parents of childhood friends, former teachers...you get the idea. I don't always know how to talk to people I know here. If I run into someone I know, what's the appropriate response? If I were to see an old friend walking down the street, of course I would pull over the car and jump out for a joyous reunion. I I'm waited on at the gas station by someone I think played junior high volleyball when I was on varsity, a friendly "Hey, Hi!" should be all that's required. But what about the second husband of one of my friends--the friend having died unexpectantly a couple of years ago? I only spoke with the husband once in my life, at the funeral. Should I wave to him and keep going? Or stop and have a stilted conversation? I suffer from a sort of social paralysis while I'm here. Sometimes it's just easiest to stay cocooned at the cabin and periodically visit the Dairy Queen drive thru.

Comment on Greetings from the Land of Sky Blue Water

Amy — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:50:09 GMT

Good luck and enjoy. Are there still people who know you in the area? I grew up way north (north of Bemidji) in a little town that is still somewhat suspicious of kids who grow up and move away to the big city. It's considered a bit snobbish. But where else to go when you don't fit in inside the little pond of a small town?

Comment on Damn Those Authors and Their "Filler Words"

James — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:46:31 GMT

Cherie I believe that what our friend in West Virginia, S. Pugh, is referring to as "filler words" are what many authors use in failed attempts to be like Hemingway but instead drone on using big unnecessary descriptive words that come across as contrived instead of natural. Hemingway was a master at using simple natural words to describe even the most complex things or emotions, he didn’t drone on or use pretentious big words that caused the reader to stop, instead he flowed. S. Pugh obviously isn’t a fan of filler words nor am I. His comment doesn’t make an attack on “words.” For a great example of filler words read Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code, there is a great story in there but you have to filter through thousands of unnecessary descriptors to get to the meat, this practice isn’t necessary with The Old Man and the Sea. Matt Carson’s style of writing is the Southern old school type, flowing naturally as if he’s sitting on your porch with a glass of bourbon, nothing forced, just simple and natural.

Comment on Damn Those Authors and Their "Filler Words"

gG Hewitt — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:44:49 GMT

On a Hill They Call Capital is not just a book, it is a piece of Americana! Matt Carson has cut through everyone's bitching and moaning to provide a modern day vision of the Sons of Liberty way of dealing with tyranny. This book isn't something to be taken so lightly, in some circles it's called our generation's Common Sense, remember Thomas Paine? I agree with Adam, another read might uncover a little more, I'll be checking your site often in hopes you do return to this subject. "On A Hill They Call Capital Matt Carson" google searches now bring your site up so I'm sure you'll start getting more fans petitioning for a more in depth review as well.

Comment on Damn Those Authors and Their "Filler Words"

adam freer — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:33:04 GMT

Cherie, let me offer another take/viewpoint on the book, On A Hill They Call Capital. I too have read the book, it appeared in an airline seatback on a flight from Dallas to LA. Seems my post about this book on another site led to comments with eerily similar situations where the book just appeared to others, it wasn't sought, purchased, or recommended, just seems to appear. All of that aside, the book to me, and a few others I've encountered who've read it, seem to take it as experimental literature, a mix of journal, diary, screenplay, novella. And yet, others, as some sites suggest on google searches like militarytimes.com, seem to think it's not fiction at all but the warning of a pending revolution. Either way it is most certainly an interesting find. I enjoy chatting with other readers of this strange work. It's certainly making it's rounds across the country. If I may make a suggestion; what if you read the book one more time, without an preconceptions or comparisons to other pieces of literature, and then wrote a follow-up review of the piece? If you felt so inclined I'd enjoy hearing your second take on it.

Thanks Cherie, look forward to hearing more...

Comment on If You Can't Hook Me by Page 100, I Don't Know What to Tell You

Amy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:15:50 GMT

Ha! OK, you've talked me out of wanting to read the Byron novel. You're more generous than I am. I give a book about 50 pages to grab me, otherwise I chuck it and move on. So many books, so little time. Well--if a book is 500 pages or longer, I might give it up to 75 or 100 pages. But that's it. I'm middle aged and getting older. Clock's ticking.

Comment on Reviewed: Lady Lazarus by Andrew Foster Altschul

Amy — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:07:15 GMT

Hey, no worries. Trust me--it's embarrassing knowing enough about Plath to make that connection. Might as well have "geek" tattoed on my forehead. I'm going to read the book, because I'm geeky enough to read any Plath-themed book, but I'm getting it from the library--there's been a fair amount of Plath-themed fiction, and most of it pretty dismal.

But I must say I did feel smart when I read the novel Santa Evita by Tomas Eloy Martinez (fictionalized account of Eva Peron) and recognized a couple of unattributed lines of Plath's poetry. Followed by several pages using some of her imagery. Very clever. It wouldn't affect the reader who didn't know Plath's work, but drawing a parallel between Evita and Plath was interesting, to say the least.

Comment on Memorial Weekend Book Review Wrap-Up

Cherie Parker — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:35:43 GMT

Thanks for the insight. I'm not a Plath fan myself, so I didn't catch the beekeeping/Lady Lazarus connections. It's not surprising though, as Altschul is clearly trying to bring in iconography from seemingly disparate influences. And the Plath cult has a natural fit with the Cobain cult; both have a figurehead whose death and work are inextricable intertwined.

Comment on Memorial Weekend Book Review Wrap-Up

Amy — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:27:57 GMT

I saw your review of Lady Lazarus in the Strib today. I think there's another cultural subset of readers that would read it; fans of Sylvia Plath. One of her iconic poems is called Lady Lazarus, and part of her own life/legend includes her father's expertise on beekeeping. Later in her short life, Plath wrote a set of poems, known as the Bee poems, as she too took up beekeeping shortly before her suicide. I haven't read Altschul's book, but sounds like he's also familiar with the cult of Plath and her suicide and used it to draw parallels to Cobain.