The Bookity Book & Tall Grass Salon

Oh, very cool!

Thanks, Chris!

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for January 29, 2015

The poem today is beautiful. Nothing strained, rhyme and meter all in place, but quiet about themselves, no forcing at all, and the gentleness invoked matches the light touch of the form. Very sweet.

Today is the birthday of W.C. Fields, and of Anton Chekhov. An interesting pair. Chekhov was a medical doctor and considered that his primary occupation. The almanac goes on to say

There are a great number of medical doctors who also wrote fiction and poetry, among them 19th-century American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Robert Seymour Bridges, who is the only physician to have been Poet Laureate of England. American writer Walker Percy was a medical doctor, and Michael Crichton completed medical school before he became a full-time writer. Doctor Arturo Vivante wrote more than 70 stories for The New Yorker magazine. Mystery writer Robin Cook is a physician and author of the best-selling thrillers Coma (1977) and Mutation (1989). Dr. Abraham Verghese took a break from hospitals to attend the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the early 1990s; he returned to medicine and now teaches and practices at Stanford, where he has a secret unmarked writing office on campus.

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I'm quoting that here because I recall recently in some thread or other, someone asked if there were (many) medical doctors who had also written fiction (or some similar question). This is a nice list so I thought I might as well park it here.

Very lovely poem indeed. I'm told snowshoe hares used to be very common up here, but have all but vanished now. My dad says one year they didn't get any snow until after Christmas, so hunting them was a breeze that year since the rabbits had their winter coats but no snow to hide in.

Sorry Guys, I Couldn't Resist

Wait.

What!

Jonathan Winters is dead and Jerry Lewis is still alive???????

Writing physicians: oliver sacks and atul gawande - both non-fiction but fascinating stuff.

Loved the poem, even though it's pretty rhyme-y.

I'm going to make a confession - I was born without the sci-fi gene. How sad is that?

Uh, maybe it provides a necessary balance in the universe? For some people not to like sci-fi, that is.

lacygnette said:

Writing physicians: oliver sacks and atul gawande - both non-fiction but fascinating stuff.

Loved the poem, even though it's pretty rhyme-y.

I'm going to make a confession - I was born without the sci-fi gene. How sad is that?

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Very sad. Scifi has always been a place where writers can critique the world, talk about religion, politics, race, what being human means by way of inhuman characters and human ones. Buht it takes all sorts for there world to be as rich and diverse as it is. Don't worry Swanny, I don't hold it against you.

*wonders if we can find starter pieces for Swanny, to induce the generation of the sci-fi gene. *

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for January 30, 2015

Really like the poem today, it's a wake-up call of a poem. It isn't unkind, but it doesn't pull any punches, and the underlying current of urgency builds quietly up until the last line when the very choice of car rings the final chord of prophecy. The only false note is the name of the cookbook; I believe that is a vegetarian cookbook and as such would not likely be the one used there. More like Better Homes and Gardens, or Fanny Farmer.

Unless I'm missing something, which I do.

Today's birthdays noted are for Richard Brautigan, Shirley Hazzard, and Barbara Tuchman. It's also the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, one of history's sadder moments and an egregious outrage against human rights, from what I know of it. Hard indeed, to come to peace after something like that.

Plymouth fury indeed.

Wow, I read the poem as fluffy nostalgia and didn't think much of it. But, after reading your take Kyla, it's clear that it's only fluffy in light of everything that happened between 1960 and 1965:

We are facing away
from the wall. The jungle is far from home.
Hoses are for cleaning the car, watering
the gardens.

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Berlin Wall, Vietnam, Civil Rights marches. In fact, the Civil Rights Movement was hanging in my mind from the "look them in the eye" comment, and the racial double standard. Looking someone in the eye is a sign of respect in Whitebread 1950s nostalgia America. But older African Americans in Mississippi even today don't look me in the eye when they speak to me, although they do when they are listening, out of an old cultural prescription against appearing aggressive toward whites. Learned habits from the old days that are fortunately going away.

So good call, Kyla! I'd have totally missed that.

And Tuchman's Guns of August is a wonderful read. She sets up the situation preceding the First World War in a way that makes it easy to see how the whole thing got started, and how nobody could have possibly known it would spiral as out of control as it did.

Cool, Chris! Glad to help with the enjoyment of the poem.

I've not read Guns of August. The buildup to WWI is something I know a little about, and yeah, it's a total WTF in a way. I should read the book. God, my list keeps growing. Spawning sub-lists and shit.

Don't worry about jump starting my sf gene. I can't even keep up with the books on my list. (I did read Hitchhiker's Guide and liked it ok, if that counts.)

The poem made me itch. There was a sense of dread under all that cheer, but I'm not sure if it's in the poem itself or in our own knowledge of what's to come.

Joy of Cooking - not vegetarian. I actually have one give to me by my m-i-l when I got married. Fantastic recipes, funny anecdotes about them and detailed instructions without getting carried away. I believe it was the first cookbook with a national reputation (unlike the Dubuque Ladies Guild Recipes or Local Country Club Desserts). First edition, 1931 (I cheated and looked it up - mine's not that old .) There's a chocolate bar with citron and nuts that's my husband's favorite next to addicting chocolate chip cookies; the bar doesn't use any butter so I think it healthier.

I always found the start of WWI confusing. A conflagration because an archduke was shot. Well, I'm now watching a video series - about 20 episodes - based on a book by Hew Strachan. The footage is astonishing and after seeing it, I can't imagine why anyone EVER wants to go to war. Anyway, what I've gathered it was a perfect storm of alliances, autocratic govs and it spread so far because everyone of the major players had colonies that they used against each other. The role of Germany was pretty ugly - a lot of fomenting and paranoia. (And I love Germany - lived there for 4 years, speak fluently, etc.)

Ok, back to the novel. Have a good day everyone.

Hitchiker's Guide is the best sci-fi I've read, IMO.

All these alliances for WWI seemed petty at the time: "We'll keep France occupied by staging a border skirmish if you harass the Ottomans at the Bosporus," etc. It was like all these countries had a wish list for Santa of the things they wanted from their neighbors, and the war gave them an opportunity to go on a land grab. Looking at the maps, the area disputed between France and Germany is smaller than the flat Delta area of northwest Mississippi. Hard to believe much of a war could be fought there. But this is how most European wars were fought until that time: a few thousand folks duking it out over a 30 by 100 mile plot of land. But modern machinery and mass production made it possible to mass produce slaughter.

I kind of wish one of the big news outlets would have provided news articles from exactly 100 years previously starting with the assassination. Might have given us some perspective on how drawn out and prolonged the war was.

Didn't even realize the date today, Bloody Sunday anniversary...

Hey, Matty! Glad to see you in here, even if the occasion isn't the best.

I liked the poem too, but the mention of hoses made me flinch.

Yeah.

Good morning, poetry fans and other visitors.

The Writer's Almanac for January 31, 2015

Ah, yeah. So, the poem today is on a subject I ordinarily wouldn't read about, but the way the first line, and in fact the rest of the poem, is handled makes it tolerable. I am distanced sufficiently by the precise descriptions that I can read to the end, where I am also able to share the poet's response to the situation.

It's masterfully done, but not a poem that moves me deeply.

Birthdays noted today are for Thomas Merton, Norman Mailer, and Alan Lomax. I found myself happily immersed in the stories about Lomax -- Lomax with Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) in prison, for instance. Good reading this morning!

Kylabelle said:

Yeah.

Good morning, poetry fans and other visitors.

The Writer's Almanac for January 31, 2015

Ah, yeah. So, the poem today is on a subject I ordinarily wouldn't read about, but the way the first line, and in fact the rest of the poem, is handled makes it tolerable. I am distanced sufficiently by the precise descriptions that I can read to the end, where I am also able to share the poet's response to the situation.

It's masterfully done, but not a poem that moves me deeply.

Birthdays noted today are for Thomas Merton, Norman Mailer, and Alan Lomax. I found myself happily immersed in the stories about Lomax -- Lomax with Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) in prison, for instance. Good reading this morning!

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*Pounces* Kyla! Why are you awake at 6am on a Saturday morning?

Lillith1991 said:

*Pounces* Kyla! Why are you awake at 6am on a Saturday morning?

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I'm almost always awake early, just usually don't post quite so early. Also, my cat needed attention this morning, so.... (She's recovering from not feeling so good, and I'm pampering her.)

Kylabelle said:

I'm almost always awake early, just usually don't post quite so early. Also, my cat needed attention this morning, so.... (She's recovering from not feeling so good, and I'm pampering her.)

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Poor kitty!

Speaking of attention, I could use some myself. My head is absolutely killing me, I'm considering if there's DR. Who level mischief making it so or just a thread that's bugging me.

What kind of Dr. Who level mischief? (Not a follower, so....) I do experience effects of electro-magnetic field activity at times, uncomfortably so!

And threads? Yeah well unlike with intrusive invisible field effects, threads can be stepped aside from. I do that ALL the time.

My kitty is improving, by the way, and thank goodness! Hope your head feels better.

I suspect alien invasion level mischief. And yes, it is a good thing threads are something able to be both mentally and physically walked away from, else I would possibly end up banned. Not something I want nor deem worth the trouble.

Well, evict the intrusion, then.

Lillith1991 said:

I suspect alien invasion level mischief. And yes, it is a good thing threads are something able to be both mentally and physically walked away from, else I would possibly end up banned. Not something I want nor deem worth the trouble.

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I wouldn't touch that thread with a ten foot pole.

Maryn said:

I try never to venture into that entire board. Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

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If I'm thinking of the same thread, it's actually a different board. Though it's the spiritual successor of a thread that was locked on that board...