June 2010
24 posts
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SO MUCH BOOKS!
Tally of free books: 9
Tomorrow we start the book workshop, and I am a little nervous! I actually applied to a job today, which was so strange! I very much so feel immersed in “college” life right now, and feel like the course will never end.
I signed up for New York Magazine for the magazine workshop, which is funny because of the many times I applied for internships there and...
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TALLY
Free Book count: 8
Authors met: 3
I have Christmas presents for like, the next 2 years thanks to the Columbia Publishing Course! The worst thing about the course so far is the chairs we have to sit in. They’re painful.
The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation →
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What is the What
I recently finished Dave Eggers’ What is the What. I saw him speak at a lecture for this book a few years ago, and I have meant to read it ever since. I finally did.
This book is very good. I wonder if maybe it didn’t get as much credit or attention as it deserved. I think Eggers wrote a very good narrative and I think the subject of that narrative, Valentino Achak Deng could...
Manute Bol →
I never knew who Manute Bol was until I read What is the What. He was an admirable, heroic man. RIP Manute Bol.
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Bob Gottlieb-
When he was editing Catch-22 he said:
“I don’t like Catch-11.”
A few nights later he called Joseph Heller and said:
“I’ve got it. Catch-22. It’s funnier that Catch-11.”
And I laugh as I watch a living legend talk about how he nonchalantly created a phrase while editing what would become a famous book. Incredible.
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“When the messages were deemed urgent, she would come running across the camp to...”
– Dave Eggers, What is the What
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WOW OMG
I just met the woman who wrote the signature of Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter books!
Today was a whirlwind, I am exhausted. I learned what literary agents do and that I might actually be interested in doing it. I learned that my lifelong dream of working on feminist children’s literature is not insane. I learned that people are really nice. I learned so much stuff, I got some...
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Columbia Publishing Course
Today was my first day at the Columbia Publishing Course, which is a big deal for me and my goals in life! Naturally, I was very nervous. My summer will be very intense but productive. The campus is beyond beautiful and my classmates seem really nice. I am so excited to meet people in the publishing industry and learn as much as I can in the next two months! I will probably write about it a...
Young writers are great writers →
A great foray into an idea that I am not sure I am down with… But after reading this piece I am a little more convinced. I still only believe in the work hard, write a lot, concentrate, and get it out there method of being a successful writer. Maybe young people have more drive and ambition?
TODAY
I started Dave Eggers’ What is the What, and I really like it so far.
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You're a Horrible Person, But I Like You
Last night, while my cat was throwing books off my shelves, I finished You’re a Horrible Person, But I Like You, The Believer Book of Advice. This book is a star studded advice column, a book of silly questions answered sillily. It was a fast, unabsorbing read, however. Something fell short.
The questions weren’t serious so I couldn’t find the answers funny. The idea of a...
“Fiction is one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted...”
– David Foster Wallace (via minusmanhattan)
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“Dear Rob:
Will learning to juggle increase my chances with the ladies?
Ralph...”
– Rob Corddry, You’re a Horrible Person, But I Like You
Dedicated to my juggler husband.
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“Beyond or below such abstracted representations of the pains and furies of...”
– Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
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The Year of Magical Thinking
Yesterday evening, amid tears, I finished The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I knew I would be deeply affected by this book the moment I opened it. Didion’s personal style is the kind I am touched by, and the year she’s alluding was the year her husband of 40 years died and her only daughter was in and out of the hospital. She writes honestly and openly about something I...
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“As a writer, even as a child, long before what I wrote began to be published, I...”
– Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
NYT 20 under 40 →
So this happened. I know I am late getting to this but I was busy this week! I will buy this issue, but this list has succeeded in one thing only so far- making me feel like I don’t know anything about contemporary writers. : (
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Brighton Rock
I just finished Brighton Rock by Graham Greene. This book really reminded me of the movie Doubt. I really felt the pull between two foils while reading this book, just like I did when I was watching Doubt. Ida and Pinkie are the two most opposite characters ever pit against each other; one is vivacious and determined, one is sulky and cowardly. They differ in so many ways that when the point...