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Via a comment on Ann Althouse’s blog, I skipped over today to this review in the London Times of an essay titled Comment parler des livres que l’on n’a pas lus (“How to discuss books that one hasn’t read”), which was written by one Pierre Bayard, who is a professor of French literature at the University of Paris VIII. And also (writes the reviewer, Adrian Tahourdin) a “practising psychoanalyst.” How beautifully French.

Bayard’s droll conceit includes a description of the four categories into which he places books:

“LI” indicates “livres inconnus” (books he is unfamiliar with); “LP” “livres parcourus” (books glanced at); “LE” “livres dont j’ai entendu parler” (books he has heard discussed) and “LO” “les livres que j’ai oubliés” (books he has read but forgotten).

Tahourdin next recounts that Joyce’s Ulysses falls into the category LE.

[Bayard] claims not to have read the novel, but he can place it within its literary context, knows that it is in a sense a reprise of the Odyssey, that it follows the ebb and flow of consciousness, and that it takes place in Dublin over the course of a single day. When teaching he makes frequent and unflinching references to Joyce.

I suppose we should delight in his honesty.

I also wonder . . . hmmmm . . . what do his students think?

I’m afraid I can’t relate. Having attended a modest state college, I’m reasonable certain that my lit professors had actually taken the trouble to read the books to which they had the habit of making “frequent and unflinching references.” An alarming lack of pretension, I agree. But I forgive them.

Another thought also occurs to me. What does it say about a literary novel when People Who Read Serious Books can sum it up in a single sentence — sum it up as an idea — without even having to read it — and then discuss it, as that idea, amongst themselves?

Where are its roots?

Michael Blowhard wrote this, a couple of days ago, in a post about mystery writer Elizabeth George:

When you pull an artform out of the earth it grows from, even if you do so with the best or the loftiest of intentions, it’s likely to whither and then die.

I’m not sure we can accuse Joyce of yanking literature out of the earth — I think he was just marchin’ to the beat of his own drunken Irish drummer — but in the end he didn’t need to even if he’d wanted — he has the Bayards of the world to do it for him . . .

Technorati Tags: James Joyce, writing, books, literature

That’s been my motto lately. Because I’ve felt like I’ve been pretty boring. At least on the outside, lol

It’s not that I haven’t been busy. I’ve been reading a ton of books — all kinds of interesting books — like I just finished-but-one-story “The New York Stories of Henry James” — which I picked up while in NYC of course. Only I haven’t felt inspired to blog about it — more fun to immerse myself and not assume the arm’s-length relationship that writing about it would require.

I’ve been working on revising my last-novel-but-one, which like my most recent novel got some passing interest from agents but wasn’t good enough to get anything more.

It’s been a painful process, the revision, because I’ve been confronting my own . . . naivete, if I want to be nice about it — incompetence, I think to myself in my less rosy moods. How could I have written so stupidly and not realized it? Sigh. Writing novels is without question the most difficult thing I’ve done, ever. Having to do major surgery well after I’d hoped The Thing Was Done only brings that point home all the harder.

I’ve been golfing a bit more lately, which has been nice. Will blog about that some more in the next few days.

And I’ve been writing for another site I’ve launched, WomenGolfApparel.com. I undertook this venture as an experiment: can I monetize my writing by creating a content-rich site and then run Adsense ads? I’m happy to say results so far are promising, although it has nowhere near the traffic I’d need to, you know, buy that nouveau-Italian palazzo-style McMansion with the the spinning hot tub in the back yard that I’ve had my eye on. ha ha ha

But it’s been fun, and IMO satisfies a real need, also. Especially if you don’t live in a major market, finding fun, stylish golf apparel — if you’re a woman — can be a pain. Many pro shops don’t carry much women’s clothing (due in part to their general focus on male golfers, but also because women’s shopping habits are different, according to an acquaintance who ran a pro shop with her husband for awhile. Men do things like notice it’s raining and buy a raincoat on their way out to the first tee. Women want to shop shop — and don’t combine that with their trips to the course to play.)

Even general sporting goods stores like Dick’s shortchange the women in their golf apparel sections — at least that’s been my experience. You might find one or two racks of women’s golf clothing. And it gets picked over fast, so you finding your style can be a problem.

Another major hole: it’s really really hard to find out what, exactly, the LPGA pros are wearing. I’ve been trying to hunt that info down, and it’s not easy. In some cases, it’s probably because they aren’t wearing endorsement-deal stuff. But as I wrote here, I think it’s also because the media is hesitant about covering what pros are wearing. We don’t interview Tiger about how cute his shorts look — wouldn’t it be insulting to focus on a woman pro’s clothes instead of her game?

But the fact is, when women see a golfer on t.v. and like what she’s wearing, they want to know how to buy that piece for themselves. At least according to the anecdotal evidence I’ve encountered.

So the site will, I hope, help women in a couple of ways — it will help them find opportunities to buy golf apparel online (I try to find news about deals!) and it will help them track down what the pros are wearing.

I’m putting the finishing touches on a women golf apparel newsletter now as well, which features an interview with Geoff Tait, one of the founders of Quagmire Golf. The interview discusses how golf styles are changing, partly because LPGA pros are breaking old style conventions. I plan to send the newsletter out within a few days — if you want to be on that mailing list, drop me a note or sign up here. If you’d rather just read the interview online, it’ll be published on the main site sometime later in August.

So yeah, I’ve been busy. Just not blogging. But that’s one of the nice things about having a blog, if I don’t post, what does it matter! I have only myself to please ;-)

Technorati Tags: women golf apparel, writing, blogging

Via Instapundit, Wired has a piece about a programmer who supposedly outsourced his own job to India:

Did you hear the one about the programmer who outsourced his own job? I read about it on Slashdot.org, the “news for nerds” Web site. A pseudonymous poster wrote, “About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 to do the job I get paid $67,000 for. He’s happy to have the work. I’m happy that I only have to work 90 minutes a day, talking code. My employer thinks I’m telecommuting. Now I’m considering getting a second job and doing the same thing.”

Wired says the story is probably apocrophal, but even so, mightn’t it be an early clue to the new direction?

The only trouble is, offshore outsourcing is awfully hard to do when you’re a writer.

OTOH, considering how cheaply many freelancers give away their time, perhaps it’s possible to find a subcontractor here in the U.S.

Hmmm . . .

Technorati Tags: outsourcing

From John Leo, writing in City Journal. A take-down of bad writing. Lots of examples, in case you want more for your scrap book (e.g. from a hospital bill, “disposable mucus recovery unit” instead of “box of Kleenex.”)

On a lighter note, a bit about his own decisions as a writer. When he began his U.S. News & World Report column 18 years ago, for instance, he copied the style of . . . John Madden. And then this:

After a month or so, I realized that readers of columns don’t just follow the words. They listen to the background music too. Readers want to know who you are. Is the writer consistent and fair? Does his take on the world relate to me? Is he humorless or playful? Do I want to spend time with him? Is he in the pocket of some cause or political party?

Good questions for any writer to ask.

Lots more to enjoy in the piece, and look, only a click away ;-)

Technorati Tags: writing

If you’re looking for a Serious Article about Serious Writing, here’s a dish served up by the Guardian from U.K. writer Zadie Smith.

Smith starts by asking why it’s so difficult to write a perfect novel. She doesn’t try to define “a perfect novel” however, and right off the bat dismisses critics, falling back instead on an assertion that writers aren’t ever satisfied with their own books, ergo, their books can’t be considered “perfect.” This dissatisfaction, she says, can be traced back to dissatisfaction with one’s ability to fully and truthfully capture “the truth of experience”:

There is a dream that haunts writers: the dream of the perfect novel. It is a dream that causes only chaos and misery. The dream of this perfect novel is really the dream of a perfect revelation of the self. In America, where the self is so neatly wedded to the social, their dream of the perfect novel is called “The Great American Novel” and requires the revelation of the soul of a nation, not just of a man … Still I think the principle is the same: on both sides of the Atlantic we dream of a novel that tells the truth of experience perfectly. Such a revelation is impossible - it will always be a partial vision, and even a partial vision is incredibly hard to achieve-

Hmmmmm.

Obviously this refers to literary novels, since a novel’s entertainment value plays no part in the equation. There’s no room here for the perfect “page turner” ha ha ha, nor for the sort of innocent reading my daughter enjoys, where she loves books for the pure pleasure of being lost in their pages.

Literary novels, on the contrary, are Serious; writing them is no less than a moral act, as per part 2 of the piece:

The chief enemy of excellence in morality (and also in art) is personal fantasy, the tissue of self-aggrandising and consoling wishes and dreams which prevents one from seeing what there is outside one … This is not easy, and requires, in art or morals, a discipline. One might say here that art is an excellent analogy of morals or indeed that it is in this respect a case of morals.

A case of morals. Yeah. “I’m a writer, and I’ve come down with a baaad case of morals.”

Interestingly enough, there’s nothing really about craft in either of these lengthy piece’s two lengthy parts.

Maybe craft is assumed . . .

Technorati Tags: writing

LOL

Technorati Tags: stewie

Catching up on some things, here: I finished The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant several weeks ago and before I mess with the code to remove its image from my sidebar I may as well blog about it, eh?

I liked the book; I liked the way it pulled me into the 15th century and into the inner life of the narrator. The fact that it raises issues around suspension of disbelief is not any flaw in the novel per se, but in the genre.

One can’t help but wonder whether a 15th century teenager would view the world in a way that could even be communicated to a 21st century observer.

How did women living at that time view themselves? How could they?

In some respects, I think Dunant has probably hit on a few answers. The narrator’s habit of filtering her interpretation of the world in religious terms comes across as plausible, for instance. And certainly her conflict with her parents and siblings rings true, given her personality and intelligence. There is internal consistence, which helps a great deal to make the novel’s pretences work.

But what about the primary themes of the novel? They are essentially feminist: the narrator is precociously bright and desires desperately to be a painter; because she’s a woman, both her intelligence and her artistic ambitions are a liability. This conflict, incidentally, isn’t handled in a way that’s stilted or cloying. Nonetheless, one can’t help but wonder whether any woman at that time could have articulated herself in those terms.

Put another way: could such conflicts have become even close to conscious 500 years ago?

It’s an impossible question to answer; we can’t place ourself inside the skins & minds of long-dead people.

Historical novels are, instead, rather like dreams: they insert a contemporary self into a vastly peculiar landscape and say, “now. React.”

Quite possibly, that’s enough.

Technorati Tags: book review, The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant

John Scalzi has some advice. It falls along the lines of the whole Biblical eye-plucking idea.

Nothing about whether it’s a good idea, if your sock puppetry has been outed, to threaten to sue bloggers who blogged about it, though.

Hmmmmmm. I do suppose that if you have removed both hands, it would be hard to phone said bloggers with your threats . . . even hands-free phones need to be dialed . . .

Technorati Tags: sock puppet, bogus Amazon reviews

China — who is actually delivering on her NaNoWriMo promise — hit a slight glitch yesterday:

Today’s story tidbits: My characters rebelled. A simple conversation between the MC and a character I’ll refer to as “T” turned into a demand for the return of a precious book. Which left ME asking, “what book?”

LOL

Dontcha hate it when that happens???

LOLOL

Technorati Tags: National Novel Writing Month

Of the following 15 Amazon lists, each of which lists The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told as the first book on the list, two were compiled by “stan,” two were compiled by “dorky,” and two were compied by “Les T.”

The other nine lists were compiled by other people. Or so you’re supposed to believe.

Below the list of the lists are the reviews of TGWTLSET that these individuals composed.

Can you pick out any two reviews that are obviously written by the same individual?

LOL

That’s a trick question!!! It’s impossible to tell ANY of these reviews apart!!!

You don’t suppose they were all written by the same individual, do you???

Another trick question! Of course they were!!!

Here are the lists:

1. Super Intelligent Rednecks (Tom)

2. Wake Up Inside (stan)

3. Massage Your Genius (Laura D.)

4. Oh Freaking Wow! (dorky)

5. Be happy again (stan)

6. Behold the greatest wh . . . (James Thomas)

7. Truly Feel Stronger and Better (emotionally too) (cory)

8. know what emotionally distraught geniuses are into now (Les T.)

9. Dance with a Devilish Delilah (Les T.)

10. Gain Profound Insight (Pam S.)

11. Be shocking (Jimmy)

12. Gratify Your Brilliant Mind (ahhhhhh) (Fran)

13. kiss my sweet assortment of books (Elizabeth S.)

14. Tickle Your Hi .IQ. (Dorky)

15. Touch the perfect (Crota)

Here are the reviews. Go ahead, match them to the list! I’ve mixed them up! LOL

A. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is truly my favorite story these days. It is full of nail-biting suspense from beginning to end. There is a surprise ending that left me staggered. It is about the beautiful Terra Peoples and the man who loved her. Terra is the queen of the white ghetto. You would have to click on this book’s icon to understand what I’m talking about. Terra is riot unto herself, but the unusual man who loves her is a mystery, a deep, profound mystery. There is a lot of humor in this story, laugh out loud humor. Anyway, I’m recommending this one to all my friends. Again, you would have to click on the icon to understand what I’m talking about.

B. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is a whopping surprise of a story!! Wow! I thought it was just some comedy, but fraught with mystery, suspense, and romance(that males and females both enjoy) it was easily the most powerful entertainment experience of this year for me. Wow! Wow! and Wow again! This is the story of the strange queen of the white ghetto, and if you don’t know about the white ghetto, you have got to click the icon to find out. Is it possible for her to find love? Well, under the circumstances, one would doubt it. This girl has problems, but do not despair, there is a man for her. I don’t want to give anything away– especially the profound and amazing surprise ending. I’m just recommending that everyone click on its icon.

C. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is my favorite book of late. It is actually something way beyond what it would appear. While it is humorous (very!) it is a profound love story– something that women AND men will enjoy. It is about a man whose love is unrequited. It is about the queen of the trailer park, the ever entertaining, Terra Peoples. You get a real sense of the white ghetto while reading this book– you are there to feel the pain but not to wallow in it. The book has more triumph than tragedy. You see the sights– the trailers up on blocks, the muddy feet children, the b-b-q stands, the radios blaring. This book is powerful on so many levels. I love it, truly love it. I am telling all my friends to click the icon for this one.

D. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told shook me up completely. I couldn’t catch my breath as I got into the story. It is about the kindest, most decent man I think I have ever encountered in popular literature. He is extreme, but he is believable. And SHE, oh my gosh, she is the devil. I don’t what else to call her. With her lying smile and beautiful blue eyes, she’s the devil from the time she is a child. Why would a guy like him love a monster like her? She’s downright funny she’s so bad. But hey, who am I to judge? This story is just profound.

If you know what it’s like to live in a trailer or if you would like to know (and trust me, you really need to know) this is a must read. We’re all more alike than unalike.

E. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is about the meanest, cruelest, most vile, beautiful, blue-eyed, blonde you ever met. Terra People’s heart is so hard a jackhammer couldn’t break into it. But one thing (and ONLY one) did eventually get into her heart. In what has to one of the greatest surprise endings in all of human literature, Benny Carpenter, the fellow who just can’t keep himself from loving her manages to… well, I can’t give it away. It has to be the most emotionally satisfying ending I’ve ever read, though. Truly worth. I laughed. I cried. I told friends.

F. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is my favorite book at this time. It is a highly imaginative story set on the wrong side of town. I was shocked but overwhelmed with the hopefuly message contained therein. The main character is a beautiful blonde who is used to getting her way. She has a hard heart and is remorseless in her cruelty. However, there is one man who may have what it takes to wake her up to love. This is a remarkable story, and the icon is definitely one to click.

G. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is an enormously fun, humorous, at times thrilling account of love in the white ghetto. I’m glad I clicked it. It is the story of Terra Peoples, the most beautiful girl in the trailer park and Benny Carpenter, the guy who had the misfortune of falling for her. Terra is a terror. She’s hard to deal with, hard to know, impossible to get close to. She could cusse, drink and fight by the time she was four. Benny, on the other hand, is the living embodiment of goodness. He’s a good fellow with a kind heart. What could possibly bring these two together? As it turns out, one and only one thing. That is the surprise ending. Againt, definitely worth clicking on the icon.

H. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is just a darned funny title. It is also an excellent book that is NOT trashy at all. Quite the opposite. It is a really classy story set in the white ghetto. Despite the hardships, the characters do not complain or whine. The love story is the main thing. The meanest gal in the park, the infamous Terra Peoples, who also happens to be stunningly beautiful from head to to has a heart as cold and dead as ice, but there is one thing that will wake her emotions, one and only one thing. And the nicest guy in the trailer park happens to have it. As I read, I felt like I was there–participating in the story, seeing life from the inside of the trailer park, experiencing it. Definitely good to click its icon.

I. I’m Pretty picky about what I read so you can imagine how shocked I was when I gave The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told a try, got hooked on the first page and could not put it down. If you want to be shocking, love someone the way the main male character loved the main female character in this story– this has to be the most amazing story I’ve ever read. Dang, it just made me feel so alive for a change. I still get teary eyed every time I think about it. Anyway, I could go on for some time. Just do yourself a favor and check it out.

J. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told completely shook me up as I read it. It was like I was lifted off the ground and transported to the story setting. It takes place in trailer parks and post-industrial age schools, mostly. It is about a “white trash” boy who falls in love with a “white trash” girl. Being a white trash girl, she is devious and difficult. She’s impossible. One and only one thing ever turns her around, but you will not see it coming. This story is magical really– a true gem. Definitely worth clicking.

K. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told lives up to its humorous title in a way you would not expect. It is a very suspenseful story about pure love– something men may enjoy as much or even more than women. I freaking love this book. It is about a beautiful blonde, blue-eyed, white-trash girl and the man who loves her. She is the most spiteful, dishonest, hard hearted female in the trailer park. He is all that is good and kind in the world. He finally manages to beat her at her own game– but only in a way you would NOT expect. Laugh out loud funny meets tear jerker– great read. Definitely worth clicking.

L. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is NOT a trashy romance. It is not trashy in any sense of the word. In fact, it may be the purest and best love story I have ever read. It is about an “evil” woman named Terra Peoples. She is as mean as a snake by the time she is five years old. Benny Carpenter, a white trash boy, has the (mis)fortune of falling in love with her when they are in kindergarten. She thinks he’s a fool and will not let him get anywhere near her. But he keeps on loving her until everyone is convinced he is a fool. There is a surprise ending to this story that just really blew me away– so surprising, so shocking I never saw it coming. Just a great, heartfelt story. Glad I clicked its icon.

M. There’s nothing trashy about The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told. It’s a classy book about the purest form of love from beginning to end. Ellis brings his characters vividly to life. For instance, there is Angel Bonsecour, the narrator. She’s a single gal and a nurse, one who has “the inside” tract on what’s happening in the neighborhood. There’s Benny Carpenter, the boy who loves too deeply for his own good. Through him we understand the pleasures that only a white trash boy experiences. Do you know what it’s like to sleep in a small tin trailer when it is raining? There’s probably not a more relaxing sound in all the world. And of course there’s Terra Peoples, the story’s main character, the demented dancer that Benny loves endlessly. Can anything on earth penetrate this evil woman’s heart?

N. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is the funniest, most lovable book I have read in ages! It is about life in the white ghetto. The main characters grow up hard, and if you’ve ever lived in that part of town, you know what it’s like. The story doesn’t dwell on the pain, however. It is what it says it is– a great love story. Be very sure to click the icon. The main female character is as hard as nails, but there may be one thing that can reach her. Does the main male character have what it takes?

O. The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told is the most amazing book I have read this year. In a way that touched my emotions and made me feel great in the end, the story was captivating, absolutely captivating. It held my attention. I was very curious about the intriguing title, and so I clicked it.

It is about life in the “white ghetto,” but more importantly, it is about a very tender but strong love.

btw, you know why I’ve put up this post? Because “libel” isn’t “libel” when you’re telling the truth.

So. Some guy posts pseudonymous reviews for his novel on Amazon. I blog about it and say I think it’s a dumb idea.

Now he’s all upset because my post is there for anyone to find.

And he hasn’t even stopped doing it!

I’m supposed to feel sorry for him? I’m supposed to believe people are lying about him?

Incredible.

Totally a waste of my time too! But what can I say. I don’t like being bullied.

Technorati Tags: bogus Amazon reviews