by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 8, 2009 | accumulation, place |
In a comment to yesterday’s post, a reader reminded me of Jill Krementz’ photographs in The Writer’s Desk, which was published in 1996, the same year as Infinite Jest, and is now out of print. I had forgotten all about this book. I pulled it off the...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 7, 2009 | accumulation, place |
The Guardian has for some time been doing a series on writers’ rooms. The most recent piece featured Michael Morpurgo: “For many years, I wrote on our bed in the house. But there were complaints about ink on the sheets, dirty feet on the bed…”...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 3, 2009 | reading |
David Foster Wallace’s 1079 page Infinite Jest has been in residence in my study for 13 years–since 1996. When I first heard about Infinite Summer, I glanced over at the large book on the bottom of my ToBeRead shelf, and I thought nooooo. Then, after...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 1, 2009 | craft of writing, essays, reviews |
The Writer’s Notebook, with its title taken from the journals of Somerset Maugham, consists of 17 essays on the craft of writing. Some, but not all, are based on craft seminars given at the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. I did not read them in order, but...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 29, 2009 | accumulation, reading |
In 1999, I started keeping a list of the books I read on an old computer program called Sidekick, which was amazing because you could create cardfiles and name the categories exactly what you wanted to. As the years went by, they did not update the program. It became...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 27, 2009 | catching moments, Columbus GA, stories |
Tuesday night around 8:00 I got in my car to drive to the soccer field for registration. Most of the day, I had been sitting in front of my computer. My brain felt like it was off-duty. It was starting to get dark as I pulled out of the driveway. The song...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 24, 2009 | catching moments, details, shapes |
In January, I went to lunch with a friend. She asked what my “coolest” Christmas gift was. “My son gave me two Wilco CDs,” I said. “Which ones?” she asked. “I don’t know. I just put them on my ipod.” Are we losing our senses? Is the feel of life slipping away? Maybe...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 23, 2009 | reviews |
At the beginning of The Northern Clemency, a novel by English writer Philip Hensher, Francis is nine. His father announces that he’s found a house. “‘I’ve found a book,’ Francis wanted to say to complete everyone’s happiness.”...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 21, 2009 | reading |
We’ve been having a discussion about writing in books. If you’re interested, check out the comments to Some People Buy Shoes (a prequel). I buy books. One thing leading to another, I mentioned that I had a slight problem with making more use of the library...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 19, 2009 | accumulation, craft of writing, memoir, reading |
Some of you may have noticed that on the Reading List page, I’ve been adding how I chose the book or books I’m currently reading. Well, the story of how I chose Abigail Thomas’ Thinking About Memoir seemed too long to add on that page. Talk about one...
