For this entry in The Book I Read series (which is also a podcast, by the way), I am writing about, not what I’ve read, but what I’ve started to read, AND, what I’ve tried reading and then abandoned. I had these ideas that I might get well into one of those things, or wellContinue reading “The Book I Read: Choices! More Books of the Dead! Climbing the Mountain! and the Freakout Commencement”
Category Archives: Writing and Reading
The Book I Read: Wisdom Lit, the Power of Allusion, Lincoln in the Bardo, and the President’s Hat
As a student of literature, always a beginner, and one interested in a wide variety of wisdom literature or philosophical texts, certain books of historical and literary significance have crossed my radar, have maybe even made it into the home library, but have never been read, you know, famous philosophical or spiritual texts like theContinue reading “The Book I Read: Wisdom Lit, the Power of Allusion, Lincoln in the Bardo, and the President’s Hat”
The Book I Read: Rock Star Fiction, Erasure, and Mother Love
(Books discussed in this blog: Wolf in White Van, John Darneille; Her Read, Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, and Paddock, Mary Lou Buschi) In April of 2019 I thought I would begin a series of book review blog entries titled after one of my favorite early Talking Heads songs, “The Book I Read.” So I did that.Continue reading “The Book I Read: Rock Star Fiction, Erasure, and Mother Love”
A Journal of the Plague Year: #25
This morning I got up to find a comment posted to one of my blog entries! How exciting is that? I will tell you. It’s pretty exciting. It’s rare, these days–it’s rare in general, but it seems more rare these days–in part, I know, because I have not been writing. Guess what the blog entryContinue reading “A Journal of the Plague Year: #25”
The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #3)
Welcome back, friends, to the third installment of my attempt at a literary reaction vlog. I approached it a little bit differently this time. Less text. Almost entirely vlog. I’ve created two parts. The first part is a kind of “previously, in The Magic Mountain” type of introductory video, designed to catch you up, albeitContinue reading “The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #3)”
The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #2)
Already, I find it necessary to amend the rules of the game. The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann, in my edition, is nearly 700 pages long. I would have you know that I am not what you could call a fast reader. Initially, I thought that each of my reaction vlogs might be about aContinue reading “The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #2)”
The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #1)
Okay, here it is. The first foray into a new series whereby I record myself reacting to a literary text I’ve never read. My first choice, Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, a book that has sat atop my “should read” list for many, many moons now. Below you will find a video of my readingContinue reading “The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #1)”
I’ve Got An Idea: The Literary Reaction Vlog
If you’ve perused the video introduction above, you get the gist of the idea. In keeping with the new interest in the REACTION vlog, in which a person reacts in real time to a media artifact like video or music that they have never seen or heard before, I propose to try a reaction vlogContinue reading “I’ve Got An Idea: The Literary Reaction Vlog”
Congratulations: You’ve Written Another 30 Poems. Now What?
May 1st and May 2nd I spent all day both days not writing a poem. I continued not writing poetry on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. It turns out, no poetry was written into the days and the week ahead, so that today, on the 10th of May, I have written not a single poem.Continue reading “Congratulations: You’ve Written Another 30 Poems. Now What?”
#357: First Day of School, April 13, 2020
I had no students. As are all seniors in Oregon, my seniors are done, but I read a few lovely, comforting notes of gratitude from a few of them, and some requests for letters of recommendation. My sophomores, cared for now by an extremely competent, caring intern, earning her Masters in Teaching, remotely, at aContinue reading “#357: First Day of School, April 13, 2020”
michael jarmer 