Updates:

Nothing exciting happening in my life right now. Let’s see…

• Still decorating my home. She’s coming along nicely and I’ll probably take pictures soon.

• I’ve been working a lot. It’s not stressful so I haven’t necessarily been upset about it. Work hard now, do cool stuff later.

• I’ve been avoiding friends. I don’t really know why. I didn’t get to do anything on my birthday so my friends tried to plan something for me on Sunday but I just avoided their calls. I feel bad about that but I just haven’t been interested in hanging out with anyone. Maybe because it’s cold or maybe I’m tired of being 20-something and all that comes with it. It’s a boring time, nothing like on TV or in movies. But of course, I knew that.

• While packing away things for my move, I put my Mamiya out in my parents’ garage where some of my other things were. My mom donated it. It’s gone. I traded a Nikon zoom lens for it a couple of years ago through Craigslist and I’ve taken a lot of great film shots with it. I really liked how easy it was to use. It was heavy but it was always worth it. I don’t even know if I’m angry. It feels like sort of a setback is all. I had always wanted a film camera once I started learning more about photography. It helped me to continue learning. Now I feel like I have to start all over. It’s just stuff, just things, but it’s things that I’m trying to use to get somewhere.

• In other creative news, still working on my sketchbook project. I feel like I still have a lot of blank pages but I’m on my way there. I have a lot of hope that I’ll finish it.

• Reading Nadja. Trying to challenge myself when it comes to different books, so even if I end up not liking it at least I tried a surrealist book for once. I’ve heard time and time again that a way to become a better writer is to READ, READ, READ. And to read everything. So I’m trying something new.

• Two great books I’ve read recently were by author Octavia E. Butler, a Black Sci-Fi writer. In her collection of short stories, Bloodchild, there is an essay in the back about writing. And in essence she says that it’s not about talent or even inspiration. It’s about habit. That if you just persist, you’ll eventually get there. This was important to me because I like to use tumblr as a inspiration scrapbook. There are a lot of great artists, writers, and pretty images online. But just clicking “like” or “reblogging” doesn’t make it permanent in your mind. It’s great if you can act on that inspiration immediately but it’s important to keep acting on it. To keep going. It’s hard sometimes to get off of work and write in my journal or do some doodling in my sketchbook. However, I can’t expect something to come to me through inspiration or a natural talent. I have to work at it. The essay was called Furor Scribendi - A rage for writing. I think that’s enough said.

That’s my thrilling life. Still without internet and I would disconnect my iPhone if I didn’t need it for work and such. Perhaps I’ll just start turning it off for most of the day. I’m trying to get back to somewhere. I don’t know what to or where exactly but I’m trying to get back there.

Trying to Be Smart & Write Book Reviews Again

Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers


Where do I start with this? There were a few things I disliked about the book but when I finished it, there was a relief that maybe those things I disliked were done in a purposeful manner. As if Mr. Powers was being clever. Maybe too clever for me. And then I have to wonder if that is a good or bad thing. Thus, I’ve left this book star-less for now.
I guess I found that Powers was trying to keep the science and the fiction apart. But then he wanted to bring them together and it just was not happening. Here’s a story about writing but here’s a story about a science/social experiment. How could he possibly tie the two together? It was not connecting. It could be the fault of the voice. In having a very wishy-washy narrator, there was no stand being taken. Different points of view were being presented but you couldn’t get into the narrator’s mind. He was too busy looking out.

And then there’s the fact that the whole point of reading is so that you can be taken to places. I went nowhere in Generosity. I was in the here and now; it was almost news-like. There were far too many references to this world and more than obvious links to personalities and media. “Newsweek”, “Facebook” “Youtube” “Oona” (Oprah), street corners and subway lines. Even the art students’ preferred medium made it too modern to be enjoyable. This book was not an escape. I kept trying to think about books, graphic novels, movies, etc where the setting was very present, but how at the same time, it was given an element where it could be a different world. After reading it, I wondered if people felt the same after reading The Great Gatsby. That was a book about the Roaring Twenties that was written & published during the Roaring Twenties. I think Fitzgerald captured a history, the culture with that book. Still he told a worthwhile story. Powers captured a culture too but without substance.
And while we’re sort of talking about setting, for a writer to be from Chicago and to write about that city, he sure made it dull. Of course, Chicago has been written about, sung about, and filmed. What could Powers have added to the City of Big Shoulders? But he made Chicago like any city in Generosity. Again, a purposeful manner? Was that the point? Alas, Chicago was left simple. Far from legendary.

But let’s get onto things I did like. Candace and Russell’s relationship was written in a very genuine way. I even liked how it developed slowly which is lacking with most authors. They either don’t go there or they overdo it. In making Candace and Russell an afterthought, Powers gives their relationship more depth.
I also like the parts simply about writing. Powers would have done better to actually write his own creative non-fiction textbook. His prose was beautiful. His anecdotes were perfect. Funny that his own fiction comes off as non-fiction.

Onto Thassa who I had many mixed feelings about. Having taken in this book in an audible fashion, I loved her voice, her spunk. But she was summed up for me in one way: when Candace suggests Russell come over for dinner with her and Thassa when she returned from Boston, she tells him that Thassa will be happy to see him. And Russell thinks to himself that she’s happy when they’re bombing her neighborhood. Because of this statement, and just the whole book, I felt she had no scale on her happiness. How could I believe her relationship with Russell and Candace was special if she treated everyone in a very loving way? Where was her 1-10 scale on how she experiences new things or mundane habits; when she sees an old friend or when she’s making a new one? How could Thassa see the uniqueness in a person if she treated practically everyone the same? It ended up making her flat and the rest of the cast quite unidimensional as well.
She also slightly took on the stereotype of the Magical Negro or Noble Savage. Of course she is given more of a background and history than these characters usually get. There is credit given there. But she is still YOUNG, FEMALE, and ALGERIAN. She brought Russell and Candace together. She is an experiment for Kurton. She is a headline. An internet meme. An object. And this bothered me. How can this character be so beautiful, so wonderful but be relegated to nothing?

In conclusion, I think Powers wrote a very eased in ending for a very laborious piece of work. Everything I did not like seemed to make a ridiculous sense for the ending. I guess I didn’t like the story within the story as much as the actual “plot”. I found Powers to be a very innovative writer. Did Thassa, Chicago, Russell flatline for a reason? Did the story seem meaningless, tiresome, and arduous just to make a point? Yes. I think so. And I think it’s kind of funny that it had to be done in such a bad way. So is it good because the terrible parts were there to serve a fantastic punchline? Or is it just plain bad? I’m left very torn about Generosity.


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2011 Reading Challenge

Miranda Harris has read 1 book toward her goal of 75 books. hide 1 of 75 (1%) view books

So I’m going for 75 books this year. I think that’s a good number and I can do it. I’m really not online all that often, work can be slow and boring, though I have a car, I ride the bus often, and I have no cable so what a great time to pull out a book. I’m actually going to try my best with poetry and fiction. I think I read enough non-fiction so it will be interesting to immerse myself in some good literature rather than the latest science craze or historical work. I’ve already finished the Richard Powers’ book, Generosity. It’s our book club book, so of course I had to read it if I wanted to have any meaningful conversation when our meeting comes up. I haven’t decided what I think about the book. I’m still sort of stewing over it. I audio-booked this one and I think that will help me reach my goal. I have such a difficult time with audio books but I really liked the voice who read this one. I’m hoping when I’m out on walks and whatnot, this could be my preferred medium of reaching that 75 book goal. So for any Goodreads people out there, here is my profile. Give me some recommendations based on what you see. Or what you don’t see. :)

Happy reading in 2011, y’all!