Yes, what Wendy Varley said, and gosh, I love that volume of poetry by Marie Howe. I've been reading it for a very long time. And the Durrell Bros. Each with different gifts and types of brilliance. I can't imagine not reading, it would be a heartbreak. I have wondered about audio books, but I feel I would fail at that...I seem to have an issue with listening and integrating. I love not only the words I discover while reading, but the shape of each letter, the visual beauty of words in type, the fonts chosen by the book designers. So much to miss. And the special snippets that anchor themselves in our brains for decades. I love you, Abby.
It's weird, but I've gotten used to it. I read a lot of substack, and I spend a lot of time writing, If I couldn't write, I don't know if I would surviive.
well i could neither read nor write for about 3 weeks maybe a bit longer. i had no idea what to do with myself. I bought many yards of beautiful silk velvet ribbon. I bought some mighty expensive jam. and, i got a new kitchen floor; it’s rubber.
thank goodness i can read again- not reading was getting to be very expensive.
And I love big white spaces in a book. They give me invitation to pause and reflect on what I have read, and of course, beg for my pen for personal additions to the story. Which for me, is the gold of a story well articulated and juicy…to enlarge my own life.
Oh Abby, I love this! I could reread Marie Howe forever, and I devoured My Family and Other Animals AND had the same aversion to "Larry." But oh, those sentences! I will read more.
The first assignment I give my creative writing students is to send me two first sentences they love, one by a published writer in any genre and one of their own, without identifying the sources. I print them on scraps of paper, fold them up, and we do a grab bag. Each student picks a random sentence and reads it aloud. We talk about what we know, what we want to find out, and why. It's always a cool discussion, and makes them think about sentences as a series of choices and clues. Portals and doorways, yes. And breadcrumbs dropped on paths into the woods.
Like you, I have a problem finishing books lately. Sometimes I’ll find one I can’t put down and it’s a delight. Right now I’m reading Wolf Hall, which is a brilliant book, but I’m following Simon Haisell’s slow reading guide here on Substack which is very helpful. I expect to finish by Christmas. 😆 You may know this but there’s a mini series based on Gerald Durrell’s book called The Durrell’s in Corfu. It’s a light, fun thing to watch if you’re into tv watching. Here’s a link with streaming info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5014882/
Thank you for sharing your own difficulties. I just can't keep my mind on anything long. I can do poems, I can do essays if they're short, it's so strange. I can write, thank god, but following a book just doesn't seem to be in my wheelhouse anymore. Especially fiction, for some reason.Just can't
Thanks, I do know about the series and I watched five minutes f it and although the woman playing the mother is good, she was NOTHING like the real mother so I had to turn it off.
Oh! I'll try Dorothy Sayers. I always loved her. Another experiment!
PS I'm very impressed that Wolf Hall is the book you're reading.
When I was younger I’d finish a book even if I hated it. A few years ago I decided not to devote my time to books that don’t interest me. I give it a few chapters but stop reading if it doesn’t hold my attention. So many books, so little time! (BTW, read A Three Dog Life recently & couldn’t put it down.) :)
I had a problem with that adaption of My Family because they obviously felt they had to make the mother a bigger character and add romance. Gerald was secondary to the story in the tv series and he is the star of the book.
Oh me too...one of my favourites "Here is a small fact, you are going to die." The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I remember this one on days I forget to slow my thoughts down and notice what's around me. (most of the time!)😊
The idea of having room, space, time to capture your own thoughts
I used to spend so much time in solitude, never had a TV but also didn’t read a lot. I feel that was a huge missed experience for me.
I’m reading more than I’ve ever read before in the last 10.
Admit that I probably have more unfinished books than finished books around me. And there are other books that I read many times.
I have the book on my bedside called getting over tom.
I’ve read almost every other book the author has written. I remember when she gave it to me. She said it is short I don’t know when I’ll finish it. As I like savoring to imagine what’s next
“ once again our mother is disabled by Love“
I could just stay there. But I continue because I was born in 1957.
Chapter is titled 1957
“Loretta and I are locked in the upstairs bathroom with her mother’s makeup spread out on the sink. “
Yes, Lila. Notes is where you can tag people with this sign: @ then type in their name. I don't think it works in Posts. Abigail Thomas is my friend who writes with powerful brevity. Love you.
I'm feeling deliciously vindicated. Last night a friend asked if I had ever thought about writing a book. I have been asked this question from time to time over the years. Unintentionally, I have lived a strange life that others seem interested in hearing about. Though I have journaled since 1972, I only stumbled upon the format of the "post" several years ago where I found a comfy outlet for my crave of writing. For me, I tell the forming, brief thought. And then I am done. I enjoy reading the same.
Hmm... it seems differing generations have found a common thread - difficulty keeping the mind on anything long. As a composition professor, my written instructions and video selections for students keep getting leaner. I'm torn about whether I'm really trimming the fat to be more concise or whether I'm succumbing to literary anorexia and microwaving education.
You picked a sentence I could crawl inside and live in for a while. Thank you for sharing your discovery. It’s heartening to know that as reading a book becomes complicated or outright impossible, one perfect sentence contains a complete literary adventure.
I wrote about you in an email to my writing "sisters" (a Story Circle Network Work-in-progess chat/support group) after you wrote this particular Substack essay. Here's part of what I said.
"I started journaling at an incredibly fast and furious pace, feelings pouring out of me, which led me to writing again. I felt compelled to write!! I’ve returned to writing! I know Abigail Thomas has had something to do with it, though I can’t put my finger on it. Here’s a comment from her recent Substack essay 'What Comes Next?' She said, 'I read maybe a paragraph, look down at all the pages still to come, each one covered with words, and just lose heart. I suppose it has something to do with age. A lot of my friends are listening to books on tape. I’m afraid to try that. I have very few actual thoughts so I need to be around when one of them arrives.'"
"She’s writing, she’s witty, she’s sharing, she’s alive and vulnerable. She’s not waiting to write. Her’s is the bandwagon Stephanie is on and I’ve jumped on, too. Forgive the length of my thoughts. I gotta grab them when they arrive."
I find you hilariously inspirational but I wouldn't want to share that with you for fear it'd go to your head.
Thank you, Jeannie! You can't say a nicer thing to another writer than that their writing got you writing again. Really. I'm so very grateful, and can't wait to see what you are doing. Don't worry about it going to my head. I can't take myself very seriously or I'm in trouble. Thank you again a million times.
Yes, what Wendy Varley said, and gosh, I love that volume of poetry by Marie Howe. I've been reading it for a very long time. And the Durrell Bros. Each with different gifts and types of brilliance. I can't imagine not reading, it would be a heartbreak. I have wondered about audio books, but I feel I would fail at that...I seem to have an issue with listening and integrating. I love not only the words I discover while reading, but the shape of each letter, the visual beauty of words in type, the fonts chosen by the book designers. So much to miss. And the special snippets that anchor themselves in our brains for decades. I love you, Abby.
It's weird, but I've gotten used to it. I read a lot of substack, and I spend a lot of time writing, If I couldn't write, I don't know if I would surviive.
I understand. I'm reading a ton of Substack writers, too. What a clever cohort we have here. xoxo
well i could neither read nor write for about 3 weeks maybe a bit longer. i had no idea what to do with myself. I bought many yards of beautiful silk velvet ribbon. I bought some mighty expensive jam. and, i got a new kitchen floor; it’s rubber.
thank goodness i can read again- not reading was getting to be very expensive.
I love Abby too.
And I love big white spaces in a book. They give me invitation to pause and reflect on what I have read, and of course, beg for my pen for personal additions to the story. Which for me, is the gold of a story well articulated and juicy…to enlarge my own life.
Hello Lila, friem\nd of Prajna's. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine from the git-go.
And thank you for your kind words.
Hey Abby meet Lila, both dear friends, you will get along well.
First sentences are portals.
and sometimes I just want to stand in the doorway.
Yesss to doorways!
Yes doorways
Yaaasss to 'first sentences'
I remember your poem that starts with “Over some flat green potato fields drags me my muse … she gives me words I have to sort….”
Therein lay you the salivator of sounds from letters.
I love that you remember that line, Ina. Thank you. Those were the days.
‘I have very few actual thoughts so I need to be around when one of them arrives.’ Oh I do love this, Abigail.
Thank you.
Oh Abby, I love this! I could reread Marie Howe forever, and I devoured My Family and Other Animals AND had the same aversion to "Larry." But oh, those sentences! I will read more.
The first assignment I give my creative writing students is to send me two first sentences they love, one by a published writer in any genre and one of their own, without identifying the sources. I print them on scraps of paper, fold them up, and we do a grab bag. Each student picks a random sentence and reads it aloud. We talk about what we know, what we want to find out, and why. It's always a cool discussion, and makes them think about sentences as a series of choices and clues. Portals and doorways, yes. And breadcrumbs dropped on paths into the woods.
What a terrific assignment, Nina. I love it. And thank you.
Here would be mine:
"Once again our mother is disabled by love," and "He was born with a gift for laughter, and a sense that the world was mad."
I also give them a three-word sentence assignment, with credit to you of course!
First sentences... wonderful, captivating, necessary... and terrifying to try and write.
Bu so much fun to get right!
Like you, I have a problem finishing books lately. Sometimes I’ll find one I can’t put down and it’s a delight. Right now I’m reading Wolf Hall, which is a brilliant book, but I’m following Simon Haisell’s slow reading guide here on Substack which is very helpful. I expect to finish by Christmas. 😆 You may know this but there’s a mini series based on Gerald Durrell’s book called The Durrell’s in Corfu. It’s a light, fun thing to watch if you’re into tv watching. Here’s a link with streaming info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5014882/
Thank you for sharing your own difficulties. I just can't keep my mind on anything long. I can do poems, I can do essays if they're short, it's so strange. I can write, thank god, but following a book just doesn't seem to be in my wheelhouse anymore. Especially fiction, for some reason.Just can't
Thanks, I do know about the series and I watched five minutes f it and although the woman playing the mother is good, she was NOTHING like the real mother so I had to turn it off.
Oh! I'll try Dorothy Sayers. I always loved her. Another experiment!
PS I'm very impressed that Wolf Hall is the book you're reading.
When I was younger I’d finish a book even if I hated it. A few years ago I decided not to devote my time to books that don’t interest me. I give it a few chapters but stop reading if it doesn’t hold my attention. So many books, so little time! (BTW, read A Three Dog Life recently & couldn’t put it down.) :)
Thank you. I stopped reading books that bored or annoyed me when I could still read whole books. It felt so good! Take that, you waste of time!
I’m also reading Three Dog Life, and it is allowing whiffs of fresh air and lightness to seep into a very dark patch I’m having. 🙏🏻
I'm so glad it is useful to you, Thank you.
I had a problem with that adaption of My Family because they obviously felt they had to make the mother a bigger character and add romance. Gerald was secondary to the story in the tv series and he is the star of the book.
I turned it off the minute I saw the mother. I'm sure she's a fine actress, but she bore no resemblance to the mother Gerald wriote about.
You have got every writer who reads you now secretly hoping that you will save one of our first lines in your collection. Or is that just me???
Here's to collecting first sentences! Thank you.
"He was born with a gift for laughter nd a sense that the world was mad," Scaramouche, by RaFael Sabatni.
I have a whole bunch. What are yours?
Oh me too...one of my favourites "Here is a small fact, you are going to die." The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I remember this one on days I forget to slow my thoughts down and notice what's around me. (most of the time!)😊
great opening. Great reminder when you're going too fast.
I hear you absolutely
The idea of having room, space, time to capture your own thoughts
I used to spend so much time in solitude, never had a TV but also didn’t read a lot. I feel that was a huge missed experience for me.
I’m reading more than I’ve ever read before in the last 10.
Admit that I probably have more unfinished books than finished books around me. And there are other books that I read many times.
I have the book on my bedside called getting over tom.
I’ve read almost every other book the author has written. I remember when she gave it to me. She said it is short I don’t know when I’ll finish it. As I like savoring to imagine what’s next
“ once again our mother is disabled by Love“
I could just stay there. But I continue because I was born in 1957.
Chapter is titled 1957
“Loretta and I are locked in the upstairs bathroom with her mother’s makeup spread out on the sink. “
💜💚💜
Thanks, Prajna. How very nice of you.
It's so fun for me, I love all of your books. This one will come on the airplane with me!!! No internet - YAHOO!
“Once again our mother is disabled by love”.
I could stay there also.
Yes, Lila. Notes is where you can tag people with this sign: @ then type in their name. I don't think it works in Posts. Abigail Thomas is my friend who writes with powerful brevity. Love you.
I'm feeling deliciously vindicated. Last night a friend asked if I had ever thought about writing a book. I have been asked this question from time to time over the years. Unintentionally, I have lived a strange life that others seem interested in hearing about. Though I have journaled since 1972, I only stumbled upon the format of the "post" several years ago where I found a comfy outlet for my crave of writing. For me, I tell the forming, brief thought. And then I am done. I enjoy reading the same.
Hmm... it seems differing generations have found a common thread - difficulty keeping the mind on anything long. As a composition professor, my written instructions and video selections for students keep getting leaner. I'm torn about whether I'm really trimming the fat to be more concise or whether I'm succumbing to literary anorexia and microwaving education.
I'm betting you're trimming the fat. But I loved what you said, worryied that you were "microwaving education."
worried is what I thought I'd written.
You picked a sentence I could crawl inside and live in for a while. Thank you for sharing your discovery. It’s heartening to know that as reading a book becomes complicated or outright impossible, one perfect sentence contains a complete literary adventure.
and when it's the first sentence, you don't need to read another word. just float forever on those words. and they reappear almost every day.
Yes, it’s a little like looking at a painting. Can Gogh once said he could look at a certain Rembrandt for days.
that's easier to understand. paintings have no need for words.
I love that you collect first sentences and I “collect” (love) your final sentences. 📚
I wrote about you in an email to my writing "sisters" (a Story Circle Network Work-in-progess chat/support group) after you wrote this particular Substack essay. Here's part of what I said.
"I started journaling at an incredibly fast and furious pace, feelings pouring out of me, which led me to writing again. I felt compelled to write!! I’ve returned to writing! I know Abigail Thomas has had something to do with it, though I can’t put my finger on it. Here’s a comment from her recent Substack essay 'What Comes Next?' She said, 'I read maybe a paragraph, look down at all the pages still to come, each one covered with words, and just lose heart. I suppose it has something to do with age. A lot of my friends are listening to books on tape. I’m afraid to try that. I have very few actual thoughts so I need to be around when one of them arrives.'"
"She’s writing, she’s witty, she’s sharing, she’s alive and vulnerable. She’s not waiting to write. Her’s is the bandwagon Stephanie is on and I’ve jumped on, too. Forgive the length of my thoughts. I gotta grab them when they arrive."
I find you hilariously inspirational but I wouldn't want to share that with you for fear it'd go to your head.
Thank you, Jeannie! You can't say a nicer thing to another writer than that their writing got you writing again. Really. I'm so very grateful, and can't wait to see what you are doing. Don't worry about it going to my head. I can't take myself very seriously or I'm in trouble. Thank you again a million times.
…now I collect first sentences. This right here. Abigail, you sure know how to tell it like it is. xo
I’ll add, as a reader, the first sentence keeps as tethered to the story. As a writer, it keeps us up at night!
But what a lovely problem to have.
Thank you.