Remember when I wrote that writing takes ego, almost exactly a year ago? I heard that sentiment echoed in so much of Jhumpa Lahiri’s lovely recent New Yorker article, “Trading Stories.” “Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying, “Listen to me.”” Read more here. And, more about writing, and being an artist: this cartoon about the artistic life as a matter of faith.
I’ve been reading so many good books lately, many of them much appreciated, and some of them from unexpected quarters. I’ll tell you more about them as I get the chance. For right now I can say, though, that Diana Abu-Jaber’s forthcoming novel Birds of Paradise is one of my favorite novels that I’ve read in a long time: layered, complex, page-turning, and beautiful, and satisfying. I really wish I could recommend it as a summer read, but it doesn’t come out until September. More about it later. It is available for pre-order on Amazon, so run, don’t walk. (Full disclosure: I received an advance copy from Norton, the publisher, but I would not write so wholeheartedly about the book if I really didn’t like it. It’s that good.)
(In the meantime, go read my former student Kevin’s book review column on Thought Catalog: he’s snappy, insightful, and funny, and an incredible reader. Alas, I can’t take any credit for him.)
Aaaand, a whole pile of incredible-looking books just arrived at once from the library: R. Zamora Linmark’s Leche, Jessica Hagedorn’s latest Toxicology, Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Chronology of Water, Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado. And I haven’t even finished The Tragedy of Arthur yet! I can’t even make room on my nightstand. And I’ve started writing for a local website; I’ll let you know when I’ve published my first piece there.
All of this lovely reading and writing–I am choosing to take it all as a sign that something in the universe has shifted, and that more good things are coming. Getting some faith back in faith; getting ready to say, in several different ways and several different venues, “Listen to me.”