My Summer of Books and Writing

It has been a while since I have blogged. I constantly update Facebook with vague snippets or annoying declarations of my latest whim but I do not feel like I have what it takes to be a blogger. Maybe eventually but not now.

Instead, here is a list of my summer reading--

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson. "We believed we would die with handcuffs on."

I had a lot of contempt for this writer even though "Emergency" was quite beautiful with angels cracking through drive-ins and Georgie saving lives. Too many male hipsters valorized his works and made me extremely uncomfortable. Suburban boys who were relocated in cities and now donned handlebar moustaches touted Johnson as a genius and began writing their own dirty stories of drugs and filth, which unlike Johnson, they had only read about but never lived.  I finally broke down and read it in spite of the ironic scenesters chanting his name. And now, Denis Johnson is my literary lover.  http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/6127/  Follow that link to see why. Pay close attention to where he discusses heroin and alcoholism and then again when he gets religious. Only difference in the former is that I was prepared.... I knew all this about him before I read the article. It was transmitted to me while I read his book. My favorite stories from it are "Out on Bail" and "Beverly Homes."

Angels by Denis Johnson. This is his first novel. This is brutal. Jamie wants to murder them and I don't blame her. Bill Houston explains why that won't help. Years of therapy and the fictional Bill Houston makes it all clear for me and helps me to understand. Vague? Yes. Read the book. It's dark and dirty and centers around Bill Houston, a criminal, a drifter, and an alcoholic, and his brothers, a thief with big plans and a heroin addict--respectively. It isn't about lowlifes. It's about reconciling living in a fallen world which Johnson said in the link above. He understands that there is something beautiful in the sinner, a bit of God in them that makes the world so much harder to bear and they succumb to the dark and leave those who sleep to the sunny side of the street.

Up next...

The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. I have only read two short stories by her. I love her story "Where are You Going, Where have You Been?" I work at a bookstore and picked up The Falls. Oates' wiry frame and pale skin radiated beneath black hair on the back cover. She looked crazy in an absolutely mystical way, in a way I could only ever dream to be. This is why this book is next.

Cities of Refuge by Michael Helms.  http://www.tinhouse.com/cities-of-refuge.html  I want to read something epic and well written. I like the biblical implications of the title. I also have a fetish for Canadians.  Stay posted for a review.

The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson. Dipsomania....

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. I read the opening paragraph and was hooked. Stark yet drips with rhythm and cuts away the flesh...I may read it next. I will keep you all posted.

I am writing. I don't have much to say about it. I am taking a cure for medical problems and am a bit out of sorts from the meds. Here's a very small snip of one of the things I am working on--

He opened his eyes and his pretty blues, God those pretty blues, the pupil only a tiny speck in a sea of blue, and my body floated in it, between the waves without ever touching water or falling into the black pinhole.  Then I remembered but didn’t know what I remembered but I knew to stay away from the black, not to fall in. “What will we do then?”  His body scooted closer to me and his hands swept over the linen.  I reached out to touch the blue. Stay in the blue and it won’t hurt.