On our rockstar Helen, by Jonathan Katz, an uncommon observation. “… the writer Wilfred Sheed wrote once in the New Yorker that “every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.” Sheed wasn’t being nasty, he was being honest. I loved Macdonald’s talk and a I loved her book, but I died a little tonight. …
Tag: Writing
Caroline Gordon
The minor great (is that contradictory?) southern writers are always being revived, sometimes by friends of mine; their agrarian roots make them more appealing to me than old Yankees generally. A person descended from Alpine peasants and mercenary Celtic soldiers can remember misty maritime coasts with nostalgia, but be impatient with the old cultural hegemony …
People – the- magazine
Chad Love sent a comment that was slighly embarrassed about finding a good review of Helen’s H is for Hawk in People. I replied at such length I thought I might put it up here. Don’t worry, Chad. A few thoughts… 1) When Rage for Falcons came out in 84, I got the usual box …
Helen Rockstar!
Randy Davis wrote me today to tell me about a signing for Tom McGuane’s new book– I will delay getting it until I can get an inscribed one in Denver. He was at the Strand with Tom Brokaw. “My oldest son went to see/hear the McGuane – Brokaw show at Strand Books in Manhattan. Late …
Anglers Journal
Simply this: the best sporting mag since Ed Gray styarted the “real” Grays in the mid- seventies. Real writers known and unknown– the last interview with Peter Matthiessen– and superb graphics and art. And despite bonefish and other stars of the flats, NOT just fly fishing– commercial fishing even (Matthiessen’s interview accompanied with a cut …
T. H. White, falconer
Thanks to the efforts of Stacia Novy, with a little help from me and Conor Jameson, Terence Hanbury White, author of The Goshawk and The Once and Future King among many other books, will be recognized as a falconer with a plaque on the wall of remembrance at the Archives of Falconry, at the World …
Long time coming…
Long story too– not just one press… Better image and info coming.
Back in the Saddle #1: “The Lit’ry Life”
Which was the title of George V Higgins’ weekly survey of writing in the Boston Globe back in the seventies, which formed my template for my Review at Gray’s, which in some way led to my appearances here… If I don’t blog a bit I get worried that I will never catch up to the …
Where am I?
I’m working on my long- contemplated dog and Central Asia book, and trying not to be tempted by the seductions of the Net. I wouldn’t have much original to say anyway, only links, because I am trying to “save” thoughts for the book. I’ll probably be back sooner than later but I need to honor …
Quote
“Promoting novels in a soundbite culture is like selling elephants from a gumball machine.” Barbara Kingsolver