The book I’m currently devouring
I’m supposed to be editing tonight, and so I am. A deadline is a deadline. All I really want to do, though, is get back to reading Michael Cunningham’s new book, which came out yesterday. I finished the first section on the Q train this evening and so far it’s brilliant. Mind you, he was one of my favorite authors long before he was one of my favorite teachers. He’s Michael. Of course it’s brilliant. There are things he does with language that make me want to weep. Seriously.
Ernesto and I went to hear him read from it at the Union Square Barnes & Noble last night. I’d gotten so accustomed to him just being our fabulous and beloved MC over the two years of the MFA program, that it was a bit strange to see him again in this other context, as Pulitzer-prize winning author giving a public reading. It was thrilling, actually. A reminder that he was my hero before he was my mentor. (Damn. Having one of those how-did-I-get-this-lucky goosebump moments.)
Anyway, I’m telling everyone to read the book because I’ve been waiting for it for years and it really was worth the wait.
(How wonderful is Michael as a teacher, you ask? Worthy of handknit Lorna’s Laces socks wonderful.)
Added later: a radio interview he did today, talking about the book…
Clearly a MUST read. You are one lucky woman, and deservedly so.
Posted by: Norma
Ooh, thank you for the Michael Cunningham book review — it’s been on my horizon, I’ve been trying to ignore the book reviews, so much to read already… but after an endorsement like that, well, it’s on my library request list. The book-knitting gods have spoken.
Posted by: KarenK
I *will* read this one day. First I have to read The Hours, which has been on my to-read list for some time.
Posted by: Iris
Finally. I was so in love with his writing before reading your sight. When I saw that you were working with him I was extremely envious. Not that I can write, but I’d just love to hear him talk about writing. I’m running to the bookstore on my lunch break!
Posted by: Shelley
Lucky, lucky, lucky! But look at it this way: this kind of luck comes to those who deserve it.
I’m feeling lucky that I get to hear Nicole Krauss speak next week, as I’m devouring and loving her book The History of Love.
Posted by: Amy
what a wonderful recommendation! i’m so out of the loop i didn’t realize his new book was out. i must squeeze a trip to the bookstore into this crazy week. thanks! xo, r
Posted by: regina
I just had one of those goosebump moments for you too! What a great author to have as a teacher.
(I found myself typing in Yoda-speak for some reason: Fortunate you are to have such a mentor).
Thanks for adding a title to my summer reading list.
Posted by: Steph
OH LORD, i never put the name together with the book. THAT michael cunningham? holy crap.
will read the book. in awe [jaw dropped]…what must it be like to have someone that brilliant as your mentor? it makes me want to read your book even more.
Posted by: amy/squib
Clearly a MUST read. You are one lucky woman, and deservedly so.
Posted by: Norma
Ooh, thank you for the Michael Cunningham book review — it’s been on my horizon, I’ve been trying to ignore the book reviews, so much to read already… but after an endorsement like that, well, it’s on my library request list. The book-knitting gods have spoken.
Posted by: KarenK
I *will* read this one day. First I have to read The Hours, which has been on my to-read list for some time.
Posted by: Iris
Finally. I was so in love with his writing before reading your sight. When I saw that you were working with him I was extremely envious. Not that I can write, but I’d just love to hear him talk about writing. I’m running to the bookstore on my lunch break!
Posted by: Shelley
Lucky, lucky, lucky! But look at it this way: this kind of luck comes to those who deserve it.
I’m feeling lucky that I get to hear Nicole Krauss speak next week, as I’m devouring and loving her book The History of Love.
Posted by: Amy
what a wonderful recommendation! i’m so out of the loop i didn’t realize his new book was out. i must squeeze a trip to the bookstore into this crazy week. thanks! xo, r
Posted by: regina
I just had one of those goosebump moments for you too! What a great author to have as a teacher.
(I found myself typing in Yoda-speak for some reason: Fortunate you are to have such a mentor).
Thanks for adding a title to my summer reading list.
Posted by: Steph
OH LORD, i never put the name together with the book. THAT michael cunningham? holy crap.
will read the book. in awe [jaw dropped]…what must it be like to have someone that brilliant as your mentor? it makes me want to read your book even more.
Posted by: amy/squib
It’s on my list. I had no idea he was one of your teachers, how awesome! And if he’s worthy of Lorna’s socks he MUST be good 🙂
Posted by: Vicki
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve been waiting for this book as the last was so good!
Posted by: margene
I’m waiting for this book as we speak. You might thing, as library director, that I would get first dibs. You’d be wrong.
Posted by: Carole
Putting it on my wish list right now…
Posted by: alison
goosebumps just reading THIS. Must buy.
Posted by: Rachael
On my stopover from JC to ME in CT (necessitated by a TWO HOUR DELAY on the West Side Highway) I managed to forget not only the sole pair of long pants I brought (and bra #2… sorry for over-sharing, but it’s true), but also the unabridged audio of Specimen Days read by Allen Cumming that a colleague was kind enough to give me. (Also Gilead.)
This left me with the unabridged 25th-anniversary edition of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” Maybe I’m just square, but I’m having a very difficult time seeing why millions of people felt the need to read this book. Maybe the answer’s in the second half…
Oh, and Rachael’s MDS mix. I have decided that I must own something by the Old 97s.
Oh well. I’m going to start a blog this week (instead of just vicariously living on other people’s).
Posted by: Anne
Well, I’m waiting to read YOUR brilliant book…
but in the meantime, I suppose Michael Cunningham’s new book will do 😉 (I LOVED The Hours…who didn’t…and agree on his Lorna’s Laces-worthy brilliance).
So nice to hear that I’m not the only one who had a life-changing shift to writing thanks to L’Engle, by the way 🙂 And I’m not even a fiction writer…I’m a poet. But there are certain fiction writers that just blew me away as a kid, and she’s one of them.
Posted by: Lee Ann
I read this as I sit at work in the Lookingglass Theatre Box office, and Michael Cunningham is in the theatre participating in the Writers on the Record for WFMT Chicago. I wish I could go in and hear him speak, but duty calls. It just struck me as funny . . . what are the chances? Ah, kismet, you silly silly beast.
Posted by: Becca
It’s on my list. I had no idea he was one of your teachers, how awesome! And if he’s worthy of Lorna’s socks he MUST be good 🙂
Posted by: Vicki
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve been waiting for this book as the last was so good!
Posted by: margene
I’m waiting for this book as we speak. You might thing, as library director, that I would get first dibs. You’d be wrong.
Posted by: Carole
Putting it on my wish list right now…
Posted by: alison
goosebumps just reading THIS. Must buy.
Posted by: Rachael
On my stopover from JC to ME in CT (necessitated by a TWO HOUR DELAY on the West Side Highway) I managed to forget not only the sole pair of long pants I brought (and bra #2… sorry for over-sharing, but it’s true), but also the unabridged audio of Specimen Days read by Allen Cumming that a colleague was kind enough to give me. (Also Gilead.)
This left me with the unabridged 25th-anniversary edition of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” Maybe I’m just square, but I’m having a very difficult time seeing why millions of people felt the need to read this book. Maybe the answer’s in the second half…
Oh, and Rachael’s MDS mix. I have decided that I must own something by the Old 97s.
Oh well. I’m going to start a blog this week (instead of just vicariously living on other people’s).
Posted by: Anne
Well, I’m waiting to read YOUR brilliant book…
but in the meantime, I suppose Michael Cunningham’s new book will do 😉 (I LOVED The Hours…who didn’t…and agree on his Lorna’s Laces-worthy brilliance).
So nice to hear that I’m not the only one who had a life-changing shift to writing thanks to L’Engle, by the way 🙂 And I’m not even a fiction writer…I’m a poet. But there are certain fiction writers that just blew me away as a kid, and she’s one of them.
Posted by: Lee Ann
I read this as I sit at work in the Lookingglass Theatre Box office, and Michael Cunningham is in the theatre participating in the Writers on the Record for WFMT Chicago. I wish I could go in and hear him speak, but duty calls. It just struck me as funny . . . what are the chances? Ah, kismet, you silly silly beast.
Posted by: Becca
i think all my moments like that are over in life. sad isn’t it.
Posted by: carolyn
i think all my moments like that are over in life. sad isn’t it.
Posted by: carolyn