Since Panhandlers has been finished I’ve been slowly working on my third novel. This one is slow going. I’m attempting to write a Southern as opposed to a Western. I’ve always loved Westerns and wanted to write one, but I don’t live in the West. I’ve never lived in the West. I have no family that live out that way either. I felt it would be … Continue reading Writing Update: Third Novel in the Works
I’m not going to ruin this poem with any commentary. Just read and enjoy. I’m open to discussion in the comments, but I’m not starting it. Ntozake Shange already did. lady in brown de library waz right down from de trolly tracks cross from de laundry-mat thru de big shinin floors & granite pillars ol st. louis is famous for i found toussaint but not … Continue reading Ntozake Shange’s poem “toussaint”
When teaching a book that uses this word, what do most people prefer when reading it aloud? Skip it or read it? I addressed this issue with my class prior to studying Etheridge Knight’s poem “Dark Prophecy: I Sing of Shine.” The consensus was to skip it, yet when I did so, I felt that I was cheating Etheridge Knight, that I was changing his … Continue reading The N-Word
For some reason every time I see Pensacola in a book I’m reading, a sense of hometown pride swells in me. For instance, I’m currently reading Tom Robbins’s Another Roadside Attraction and came across this line on page 61: “Despite his silly grin. He was accepted for pilot’s training and was graduated from the Pensacola air school, third in his class.” This line is from Barry … Continue reading Seeing Your Hometown in Novels
Fuck this book. I made it about 140 pages before I put it away and decided to reread McCarthy’s Cities of the Plain. I’ve read War and Peace, Don Quixote, Moby Dick, Ulysses. But this book can kiss my ass. There are so many goddamn words and the plot is seemingly not going anywhere. Is there someone out there that can convince me this is really … Continue reading Book Review: Infinite Jest
I’ve been doing a lot of starting and stopping when it comes to reading lately. Can’t seem to get fully invested into a book the last few weeks. A buddy of mine has been telling for a while now that I must read Stoner (New York Review Books Classics) by John Williams. It arrived in the mail yesterday. I skipped the introduction because I felt it … Continue reading Stoner, Preorder Contest and The End
You ever get stuck reading the Art of Fiction? Sometimes, I can’t enough. Even if I’ve read them before. Here is one I read today. John Gardner’s #73 from 1979. Enjoy. INTERVIEWER You have been called a “philosophical novelist.” What do you think of the label? GARDNER I’m not sure that being a philosophical novelist is better than being some other kind, but I guess … Continue reading Paris Review Interview with John Gardner
After Philip Roth’s My Life as a Man, a heart breaking tale of a writer’s marriage, I quickly began Alex Garland’s The Tesseract. I was excited about The Tesseract because years ago I thouroughly enjoyed Garland’s debut novel The Beach. However, two weeks later I was still only 60 pages in. It was a struggle to get that far. I’m one of those readers that … Continue reading Currently Reading
I’m about 200 pages into this book and those pages were a struggle. I’ve wanted to quit a few times, but once I start a book, I have this weird rule that I must finish it. I’ve invested time into it and if I quit now it would be time wasted. John Kennedy Toole’s biography is what attracted me to the book. I was intrigued … Continue reading Currently Reading: A Confederacy Of Dunces
Nic Schuck 