Hopping Around

I am trying to be productive today while waiting for a jury to come back with a "Phase I" verdict in the trial I've been working on. But it is hard to concentrate, so real work is going to be all but impossible and hopping around looking at book blogs seems like the only kind of blogging I may be able to accomplish today.

Crazy-for-Books hosts a weekly Book Blog Hop "to give us all bookies a chance to connect and find new blogs that we may be missing out on!" Click the link or the button for details.

UPDATE: Woo hoo! Thanks to the Book Blogger Hop, I now have 100 followers! Thanks everyone! Of course, my list of blogs I follow is also growing -- hope I can keep up!

The Plot Thickens . . .

This week's Booking Through Thursday question asks for a preference between plots or stream-of-conscious writing.

That's an easy one. Not since I tackled Ulysses in college have I been too enamored of the stream-of-conscious style. I admire books like The Sound and the Fury (see here) for the masterpieces they are, but I generally prefer a good story, well told.

I don't mean I need a lot of action and adventure (although they have their place), but I like things to happen in the book I read. This is clear from my Top 10 list of favorites -- all are plot-driven novels.

I am interested to read answers of people who prefer stream-of-conscious or am I? maybe they could convince me, if my foot didn't itch or I could go get coffee first, just what is conscious, anyway? if a book could really convince . . .

Opening Sentence of the Day: Leaving Brooklyn

"This is the story of an eye, and how it came into its own."

Leaving Brooklyn by Lynn Sharon Schwartz (nominated for the PEN/Faulkner; new introduction by Ursula Hegi; super cool Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts edition).

This novel has mesmerized me. I am generally not a fan of coming-of-age novels, not having much interest in teenagers since I stopped being one myself. But Audrey appeals to me. She has a "lazy eye" that is legally blind, but gives her a creative, imaginary way of seeing "behind" things, including ideas. Her eye is the center point for the story; it is also a metaphor, I think, for the inward gaze that perfectly captures the mind of a 15-year old girl.

NOTE

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a Friday "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners.

Review of the Day: Eden Springs

Laura Kasischke’s moody novella, Eden Springs, is a historical mystery of sorts, based the true story of a spooky religious colony on the shores of Lake Michigan in the early 1900s. The House of David in Benton Harbor, Michigan, was founded by Benjamin Purcell as a lakeside Eden where he and his avowedly celibate followers could await the Second Coming.

The colony thrived for many years, becoming rich first on fruit crops, later on proceeds from the Eden Springs amusement park. Followers of “King Ben” ran the park, staged musical performances, and fielded a baseball team famous for the players’ long hair and untrimmed beards.

From this factual background, Kasischke pulls at a loose thread of scandal, focusing on King Ben’s predilection for sleeping with his young female converts. Kasischke creates a narrative collage from third-person and first person fictional accounts, excerpts from contemporary news articles, court documents, Purcell’s own writings, and vintage postcards of the colony and park.

From this mix comes a story of religious fervor, egomania, lust, jealousy, and murder. Eden Springs is a captivating little book that linger long after the last page is turned.

NOTES

Eden Springs is part of the Made in Michigan Writers Series published by the Wayne State University Press.

This review first ran in the February 2010 edition of the Internet Review of Books. 

OTHER REVIEWS

(If you have reviewed this book and would like your review posted here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

Teaser Tuesday: Ex Libris

"It has long been my belief that everyone's library contains an Odd Shelf.  On this shelf rests a small, mysterious corpus of volumes whose subject matter is completely unrelated to the rest of the library, yet which, upon closer inspection, reveals a good deal about its owner."

-- Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman.

What's on your Odd Shelf?

Here is a sampling from mine:

Urgent 2nd Class: Creating Curious Collage, Dubious Documents, and Other Art from Ephemera by Nick Bantock



Creative Correspondence by Judy Jacobs



Collage Lost and Found: Creating Unique Projects With Vintage Ephemera by Giuseppina Cirincione




Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.