« For Thanksgiving: A Recipe and a Writing Exercise | Main | The PEN Award Dinner »
I’m rather famous in my family for taking bad pictures – i.e. heads are randomly chopped off, large branches appear in front of people’s faces etc. (R. tells me that if I were an assassin I’d be shooting the bystanders.) But I am now equipped with a camera that has upgraded my photographs and yes, it’s on my beloved iPhone. Even R. the photographer is impressed. I took these photos on Thanksgiving weekend from my deck in
Write a memory of snow.
The comments to this entry are closed.
Annie Proulx: Brokeback Mountain
The spare, beautiful short story the movie came from.
Zadie Smith: On Beauty
She makes it look easy. It's a page turning novel of ideas and character.
Charles Baxter: Saul and Patsy
A deep, serious, funny novel by a writer who should be better known outside of literary circles.
Karen Armstrong: The Spiral Staircase : My Climb Out of Darkness (Armstrong, Karen)
Articulate and deeply insightful.
Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life
A book that truly encourages you to write, understands you, makes you laugh and cry as you read it.
Rollo May: The Courage to Create
To go deeper into the creative process and yourself.
Twyla Tharp: The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use It for Life
Full of inspiration and really practical advice and exercises.
Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life
This is my favorite of favorites. Encouragement and humor.
Brenda Ueland: If You Want to Write : A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit
Her 12 things you should know/do as a writer are timeless.
Carolyn See: Making a Literary Life
Such good advice, and so hilarious.
Deena Metzger: Writing for Your Life : Discovering the Story of Your Life's Journey
An exploration of creativity, story and spiritual practice through writing.
Dorothea Brande: Becoming a Writer
Her "artistic coma" is what we're all looking for.
Naomi Epel: Writers Dreaming: 26 Writers Talk About Their Dreams and the Creative Process
Writers reveal all their weird and wise working quirks.
Natalie Goldberg: Writing down the bones
Zen bits of advice, inspiration and wisdom.
Ralph Keyes: The Courage to Write : How Writers Transcend Fear
Like having a funny, smart, articulate friend holding your hand when you start.
Stephen King: On Writing
My copy flutters with Post-its. He writes of the true magic of writing.
Annie Dillard: The Writing Life
“A work in progress quickly becomes ferel,” she writes, and you nod yes, yes.
Donald Hall: Life Work
A poet at work, and living life with poet Jane Kenyon.
John Steinbeck: Journal of a Novel
His daily warm-up letters to his editor while writing East of Eden.
Naomi Epel: Writers Dreaming: 26 Writers Talk About Their Dreams and the Creative Process
Weird and wise ways of writers working as well as dreaming.
Stephen King: On Writing
How it all started, with smart advice for other writers.
Anne Fadiman: Ex Libris : Confessions of a Common Reader
Elegantly written essays about loving books.
Phillip Lopate: The Art of the Personal Essay : An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present
Great introduction and selection of 400 years of personal essays.
Anne Lamott: Traveling Mercies : Some Thoughts on Faith
From her heart and soul, both funny and honest.
Natalia Ginzberg: The Little Virtues
Brilliant essays to learn from and live by.
Ellen Gilchrist: Falling Through Space: The Journals of Ellen Gilchrist (Banner Books)
Actually from her broadcast NPR pieces. A portrait of a writer in family and work roles.
Andre Dubus: Broken Vessels
Includes elegant pieces full of courage written after his horrific accident.
Joan Didion: The White Album
She's a master of the contemporary essay.
Billy Collins: Sailing Alone Around the Room
Read "Introduction to Poetry". Funny, accessible, and also serious poetry.
Jane Kenyon: Otherwise : New & Selected Poems
Read the title poem first. A poem to live by.
Mary Oliver: New and Selected Poems : Volume One
Read "The Summer Day" and "The Journey" - more poems to live by.
Raymond Carver: Ultramarine
He makes it look easy. It isn't.
Joan Didion: The Year of Magical Thinking
Pure Art. I read it in one sitting.
Ulla-Carin Lindquist: Rowing without oars
Lean and illuminating prose as the author faces her own death. To be published in the U.S. in April ’06.
Carole Radziwill: What Remains
A beautifully written memoir that transcends its celebrity frame of the Kennedys.
Donald Hall: The Best Day the Worst Day
The story of the death of his wife, Jane Kenyon.
Samantha Dunn: Faith in Carlos Gomez, A Memoir of Salsa, Sex and Salvation
The title alone should make you want to read it.
Carolyn See: Dreaming, Hard Luck and Good Times in America
Witty, as well as poignant - and written with abundant generosity.
Genevieve Jurgensen: The Disappearance
The most heart-breaking memoir I've read, written as letters to a friend.
James McBride: The Color of Water
The amazing story of his white Jewish mother who had twelve black kids, all of whom grew up to earn graduate degrees.
Judy Blunt: Breaking clean
Her story of fleeing rural Montana and her family to become a writer.
Katharine Butler Hathaway: The Little Locksmith
Like finding a friend who has a deep and inspiring inner life that she'll share with you.
Kathleen Norris: Dakota
A book not only about her life and spiritual growth, but also the meaning of community and place.
Kathryn Harrison: The Kiss
The true version of her novel, "Thicker Than Water".
Mark Doty: Firebirds
Growing up gay in suburbia - funny, deeply moving, eloquent.
Mark Doty: Heaven's Coast
Some of the best writing on grief I've ever read - both spiritual and literary.
Mary Karr: The Liar's Club
The book that started the current popularity of memoir.
Maureen Murdock: Unreliable Truth
Exploration of memory and why and how one should write a memoir.
Vivian Gornick: The Situation and the Story, the Art of Personal Narrative
A writer's writer takes a deep and illuminating look at the genre.
For any of your blog readers that might be interested, I came across a call for submissions yesterday looking for Thanksgiving Tales: http://www.thanksgivingtales.com/
Posted by: Jenny R | December 01, 2009 at 05:13 PM
Thanks Jenny! And thanks also for the mention in USA Weekend.
Posted by: Barbara | December 02, 2009 at 07:29 AM
As for the new phone:
Try downloading photogene from the "Apps" button on your phoe! It's a few bucks, or possibly even free, and allows you to quickly and easily crop, adjust color, brighten dark photos etc.
Posted by: Apple products are intuitive | December 02, 2009 at 01:27 PM
Great photos. I just bought the flip video at Costco to try and do some vlogging. I hope it works too.
Posted by: GutsyWriter | December 03, 2009 at 08:39 PM