June 20

Still here, although recent blog-related activity might indicate otherwise. At the end of Ninety-Two in the Shade and loving every little bit of it. A full report on it when I finish.

I have just completed a re-read of Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook and William Stafford's Writing the Australian Crawl, two great writing books. (291 pages in total!) And I am writing up a fuckin' storm.

Stick with me. I am cooking.

June 7--I abide

I have not quit. I have been preoccupied with family and landlords trying to deal with rotting trees before they crush us. I am also subbing a little at summer school, which I realize makes me either a dumb shit or a glutton for punishment..

More in the next day or so, as I finish the novel. I am planning on reading Garth Nix's Sabriel next, if anyone would like to join in. And Jesse and I going to start a Bird By Bird (Anne Lamott) bible study soon, if anyone wants in.

Peace out, homeys!

June 5--Leaks

Pages of Ninety-Two in the Shade read today: 78
Pages of Jesse's manuscript read today: 40 (double-spaced)

Yes, it is really June 6th as I write this, but I read until I could not keep my eyes open last night and didn't feel up to this on the way to bed. The painkiller/muscle relaxer/anti-depressant combo = a damn good sleep.

I have had one of those Murphy's Law weekends. Oral surgery Friday. Drama on Saturday when the guy from Rob's work, staying with us after separating from his wife, and his wife had a loud "discussion" in our driveway. And Sunday we worked all day on getting the fancy (one year old) pool we bought for our nephews ready for the year, only to discover more leaks than we can patch. It is under warranty for some time still, but I hate the waiting while we fix it. I sure planned on swimming today with Hunter. I even bought a special little float for our glass chess set to float on so we could play in the pool. Best laid plans.

In spite of all this, I managed to read another nice chunk of Ninety-Two in the Shade. It is slow going, partially because of the denseness of his style and the fishing guide terminology (that I feel compelled to look up) and partially because it is so amazingly crafted that I have slowed down to really soak it all up. I hope to finish it today, and will return with a full report later.

For now, some great bits that I want to share:

Upon occasion, a man had to manufacture his own hell-fire, either for himself or others: as one kind of homebrew for the spirit's extremer voyages. (56)

But there is a life that is not a life, in which the more adamant obstructions of the heart masquerade as loss, dreams, or carburetor trouble.A silent man wastes his own swerve of molecules; just as a bee "doing its number on the flower" is as gone to history as if it never was. The thing and its expression are to be found shaking hands at precisely that point where Neverneverland and Illyria collide with the Book of Revelation under that downpour of grackle droppings that is the present at any given time. (83)

When the sun first assembles itself over the broken skyline of Key West on a morning of great humidity, a thunderous light fills the city and everyone moves in stately rotation through the streets that are conduits of something empyrean. Also, things can get sweaty. (83)

June 4

Pages of Ninety-Two in the Shade read today: 59 (with more to come before bed, I hope)

A paltry number, I know. But in my defense, these pages are long and filled with teeny tiny type. Also, I worked on and off all day with Rob trying to get the pool set up. And am still contending with the gaping, painful hole in my mouth.

But I still managed a little time with Ninety-Two in the Shade. McGuane is an amazing writer, but he is not one that can be taken lightly. His prose is serious, and even when it is funny, it is seriously funny. I have loved every minute of every McGuane book I have read (Nothing But Blue Skies, The Bushwhacked Piano, The Cadence of Grass, The Sporting Club), and am impressed by his amazing command of our language, his nuance and humor, and the chords he finds in even his most despicable characters that ring common to me.

Ninety-Two in the Shade is the story of Thomas Skelton, a born loser who returns home to Key West after a misspent youth away. Skelton decides to hire himself out as a fishing guide and invokes the ire of Nichol Dance, a rival guide with a penchant for homicide.

I am about halfway done with the book, and I can say with certainty that the dance these two madmen engage in is equal parts hilarious and terrifying.

I expect to be up late with my book light on tonight, kiddos.       

June 3--I'm still alive

I survived oral surgery and am missing a particularly troublesome wisdom tooth. And am in amazing pain, which I am trying to counteract with amazing painkillers.

And I have read a bit, with plans to read more as the day winds on. A full report later this evening.

June 2--Others have excuses / I have my reasons why

Pages read today: 0

Oh, I read at a few things, flipped through a new Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, read hundreds of screens of dialog in the game I am grinding at, read some news (and some banality) on Facebook. But any of  the books on my list (including Ninety-Two in the Shade, the book I am supposedly reading)? Nope, not a damned word.

I have no excuses. I have dawdled the whole day away on nothing, and am unapologetic. The school burnout/jet lag had hit me harder than I thought. I will also admit to spending some time today dreading the wisdom tooth extraction tomorrow. But I take heart in the fact that the dentist's office is a great place to get a little reading done. And I am totally using that oral surgery business to get out of putting up the pool.

So 29 pages in two days, huh? At this rate, I will read about three books this summer, four if I am lucky,

Click the link below to see the source of the title to this post!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lyZQB1H_Zw

June 2 -- Intentions

No page count yet, but I am just getting up. Hopefully there will be one later in the day.

I am almost to the 30 page mark of the first book I am reading this summer, Thomas McGuane's Ninety-Two in the Shade. Most of you know that I give any book about 30 pages to hook me, and if it doesn't, I release it back into the wild. Most good books grab you in the first line or paragraph but certainly in the first page, so I think 30 pages is very generous.

Ninety-Two in the Shade passed the test with the first line.

Nobody knows, from sea to shining sea, why we are having all this trouble with our republic...

And then the first paragraph, and then the first page.

Nobody knows, from sea to shining sea, why we are having all this trouble with our republic...

Riding home from Gainesville with four people, Thomas Skelton was in a globe of his own hallucinatory despair, a little blown away it is true; but nothing quite as serious as that sense of internal collapse and loss of armature that made it increasingly difficult to so much as sit up straight.

Skelton, two men, two women, wound up in a white clapboard hotel near Homestead frequented by citrus pickers; and a long night began of streaks, halos and comas.

June 1, 2011 -- The List

Pages of Thomas McGuane's Ninety-Two in the Shade read today: 29

I am off to a pitiful start.

I expected to be deep into my summer reading project by this late hour of the first day of June, but events and various Right-wing conspiracies have colluded against me. Also, I am often drawn to shiny, plastic objects and tend to focus on them for large expanses of time.

Anyway, if things go to plan, I am going to read all the books on my list this summer and use this as a way to keep a record of my reading and errata. I have given myself all of June, July and August to finish. I have friends who have signed on to read a book here and there with me, and I will include their thoughts here too.

This list has gone through many incarnations, but I think I am finally happy with this one.

an optimist’s summer reading and re-reading list

1. The Convalescent—Jessica Anthony
2. Mr. Shivers—Robert Jackson Bennett
3. The Road to Wellville—T.C. Boyle
4. When the Killing’s Done—T.C. Boyle
5. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie—Alan Bradley
6. Spartina—John Casey
7. Fade—Robert Cormier
8. Elijah of Buxton—Christopher Paul Curtis
9. Word Freak—Stefan Fatsis
10. Eating Animals – Jonathan Safran Foer
11. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter—Tom Franklin
12. The Graveyard Book—Neil Gaiman
13. The Sandman (11 book series)—Neil Gaiman
14. Hoot—Carl Hiaasen
15. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War—Tony Horwitz
16. A Voyage Long and Strange—Tony Horwitz
17. The Eyes of the Dragon—Stephen King
18. Boy’s Life—Robert McCammon
19. Ninety-Two in the Shade—Thomas McGuane
20. A Gate at the Stairs—Lorrie Moore
21. Sabriel—Garth Nix
22. Tomcat In Love—Tom O’Brien
23. The Orchid Thief—Susan Orlean
24. The Moviegoer—Walker Percy
25. Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Novellas—Katherine Anne Porter
26. Serena—Ron Rash
27. Methland: The Death and Life of an American Town—Nick Reding
28. The Name of the Wind—Patrick Rothfuss
29. I Heard My Sister Speak My Name—Thomas Savage
30. The Invention of Hugo Cabret—Brian Selznick
31. Drood—Dan Simmons
32. A Ship Made of Paper—Scott Spencer
33. When You Reach Me—Rebecca Stead
34. Ghost Story—Peter Straub
35. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry—Mildred D. Taylor
36. The Lonely Polygamist—Brady Udall
37. Be More Chill—Ned Vizzini
38. Butcher’s Crossing—John Williams
39. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle—David Wroblewski
40. The Book Thief—Markus Zusak