Looking aback over the past couple of years of writing in this
journal I see that I have fallen away from what was a standard practice before I
set out to do any writing on a “just read” story.
I would usually pull up a bio of the author and read a bit
about him/her because, honestly, I had never heard of them (yes…this was true
of both Raymond Carver and John Gardner – my favorites – see what good it did
me!) and with that new knowledge, I would toss in a little sentence that would
round out my thoughts of the story.
I found that if I really enjoyed a particular story that I
would delve deeper into the life of that author and attempt to discover what
drove them. I really enjoyed this
exercise and what it added to this whole BASS project.
As lives change, my reading has severely dropped off and I am
in a different place in my life now and I devote less time than I would like to
my reading and writing. Perhaps it was my lack of reading and writing and
feeling the need to post something that forced me into shortcuts and not fully
devoting myself to a story or author.
My position in life now also affords me a different perspective
on what I read – much different than 3 years ago.
I wonder then if this particular story (which I thoroughly
enjoyed) would strike me differently if I had read it 3 years ago. I suspect it would. But, here we are. I am reading it in April of 2013.
Yes, I enjoyed this story – but for the life of me I can’t
lay down exactly why. I am fine with
that.
What I enjoyed even more was discovering a little more about
the story’s author – Blanche Boyd.
Google her – check out a few interviews with her – you won’t
be disappointed.
And it looks like she is still teaching and writing. This is good.
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