Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

Three years ago I flipped on Book TV and was introduced to Sam Harris. I hadn’t before and haven’t since heard an author present his material in a more compelling way. So I bought a copy of his first book and after that bowled me over I’ve pretty much read everything he’s written since.
Of late [...]

The unfortunate passing of Gregory Mcdonald reminds me that he wrote the only mystery I’ve read — and I’ve read it more than once — since I left the Hardy Boys behind: Fletch is the smart-ass I wish I could be.

I read this poem a couple of weeks ago and it’s still in my head. What lingers is the vivid truth the poet tells. Every day people live through situations like this one. If you don’t have a good job (or any job), life can be so hard. Yet even though fewer and fewer people [...]

One of my former teachers recently recalled a writerly remark she heard from a colleague: If you take three days off, you have to start over again. That’s about right. Flow is lost. Feels like you’re writing up hill. After a month of life transition, I am starting to roll the boulder again. A good [...]

Seventy years after The Long Valley was published I picked up a reprint from a place that won’t soon be confused with Salinas for what couldn’t have been much more than the price readers paid in 1938. When I read stories, I mark the ones that give the most pleasure. After I finished this collection [...]

It’s not the plot. Set in the days, months and years following 9/11, Netherland is the story of a man whose wife leaves him (eventually they reconcile for reasons that do not inspire) and whose friend is murdered. There’s also a lot of cricket.
It’s not the characters. Hans, the narrator, is from Holland by way [...]

I hadn’t read a word of Tobias Wolff. And I don’t usually enjoy read-alouds. But the twain met, twice, in recent weeks as Wolff read stories on bookish shows I happened to catch. It was his voice — the way his speaking carried his written — that aroused my interest. So I added him to [...]

They can tell me plastic is better than paper. But that doesn’t mean I must believe them. Next they’ll say that other noteworthy efforts to save the planet are in fact accelerating its demise. That sunscreen, not the sun, causes skin cancer. That People stimulates the noggin as much as A People’s History. Or that [...]

I have read this poem several times and each time I do my reaction is no less acute. After this morning’s rereading I tried to figure out why. An obvious explanation — the father-son relationship — is not right, as mine is not this one. Merwin’s ability, as brilliant as is his ability, to make [...]

I recently finished The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, a national bestseller and a book that landed on a number of respected short lists — including the New York Times and the Washington Post Book World — for best book of the year (it was published in 2005). So author Candice Millard scarcely [...]

As newspapers sink, usually books coverage is the first chair off the deck. So this is hardly shocking news even if it’s still discouraging news. I wonder how long it will be before daily books news will be found one day a week in the New York Times and elsewhere only when the eighth Harry [...]

I was whining about newspapers the other day and, obviously, I’m not the only one. For a long time I have been of the mind that at some point the people who run newspapers would realize that even in an ever-increasingly online world they still offer a unique and necessary product — a depth of [...]

Last night I read a terrific analysis of a fine writer’s work. One especially well articulated point: “Too often, style is dismissed as merely a sauce on the nutritious bread of substance, when in fact it’s inevitably a form of substance itself. This goes double for the presidency, where brilliant policy requires brilliant public discourse.”

Bookish notes from a couple of days in New Orleans …

We were in town for all of an hour when we crossed paths with the release of Jackie Collins’ latest bundle of paper gold. In fact, the Savage Beast crashed the party. I would say more but I’m afraid that would leave too much of [...]

Somehow I understated the matter. Apparently, those of us with two legs aren’t the only ones on drugs. Though it isn’t the most artfully crafted article I’ve read, the piece provides useful observations about animal behavior that explain a few things about the Beast.

An entirely random book recommendation: If you enjoy cultural criticism, consider taking American Studies. I found a copy without knowing what I was looking for while nosing around at my favorite pre-owned bookstore last week. The collection is five years old and the essays are older than that. I didn’t dig — or follow — [...]

I took five flights — was supposed to be six, but one was cancelled — in the eight days leading to the holiday weekend and somewhere in one of a handful of cities I picked up an ornery bug. During the second-to-last flight’s descent my sinuses felt as though they were being squeezed with a [...]

When I was introduced to Harriet Tubman in grade school the Underground Railroad almost sounded like a good time. All that sneaking around and hush-hush meetings with “friends” in the middle of night seemed akin to an adult version of kick-the-can — at least to my woefully insensitive ears. That reference point stuck in part [...]

… human suffering, the next day I picked up James Wood’s piece. He weaves a mélange of thoughts from books and essays, philosophy and the Bible, into a mind-expanding meditation on the topic. Wow.

Sometimes a single statistic reveals more about human values than a thousand comment-laden blogs. I scribbled down one such jarring fact while reading Jonathan Alter’s often-insightful column: We essentially spend more money every six months in Iraq than we’ve spent in the past 30 years on cancer research.

Last month I pushed 30 percent off signed copies. Here’s a slightly different approach to book promotion.

I was talking to a high school class last week and a student asked why Charles Bender was such a fascinating subject. There are many reasons. One that came immediately to mind: He was such an interesting human being. Bender had a rare ability to throw a ball. His story was and remains an inspiration. [...]

You mean all I needed to do hit No. 1 at Amazon was insert some lies told by George W. Bush?
Actually, that would have been even easier than you might think. Bush has given more than one Iraq speech at the Army War College. What was the Army War College before it was the Army [...]

Good to see Charles Bender included in a PiPress piece about 150 years of moments that defined Minnesota.

Charles Bender was a pitcher’s pitcher. Though he could throw hard, he wasn’t one of those guys who relied on the strength of his arm. He used a variety of deliveries — often flicking his leg high; he was one of the first pitchers known for a big kick — and threw an assortment of [...]

I had jotted some notes for a riff about the E-word that went stale before I could assemble anything coherent. Stanley Crouch does it better anyway.

Charles Bender and his wife, Marie, did not have children. So there are no direct descendents. Bender did, however, have ten brothers and sisters who lived past infancy and during the research process I contacted as many sibling descendents as I could find. Funny, but since the book was published they have — I am [...]

Writing Charles Bender’s story forced me to learn — with a level of understanding I did not acquire as a student; probably my fault more than my teachers’ — how important it is to recognize the cruel manner in which native peoples were treated over a period of time longer than this country has been [...]

I want more Jeremiah Wright like I want hair in my coleslaw. But Bill Moyers raises an important question: Why has the reaction to Wright’s remarks been so much more intense than the reaction to equally preposterous and offensive statements made by prominent white pastors?
Post script: While catching up on some reading, I noticed that [...]

I addition to bookish podcasts, I appreciate finding those that serve useful information in bite-sized portions. For one thing, the radio in the old Corolla barely functions — and that’s when the sky is clear. More important, I need options while at the gym, as I bench my 125 pounds and simultaneously try to avoid [...]