Some Annotated Reading August 22

 Books

I read Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927, because I'm going to be visiting his home this fall. I have many thoughts about this book, which I may put into an essay. I will say that this thing leans heavily into telling instead of showing. Very, very heavily.

Short Stories

Chablis by Donald Barthelme in The New Yorker. I think this is the first thing by Donald Barthelme that I've read. I found it enjoyable, but I can't say I got it. I'm reading a book about art history, and I'm wondering now how necessary it is to get things.

My Poet Laureate Project

I keep forgetting that I'm reading poetry by all the poet laureates. Or, as they were called in the early days, consultants in poetry. I tried reading a few things by Robert Lowell, Consultant in Poetry in 1947 to 1948. I know he's a big-name writer. I didn't have a lot of time this past week, and his poems I sampled did not quickly grab me. I do admire Skunk Hour a bit, because it includes the name "L.L. Bean." 

Short Form Reading

The Radical Woman Behind Good-night Moon by  Anna Holmes in The New Yorker. I love reading about Margaret Wise Brown. Love it. So much great stuff in this article, which you won't be able to read, because it requires a subscription. Like the short story above

Nor will you be able to read Wendy Wasserstein's The Baby Who Arrived Too Soon, because it's also in The New Yorker. Published in 2000. Now, of course I know Wendy Wasserstein's name, because I don't live in a cave. But I've never seen any of her plays or, I believe, read anything she wrote. I don't love reading preemie stories, the way I love reading Margaret Wise Brown stories, but it's difficult for me to pass by one, especially if it appears to have a happy ending, which Wendy's does. I call her Wendy, because I, too, am a preemie mom. We sort of have a club. So I read Wendy's wonderful story, then I headed out to Google to see how things are going with her and Lucy. And I found that Wendy died in 2006. And you know what? I knew that. I read about it when it happened, because I don't live in a cave. But I didn't know we were both preemie moms then. Now I do.

Here's something you should be able to read: Helga Estby's Long, Long Walk Was Almost Lost to History by Shawn Vestal in The Spokesman Review. I stumbled upon Helga Estby's name, because I'm into the nineteenth century, particularly the 1890s. Also women.

I've heard of flaneurs before, but they came up again in that art history book I mentioned earlier. That led me to reading A Flaneur's Guide to Walking with Intention by Caleigh Alleyne in EnRoute. It's an interview with Erika Wilson who wrote a book about walking in the flaneurish way. I walk. I expect to be walking an extra amount next month. 

The Trad Wife Is a Myth--Historically, She Never Existed by Maria Cassano at The Virago. This confirms everything I think about this subject.