I was listening to this fantastic interview with Sandra Cisneros and was overjoyed to hear her talk about her short story, Eleven. I read it a long time ago and hadn’t thought about it in awhile, and yet there it was, lodged in some lit up part of my brain. Which is very metta, because the story is largely about how we are every age we’ve ever been all at once. An excerpt:
What a joyful question to ponder! Where the Red Fern grows in 6th grade, when I first cried from reading a book. The Giver in 8th grade and having my first real deep conversations about life, loss, and meaning. And Shantaram in my late 20s to highlight the different roles we play pending on where we are plus the beauty and devastation of where we are born.
It's interesting as I reflect on my "literary life as a reader" -- my 20s were so rich as I completed my BA in English and then my MA in Education. Between 20 and 30, I read Song of Solomon, Hunger of Memory, The Women's Room. More recently, 50 to 60, my focus as been so much on memoir and nonfiction -- Mary Karr's "The Liar's Club," Sherman Alexie's "You Don't Have to Say you Love Me," Nick FLynn's "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City." I'll try to narrow down my decades.
Thank you for the question: while it's difficult to choose just one book, I chose books where I've read several from the same author! Looking back on them, two were fiction; three were autobiographical; two were for kids; two were theological; four were socio-political criticism; most were about the individual acting with courage in society.
0-10: Lad: a dog, A. P. Terhune; 11-19: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, A. Solzhenitzen; 20-29: Attack upon Christendom; S.Kierkegaard; 30-39 ; 40-49: The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools, L.Cuban; 50-59:Traveling Mercies, A. Lamott; 60-69: Death of a Red Heroine, Q. Xiaolong; 70-present: Undefeated, K. Alexander
What a joyful question to ponder! Where the Red Fern grows in 6th grade, when I first cried from reading a book. The Giver in 8th grade and having my first real deep conversations about life, loss, and meaning. And Shantaram in my late 20s to highlight the different roles we play pending on where we are plus the beauty and devastation of where we are born.
It's interesting as I reflect on my "literary life as a reader" -- my 20s were so rich as I completed my BA in English and then my MA in Education. Between 20 and 30, I read Song of Solomon, Hunger of Memory, The Women's Room. More recently, 50 to 60, my focus as been so much on memoir and nonfiction -- Mary Karr's "The Liar's Club," Sherman Alexie's "You Don't Have to Say you Love Me," Nick FLynn's "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City." I'll try to narrow down my decades.
Oh, forgot 30-39: Tinker, Tailor, Spy, John LeCarre!
Thank you for the question: while it's difficult to choose just one book, I chose books where I've read several from the same author! Looking back on them, two were fiction; three were autobiographical; two were for kids; two were theological; four were socio-political criticism; most were about the individual acting with courage in society.
0-10: Lad: a dog, A. P. Terhune; 11-19: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, A. Solzhenitzen; 20-29: Attack upon Christendom; S.Kierkegaard; 30-39 ; 40-49: The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools, L.Cuban; 50-59:Traveling Mercies, A. Lamott; 60-69: Death of a Red Heroine, Q. Xiaolong; 70-present: Undefeated, K. Alexander