Sunday Sentence

Another Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

In addition to Reb Shimon’s Society for Morality in the Young, that town of three thousand Hebrew souls had a Society for the Dissemination of Russian Culture, a Society for the Dissemination of German Science, a Resettlement in the Holy Land Society, a Resettlement (Anywhere) Society, a Society for Talmud Study, a Society for Torah Study, a Society for the Study of the Prophets, a Sickbed Society, a Burial Society, an Interest-Free Loan Society, and a Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge Among the Jews.

Source: “Fire Year,” in Jason K. Friedman’s story collection of the same title.

Friday Finds for Writers

Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • Lots of good news from the (U.S.) National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) this week, especially for the recipients of the Creative Writing Fellowships. But even more of us are likely to benefit from the “Art Works” grants to presses and journals, whether simply by encountering writing that those grants will support or, in some cases, benefiting from the increased author/contributor payments promised by such publications as American Poetry Review, AGNI, and n+1.
  • Interesting issues raised in David Duhr’s “Hi! I Reviewed Your Book! A Twitter Guide.”
  • Great piece by Michelle Nijhuis for the NYT “Draft” column, on “The Science and Art of Science Writing.”
  • “Last October, after [Kaylie] Jones woke up one morning feeling particularly frustrated by the plight of many of her students and colleagues, who typically write artistic, literary novels not deemed commercially viable, she called one of her MFA students and her bosses, asking if they’d help her if she started an imprint. The answers were emphatic yeses.” Read more about Kaylie Jones Books.
  • “The 2013 Nobel Lecture in Literature was replaced by a pre-recorded video conversation with the Laureate: ‘Alice Munro: In her Own Words’, shown at the Swedish Academy on 7 December 2013.” I plan to watch the video this weekend; if you haven’t yet, you might want to do the same.
  • Have a great weekend, everyone.

    Wednesday WIP: Success in Holiday Gift Books for Kids

    Auntie Erika can always be counted on to bestow books as gifts when it’s holiday time. This year’s family Hanukkah party–held slightly belatedly this past weekend, proved no exception.

    What was really wonderful, though, was the overall success of my book choices. Some years, it seems that my selections are more miss than hit. This year, however, I’d say most of the choices were exceptionally well received.

    Case in point: The Top 10 Everything in Sports, published by Sports Illustrated for Kids. Copies went to the 9-year-old and the 8-year-old in our group (but as you can see below, the 12-year-old was equally intrigued).

    Hanukkah2013

    Also popular picks this year: Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Wait Till Next Year (for the aforementioned 12-year-old) and 100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet, by Anna Claybourne, for the seven-year-old and the six-year-old (thanks to my sister for the recommendation of this one).

    Which books are you gifting to the young people in your life this year?

    Sunday Sentence

    LunchTicket
    Another Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

    “She likes to speak with patients in person,” the nurse repeats, as if I’m slow as well as infertile.

    Source, “End of the Line,” an essay by Rachel Hall, in the latest issue of Lunch Ticket.