In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks us to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”
Aloft in coach, Caperton found himself squeezed up against the trunk of a human sequoia.
Source: Sam Lipsyte’s “The Naturals,” in The New Yorker
In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks us to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”
Her husband was going on about family and tests and prevention and the passing of time, life’s great eraser, to make way for a future that included healthy children, unafflicted children, a future that would render Jack an unfortunate memory in an otherwise perfectly wonderful life, one worth envying, I assure you.
Source: “Jew,” a story in Sara Lippmann’s forthcoming collection Doll Palace (Dock Street Press)
Okay, so here again I have to break the “rules” and comment. I haven’t made a whole lot of new “writer friends” here in New York since my move from Massachusetts seven years ago, but Sara Lippmann is one, and she’s a treasure. Not only is Sara an incredibly talented writer, but she is also an incredibly generous and gracious person. I’m so lucky to have friends like Sara in my life.
And we are all lucky that this collection is coming in a few months. I’ve pre-ordered a copy (you can, too!), but I’m also reading a digital galley to prepare for a Q&A with Sara. I am only halfway through the collection, and let me tell you, it was not easy to pick just one “best” sentence to share. I’ve read several of Sara’s stories as they’ve appeared individually, but this one I’d missed. It was published originally in Slice (as “The Stranger”) and republished in The Raleigh Quarterly (as “Jew”).
Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.
In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks us to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”
“My parents fought so much that the walls vibrated with rage.”
Source: Akhil Sharma, Family Life, p. 146
This past week I had the privilege of reading Elizabeth Nunez’s latest book, a memoir titled Not for Everyday Use (Akashic Books). I obtained a digital galley with the intention of asking Elizabeth–whom I’ve been lucky to get to know through my “day job” at The City University of New York–if she’d be willing to answer a few questions for The Practicing Writer.
I finished this excellent book quickly, and the ever-gracious Elizabeth agreed to answer my questions (in fact, she has already returned her responses!). I had to tell her, though, that the newsletter interviewees are booked (so to speak), for the next several months. This interview won’t appear until the August issue, which will go out to readers at the very end of July. (In the interest of keeping things somewhat suspenseful, I won’t reveal the identities of every interviewee between now and then, but I’ll tell you that our very next issue will feature Roxane Gay, who will tell us about her soon-to-be-published novel An Untamed State.)
Meantime, I encourage you to watch this video of Elizabeth’s recent appearance at the Center for Fiction (although this latest book is nonfiction, Elizabeth is an acclaimed novelist). You’ll get to hear her read from the memoir, and listen to her conversation with Louise DeSalvo (who offers terrific questions and comments in a discussion that encompasses race, religion, writing and more). An hour well spent.