books 2013: May We Be Forgiven, by A.M. Homes

I spent most of the first two-thirds of this book trying to decide if I wanted to stop reading it. The beginning is really violent and upsetting, and once the dust settles, a further series of crappy things happens to the protagonist, who responds by making incredibly poor decisions. And we all make mistakes sometimes, but a guy who so cluelessly staggers through life? I didn't want to read about him. And the Nixon digressions were boring to me. But I'd already invested some significant time in the book (the writing is spot-on and excellent, but the prose is detailed and dense, not a quick read, and the book is thick), and I felt like I should get something for my trouble. And I did. Eventually things start to change for Harry; he begins to love his niece and nephew, which inspires him to get his act together. The ending was really nice (although I don't think it needed the last few lines, so I'm just going to set that aside). It almost felt like two different books. Overall, I'm glad I decided to keep reading, so three stars.

journals: Cave Wall (Spring 2013, No. 11), and Poets & Writers (Jan/Feb 2013)

I have to say, Rhett hit it out of the ballpark with this issue of Cave Wall. Almost every poem was fantastic. Really really good.

This issue of P&W was meh for me. On one hand, I found out about Cozy Classics, which are obviously books my daughter needs immediately. On the other hand, the articles didn't all grab me, and none of the contests jumped out as things that would be appropriate for me to throw in for. I'm also interested in applying for a workshop or conference (maybe next summer, for a long weekend - Fritz has gotten to do a couple of cool writing conferences without me, and it's totally my turn) but I didn't see anything good or appropriate in here (since I obviously can't do a six-week residency, etc). So, meh.