"The True Secret of Writing," by Natalie Goldberg

Almost any writer, or would-be writer, of the past twenty-five years has read or at least knows of Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones.” That book is a guide for writers, but more than that, it is a guide for life. Goldberg has written many books since then; her new book, “The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life with Language” (Atria, 2013), is a kind of update of her first book. The organizing structure of her book is recounting how she runs her “True Secret of Writing” intensive workshops, which are also retreats in the tradition of Zen Buddhism as interpreted by Goldberg, a longtime Zen student who is also influenced by her Jewish heritage. These retreats are held in Taos, New Mexico, and are Goldberg’s own amalgam of meditation, walking, hiking, doing simple chores, keeping silence for big lengths of time, reading, speaking, and of course writing. Two boiled-down summaries of Goldberg’s directions are “Sit. Walk. Write” and “Shut up and write” (stop putting it off, and do it – advice that I, for one, sorely need to follow!). There are many examples of how the days go, and stories of individual attendees, some of whom have become longtime friends of Goldberg’s. Along the way we get excerpts from some of the author’s favorite books and poetry (an eclectic selection, also listed in a useful appendix), as well as from her students’ writing. Although Goldberg’s students mainly write fiction or memoir, and I mainly write academic articles and books, I found much inspiration and even useful specific suggestions in this book. But more useful than anything specific was an immersion in the life of writers, and Goldberg’s bedrock belief in the power of writing. I am not tempted to do one of her workshops or retreats (all that sitting with my legs crossed and meditating…I admire those who do it, but it is probably not for me…), but I am glad I read the book, and feel I both learned from it and was inspired and energized by it.

"Island Girls," by Nancy Thayer

It’s the summer! Time for summer reading, otherwise known as “beach reads.” By now I have a pretty good sense of how beachy I want my beach reads to be. They have to be light, undemanding, and full of stories of family, friends, leisure time, and romantic relationships. Groups gathered in summer vacation places, especially those on oceans or lakes -- in other words, literally beach reads -- are bonuses. But I want even my “summer reading” to be well written. Not necessarily "high" literature, but reasonably well written. I just read a novel that almost perfectly fulfills all these requirements. I have read several novels by Nancy Thayer over the years, ever since I read her second novel, “Three Women at the Water’s Edge,” soon after it was published in 1981. Thayer’s work is reliably enjoyable. The one I have just read is “Island Girls” (Ballantine, 2013), and it was great fun to read. A charming and successful man dies, and in his will states that his three daughters from three different marriages must live together in his Nantucket house for a whole summer before they can sell the house and share the profits. Because of various resentments about the several marriages and child custody arrangements, the sisters are not at all close, so there is some grumbling about this stipulation in the will. But they all move into the house, and gradually become closer. There is much about careers, families, and of course romances. All of this, of course, is in the beautiful, irresistible setting of Nantucket. What can I say but that the novel is great fun and very satisfying, a nearly perfect example of “summer reading” and a delicious “beach read.”

"The Tell," by Hester Kaplan

I was very taken with Hester Kaplan’s collection of short stories, “The Edge of Marriage,” which I wrote about here on 2/5/13. So I was happy to read that she had a new novel, “The Tell” (Harper Perennial, 2013). This is a rich, “thick” (to use the anthropological term) description of a marriage, a marriage that seems to be very good, but turns out to be vulnerable to danger, in this case in the form of an aging male former television star who moves in next door. Mira is an artist; Owen is a teacher. They are not terribly prosperous, but they are doing fine, living in the house she grew up in, and seem quite happy. When Wilton becomes their neighbor, he insinuates himself into their lives, although it isn’t clear what he wants beyond company, and sympathy about his estrangement from his adult daughter. Gradually he -- purposely or unconsciously -- precipitates a rift in their marriage, as Mira becomes drawn into his quest to win back the estranged daughter, and as she joins him on his frequent trips to a casino. It is unclear if there is a sexual element in Mira and Wilton’s relationship, but if there is, that is not the main issue in the rift. The main problem is the erosion of trust, the lack of honesty that enters Mira’s and Owen’s marriage. Wilton too has his demons, which he tries to address not only with gambling and with usurping Mira's time and attention, but with compulsively rewatching episodes of the old television show in which he starred; in a disturbing counterpoint, Mira too watches these episodes over and over, late at night as well. Yet Kaplan does not make Wilton a pure villain; we see his sadness and we sympathize with him too. He had his moments in the bright light of fame, and now – although financially secure – he subsists emotionally on the recognition he occasionally receives from, say, a woman in the supermarket who excitedly remembers him and his television show, and perhaps asks for his autograph. There is a sad and unsettling tension between the initial seeming normality of the three main characters, and the increasing abnormality of their behavior and the way they live and relate to each other and to the world. Kaplan shows enormous insight into the motivations of her characters, although never over-explaining. She is a wonderful writer. I found the book powerful, but (and?) I was somewhat shaken by the story, itself a proof of the effectiveness of Kaplan’s writing.

"The Practice of Deceit," by Elizabeth Benedict

“The Practice of Deceit” (Mariner, 2005), by Elizabeth Benedict, made me feel itchy. The novel definitely caught and kept my interest, but it felt slightly disturbing, slightly uncomfortable, slightly off-putting. Well, perhaps that was the point. Psychotherapist Eric, a lifelong bachelor, meets and is not very subtly seduced by lawyer Colleen Golden, who also has a cute, sweet daughter. Colleen convinces Eric that they should move to Scarsdale. Every step of the way, she is controlling him, yet he does not realize it for quite some time – too long, in my opinion. For a therapist, he seems remarkably dense about Colleen’s motivations and actions. But -- partial spoiler alert ahead -- eventually Eric is shocked to find everything falling apart, and realizes he has been had, so to speak. The main interest of the novel is finding out the details of how this happens, and hoping against hope that justice will be restored. I won’t tell you the ending, but I will say that the novel is a page turner. And it still left me feeling itchy….

"Last Friends," by Jane Gardam

I was thrilled when I saw that the third novel in Jane Gardam’s “Old Filth” trilogy had been published. The first two volumes were “Old Filth” and “The Man in the Wooden Hat,” and the new novel is “Last Friends” (Europa Editions, 2013). Together they tell the story of British characters of a particular type: expatriates in Asia, yet loyal English citizens. They are Edward Feathers, his wife Betty, and Terence Veneering, who was Feathers’ rival and Betty’s lover. Each book focuses on one of the characters, but is complete in and of itself. However, reading all three allows one to see the events and relationships from different angles. These three characters, along with their colleagues and friends, lived a colonial life in what was known then as the Far East, and then retired back to England. Their lives are tangled with each other’s, and they are part of the Old Guard of post World War II, although they seem rooted in an even earlier, more colonial time period. The first novel focused on Feathers, and the second one on Betty. This latest novel, “Last Friends,” focuses on Veneering, who has retired near where Feathers retired. The second novel revealed that long after Betty’s death, these two rivals reconciled and became friends. But then Feathers died. This third novel brings in other characters who had known each other in the East but now live near each other, or visit each other, in England, including Fiscal-Smith and Dulcie. All are now elderly, and sometimes a bit forgetful, but still remember the old days and keep their old (mixed) feelings about each other. A few new younger characters are introduced as well. But none of my description can capture the wonders of Gardam’s writing; she is quite simply a genius in the strength and depth of her writing, and in the way she captures this particular world and the nuances of the characteristics of each person, and the relationships among them. Her writing is evocative but never sentimental; it is descriptive without going overboard; she involves readers without pandering to them. For me there is a special connection because of my life as the child of missionaries in India, so there are resonances there. But this novel would appeal to anyone who admires and savors masterful writing. Kudos too to Europa for the beautifully produced paperback version, with its eye-catching cover. Highly recommended. (But consider reading the other two novels first….)

"Spiderweb," by Penelope Lively

How wise English author Penelope Lively is! And how assured her writing is! I have written here before about this wonderful author and about several of her novels. I have just re-read her novel “Spiderweb” (Harper Flamingo, 1998), which I originally read before I started this blog. It is the story of a just-retired social anthropologist, Stella Brentwood, who has for the first time bought a house in England and settled down. During her working life, she was constantly moving, doing fieldwork in various farflung locales. Her particular area of study was family and community lineages and relationships, those that form the “spiderwebs” of the title. Yet she herself, despite romances and friendships, never wanted to marry or confine herself to one place. Now, in her new cottage, she tries to observe the local people as she has observed her research subjects elsewhere over the years. She tries to get involved, and does so to an extent, but feels the ways in which English life has changed and in which community’s ties are less tight and compelling than in the past. She has both some friendly and some rather disturbing neighbors; her portrait of one family, with its abusive mother and two resentful teenaged sons, is quietly chilling. "Spiderweb" serves as a meditation on gender, love, connections, aging and the life choices we all make. Most of all, it focuses on the eternal balancing act between the life of the individual and the life of a member of a larger society; we all have both roles, and we are all constantly negotiating and readjusting those two roles. Finally, I want to say once again that Lively is one of the very best writers writing today.

"Leaving Everything Most Loved," by Jacqueline Winspear

As I have written before, all my reading life I have enjoyed mysteries, especially those of a certain kind, those that some call English cozies, although I also like those about California women detectives. Like millions of other mystery readers, I started with Agatha Christie, in my case when I found a cache of her books on a shelf under the stairs of the living room area of my boarding school dormitory in India, and continued from there. There have been periods, however, when I have been tired of mysteries and stopped reading them for several years. I have just been in one of those periods, during which I stopped reading even new novels by my favorite mystery writers. For some reason, though, I recently picked up Jacqueline Winspear’s latest Maisie Dobbs novel, after choosing not to read the last couple of books in the series. This one, “Leaving Everything Most Loved” (Harper, 2013), turned out to be quite enjoyable and satisfying, reminding me of why I have liked this series so much from its inception. The series is about Maisie Dobbs, a woman who grew up poor, but through her interest in books and learning, was helped by a rich family to become a nurse during World War I, where she saw many terrible things, and then was helped by a mentor to become a private detective who uses psychology as much as traditional detective work to solve her cases. There is an almost spiritual element to her detecting. I was particularly interested in this current novel because it features characters from India, who were a real novelty in London at the time of this novel, the 1930s. Along with the mystery – the murders of two young women – the novel explores topics of immigration and prejudice, as well as a thread throughout all the Maisie novels: the terrible after-effects of war, physical and mental, on soldiers and their families. Although these are serious topics, Winspear is able to integrate them into her stories in a way that we note and grieve them, but that does not overwhelm the main thrust of the stories: the detection that solves the mysteries of the murders. There is also the plot thread of Maisie's romance and the uncertainty of whether this strong, independent woman will choose to marry, or to postpone marriage until she has traveled the world, something she feels drawn to do. I don’t know yet whether reading this one mystery was an aberration on my part, or whether I have cycled back to wanting to read more. Maybe an Elizabeth George -- another favorite in the past -- will be next?