On Writing -6-

“The planet has survived everything, in its time. It will certainly survive us.” 
― Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park

I finished Jurassic Park—loved it, 8/10—and in particular there's a long quote I'll paraphrase uttered by Ian Malcolm to John Hammond about the environment.  The above it a good reference to it, but in context, Hammond is talking about how humans are destroying the earth, while Malcolm essentially tells him to stop being so egotistical.  Humans are destroying the earth but it doesn't matter, because the earth will bounce back, will take over, will create a new environment, even if that environment is unsuitable for life as we have come to know it.

This is interesting to me because of the nature of my second manuscript, which does explore some of those concepts.  In general I do a cheapish thing and play to the pathos of our world, and the adventure it holds, but there're bits in there that focus on what it means to have a relationship with our earth as our civilizations change.  I try to walk the fine line between two separate spheres, but Malcolm's quote is something that I actually do believe, and have explored in a few drafts, and will explore in upcoming ones.

If you've read The World Without Us (which I'm re-reading, currently) or watched those fun Discovery Channel programs like The Future is Wild (probably crediting the wrong broadcasting network), future exploration and prediction is fun but wildly speculative.  Thing is, though, Malcolm, and by extension Crichton, is very correct when he says that the earth will certainly survive us.  It's popular to talk about how our resources won't be able to sustain a population that consumes it as we have been doing without any change, and that much is true, and so some imaginations run wild and we talk about building colonies underwater or on the moon.  But I wonder how many people think about the earth reshaping its atmosphere, or its landscapes, or its seas and lakes, to the point where we realize what once WAS hospitable is no longer?  That's a thought.

Magazines

I go through phases with magazines--there are times when I devour them and times when I think they take up too much space for too little impact.  But lately I've been yearning for them to return, and so yesterday I finalized a list of things I'll be subscribing to.  Again, interests be priority in this tough, tough economy.  But I've narrowed it down to the following:

1. SCUBA Magazine (renewed)
2. National Geographic + iPad Content
3. National Geographic Traveler
4. Cooks Illustrated

I'm wavering back and forth between subscribing to The Economist (I really took my university library's free issues for granted!) for a cool $127 a year, which is about equal to $2.50 a magazine and about $10 a month, but the total figure for that, even if it is a weekly affair, is kind of hard to swallow.  I'm also contemplating subscribing to the NYT online, and the special editions of TIME Magazine (which I usually gobble up at the grocery store despite their $12.99 price tag).

Fortunately my mother's subscriptions to her fitness journals seem never-ending, even if I have to find them between issues of Us and People. :)

Booklist II - 2012/2013

Time for the next one!  How exciting.  Some titles have returned that were removed from Booklist I, but let's be real--this list changes as my interests do, so I'm sure we'll see a few updates throughout the year.  But hey, some good titles made the first cut.  Off we go!

1. On Writing - Stephen King
2. The World Without Us (reread) (owned) - Alan Weisman
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (reread) (owned) - Erich Maria Remarque
4. Dog Sense - John Bradshaw
5. Atlas Shrugged - (owned) Ayn Rand 
6. Shogun - (owned) John Clavell
7. Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind - Hazuo Miyazaki
8. State of Wonder - Ann Patchett
9. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
10. Lie Down with Lions - (owned) Ken Follet
11. Jurassic Park - (owned) Michael Crichton
12. A Clockwork Orange - (owned) Anthony Burgess
13. Scorecasting - Moskowitz and Wertheim 
14. Peter Pan - (owned) James M. Barrie
15. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - (owned) Arthur Conan Doyle
16. Valley of Horses - (owned) Jean M. Auel
17. The Physician- Noah Gordon
18. The Visible World - Mark Slouka
19. Shadow of Night - (owned) Deborah Harkness
20. While We're Far Apart - Lynn Austin
21. Wanderlust: Real-Life Tales of Adventure and Romance - Don George
22. Dream of Ding Village - Yan Lianke
23. Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence - Dale Peterson
24. The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara - Terry Brooks
25. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
26. White Russian - (owned) Tom Bradby 
27. The Jungle - (owned) Upton Sinclair
28. Tales of the Jazz Age - (owned) F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. The True Story of Hansel and Gretel - Louise Murphy
30. Don't Know Much about Geography - (owned) Kenneth C. Davis

There isn't anything too out of the ordinary above.  Most of my usual interests are represented here: historical fiction (a lot of WW2 literature here), adventure nonfiction, and anthropological/geographical science narrative.  There's more classic author/literature here, mainly because I can download that for free on my iPad, and of course, a new slew of already-owned books.  There's apparently a good used bookstore near my office, but I do miss my Eagle Eye bookshop in Atlanta.

I think this week will be a good time to start a new one, and while I'm bummed to be missing a fun Labor Day holiday this year, I'll enjoy some good reading and relaxing time.    

Booklist Update - Almost Done!

1. The Story of English by Robert McCrum
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett 
3. A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Ian Bickerton and Carla Klausner 
4. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

5. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

6. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

7. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin 

8. A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin 

9. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (when is "Downton Abbey" returning?!)

10. Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
11. Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman 
12. The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell 
13. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
14. Mapping Human History by Steven Olson
15. Fall of Giants by Ken Follet 
16. Dune by Frank Herbert
17. Panic in Level 4 by Richard Preston
18. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
19. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
20. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon 
21. Watership Down by Richard Adams 
22. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
23. The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley
24. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
25. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
26. Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof
27. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

28. Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

29. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (The Avengers did wonders for my imagination's happiness)

30. East of Eden by John Steinbeck 

Most of these were finished up at the beach and on my traveling journey to Israel.  What to say about some things? The Maze Runner was a giant, unrecommendable (not a word, yes I know) disappointment; Fall of Giants was great, great, great, if at times slightly implausible; Mapping Human History was a wonderful read, though I understand the criticism it has received (after all, it's such a new science!); Watership Down a classic of due praise; Panic in Level 4 an up-and-down thriller depending on your interests; The Arab-Israeli Conflict recommended to me, and I understand why; and The Help was much, much better than I expected! 

But nothing, nothing struck me, stayed with me as much as Antoine de Saint-Exupery's memoir.  Oh, my God.  It's been so long since I was moved by writing in a spiritual way.  Stories and characters have long inspired me and engaged me, but something about Saint-Exupery's prose--his ability to convey so little and so much at the same time--was just beautiful.  I want to be him.  He is an inspiration.  He puts into words what I have felt, without even my being a pilot.  He is the real-life incarnation of so many elements I have tried to portray in my newest manuscript, without my evening realizing it.  I wish, I wish I could have met him, that I could meet him.  His memoir is a 10/10.