I recommend anyone that is writing YA read this. It brings back the wildness of those scary, exhilarating years in neon color.
I first read Mark Doty's transcendent book, Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, when I was designing a themed college lit course I dubbed The Creative Life. Creative Life is also my theme in A to Z!
Mark Doty paints with words. He wanders into a meditation on memory, the emotionally loaded symbol, and the irony of a "still" life. A snippet of Doty's words: "We enter the cool, gray suite of rooms, a space that seems to me, in memory, hallucinatory...Beautiful chambers, skylit, room after room of these somber poems of materiality... here are Beert's resplendent living oysters, ashimmer on their silvery shells, their pewter plate... the translucent asparagus spears of Adriaen Coorte, strudy good-natured vegetables that verge on mystery."
What book leaves you breathless, or talks about much more than just the story itself?
I've never heard of CHERRY. I'll have to check it out. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteKelly, you won't be disappointed!
ReplyDeleteDoty's book sounds like a tangible treat-as if it would massage ALL the senses.
ReplyDeleteDelicious writing. I will have to read these for studying purposes.
ReplyDeleteYes, Doty takes the study of a painting into so many cosmic side alleys.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to have to check out Cherry. Great post! Good luck for the rest of the A to Z! :)
ReplyDeleteWant to check out Cherry. Sounds amazing. I've been reading a lot of blog posts lately about memoirs. I'll have to start reading some. Always been a fiction type of gal. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOne book that comes to mind as something that enriched as I read it is Francine Prose's Goldengrove. This was also a coming-of-age novel but its poetic incisive prose really fed me artistically while reading it. Also, since I am a film buff, some of the references to old movies, etc... added a resonance to the novel for me. But if you want to get lost in one summer in one 13-year-old's life and revel in rich imagery and insight, I suggest this read. It was published in 2008 and also tackles grief and beauty. That said, I love Mark Doty's work and even have written poetry on Dutch Landscape paintings--one of my poems is even about the "Asparagus" painting by Adriaen Coorte that Doty refers to in the quoted passage you posted! Uncanny coincidence! Thus, I will have to check this prose-memoir out. Thanks for the tip, Catherine!
ReplyDeleteI'm in love with those titles. I wish I could come up with something that fascinating. Of course, a fascinating book would be very nice as well. :-)
ReplyDeleteHere's to your wonderful day shopping for deck plants. It's such a nice break from leaning over a computer, isn't it?
C Lee, you aren't kidding! I need to straighten up my posture and get out in the sun! Alexandra, that is one very odd coincidence-you wrote poetry about Adriaen Coorte's asparagus painting? Really! See, this is what I so love about hopping onto all of the amazing blogs. And Lindi, Cherry reads like fiction, not even memoir.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Goldengrove sounds good too! I've heard Francine Prose read. She's pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteI've read all of Mary Karr's books and Mark Doty's Firebird. Both of them amazing writers, could not pick.
ReplyDeleteCherry is one of my favorites. Such an amazing book!
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool that so many of you have read one or the other book!
ReplyDeleteJust returning the visit from A-Z, and glad to see some recommendations for my reading pile.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed and impressed when a writer can elaborate on an apparently simple theme and keep the reader engaged. It is a true gift.
ReplyDeleteThis year I read a book called Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. It had me weeping like a baby by the end - but in a good way. Brilliant book.
ReplyDeleteMe Before You, by Jojo Moyes, I will check this out! It's always a good sign of an author can make you cry.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of both of these but not read them. Maybe this is the push I needed! Thanks Catherine. :)
ReplyDeleteThese sound like great books. Mark Doty is going to be at a poetry conference here in the Twin Cities in May.
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