Recently Read/Written

Fiction:

Until I Find You, by John Irving
Took me two months to complete. Retitled in my head as "Until I Finish You." It was worth the time. I can't imagine how long it took him to craft this. Beautiful, lush sentences.

Every story in the recent issue of Quick Fiction.

Currently reading in fiction: Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn
I thought it was going to be about computer geeks. I was wrong. YAY!

Plays:

Fat Pig, by Neil LaBute
Great dialogue. One of three plays by the playwright all on the theme of body image.

Reasons to Be Pretty, by Neil LaBute
Not as good as Fat Pig.

Kimberly Akimbo, by David Lindsay-Abaire
I loved "Fuddy Meers" which a friend gave to me. This one is just as brilliant. I really like the absurb/real in his writing.

The Faculty Room, by Bridget Carpenter
Hilarious description of setting, funny characters, heavy ending. A little expected, actually. I enjoyed the characters a lot though.

Crave, by Sarah Kane
Like reading poems that are all cut up and thrown up into the air. Wherever the lines land, that's the dialogue. Disconnect, but also some places where there was narrative going on - an intention. I have a collection of her plays to finish now.

The Mistakes Madeline Made, by Elizabeth Meriwether.
I read this over and over. Memorized lines. Played a part in a production of it this summer, which was just what I needed. It's a play that is wildly open to directorial interpretation and I'm glad our direction had good vision.

Currently reading in plays:
The Shape of Things, by Neil LaBute

Poetry:

Sleeping on the Wing, an Anthology of Modern Poetry edited by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell

Almost Grown, by Jack DeWitt

circumnavigation, by Tara Shoemaker Holdren

Currently reading in poetry:
Nothing.
And it's kind of relaxing, actually, because I'm currently fed up with the poetry world. Not poetry. Poets. I'll come back. Just a little snit, if you will. A tiff. Not the first one I've had and it won't be the last.

Writing and/or Recently Written:

Inner Critic, a series of short plays.
Futzed around with Final Draft, the new software I got for my birthday. Edited some of the scene transitions. Just gave them all to a friend to read. Ack!

Some poems.
Thanks to my friend H., who recommended Sleeping on the Wing. It's the text that she was going to use in the class I was taking from her this summer, but the class was canceled. I've been working on my own. A few I like, a few I don't, all need revision.

Fiction.
A project that's been in the works for two years. The character just lived in my head for awhile, poking his cane at my dendrites. Now there are words.

Dreams.
I have a lot of them, they are weird, and I write them all down.

Letters.
Not enough of these. I need to get back to it.