Comments on: ann patchett at the cathedral

By: tribalchurch

tribalchurch — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:30:51 +0000

“These women are obviously in a totally different league than I am as a writer.”

I respectfully disagree. You’re an amazing writer.

By: anne

anne — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:20:46 +0000

some books are for reading, others are for listening to while pulling weeds out of the begonia patch. that’s what i did w/ eat, pray, love and i totally enjoyed it in that way. didn’t have to get all balled up about what i couldn’t mark in the margin to go back and ponder later.

did bel canto in a book group several years ago and enjoyed it (especially after my opera-loving buddies expounded on it in the group).

we’ve just organized a 9 person book/video (etc) co-ed (couples and single) group in our neighborhood. we’ll alternate between books and other formats (plays, lectures, videos, etc). and choosing an odd # was important to us so we’d have at least one single person in the group.

we did this several years ago in an old neighborhood and had lots of fun w/ it. so we resurrected the idea in our new digs.

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 04:14:10 +0000

I’m the only one I ever care about when I write a book, but I’m not sure it’s wonderful.

And it’s also overstatement–or at least a statement of philosophy that doesn’t remember to look where it’s walking. Unless she lives on a mountaintop by herself with a direct-brain link to a printing press, she’s got readers, and she cares what they say. They might be friends, or loved ones, or her agent, or her editor, or who knows, but nobody gets from manuscript to published novel without hearing some opinions and thinking about them–and almost nobody even finishes the manuscript without some sort of input.

I’m the only one I need to please when I write, but that doesn’t preclude seeing the work from other vantage points, in order that I can be pleased without being blind. And I’d put money on that being what she meant.

As for reading Henry James for eight hours, big deal. Anyone at gunpoint can do that.

By: Kelley

Kelley — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 03:01:19 +0000

“But still, I will find myself sometimes in the midst of an intense experience,
thinking about how I would (or will) write about it. Taking notice of details,
noticing what I am feeling and thinking. Making mental note of it…”

I think this is amazing. Honestly. This is part of what defines you, makes you, a writer.

Glad you could enjoy the Ann Patchett lecture.

By: Chaplainmom

Chaplainmom — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:45:34 +0000

Ok, so I admit somehwhat publicly that I liked “Eat, Pray, Love” - not really for the writing as the way she put certain things that I think are helpful for college students. Gilbert, I think, learned some lessons much later than even I did in my journey to adulthood, but for working with those making that journey now at 18-22, her conversations about the spiritual journey have been surprisingly helpful.

Bel Canto, and others by Patchett, are definately in a different league…

By: ppb

ppb — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:41:57 +0000

And RM, I wanted to say that I really love the way you weave together so many things, and they’re all smart things. Well, thanks for doing that. I don’t have to read New Yorker—I get all my cultural stuff, here! (I really mean that, I realize it might sound snarky or dumb.)

By: More Cows Than People

More Cows Than People — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:32:46 +0000

thank you for sharing this. i appreciated “bel canto” and “truth and beauty” and would love to hear her speak. you offer a great window into her lecture.

gilbert’s book is on my favorites list because it was the perfect book to listen to while traveling in europe, taking a language course, befriending Brazilians last summer. timing can be everything when “reading” a book, i think. i wonder if i’d appreciate it as much now. i really did love it though. maybe it’s also a better listen than read- some books are.

i read “bel canto” and listened to “truth and beauty”. it always feels like a gift to a hear a book in the author’s own voice.

thank you again.

By: reverendmother

reverendmother — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:51:32 +0000

She said she learned the hard way that you should write books about things you’re interested in. The gender dynamics drove the decision to write about magic in The Magician’s Assistant, but she realized that she had not the least bit of interest in magic. Not so opera. She knew nothing about it but really wanted to learn. So the research was a joy.

I forgot another tidbit that I liked. People asked her whether she felt pressure to match Bel Canto with her subsequent books. She said no, because “I’m the only one there.” She writes for herself the book that she would be interested in reading.

If that’s true, that’s a wonderful way to be.

By: Pink Shoes

Pink Shoes — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:45:16 +0000

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the talk — I read Bel Canto in seminary and really enjoyed it. Interesting that she didn’t know a thing about opera….

By: Ruth

Ruth — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:12:55 +0000

Thanks for writing this up, since I missed the lecture (it was my husband’s birthday, and that trumps almost anything). I haven’t read any Patchett, will put it on the list. I agree that Eat Pray Love was “thin” that’s a great description. Brilliant in its marketing, absolutely. But RM, I wanted to comment about your “detachment” and your noting of details. IMHO, this is EVERYTHING and is the mind of a writer. Once you have this, you ARE a writer, even if for the moment you don’t write much because you have all these wee ones (and Quotidian Grace is right, later on you invent other distractions, amen) but still you are noticing, cataloguing, writing in your head, and I do believe this is a perspective, something you can’t get out of. Maybe it is even a GIFT! Hmmm. Of course it is. Praise God.