Tayari's Blog: All This Love... What to Do With It?
Posted by TayariJones on February 28, 2006 07:43 AM
Filed under
The Writing Life
So, to practise what I preach, I am trying to figure out which author I will show some love today. Of course, I could just blog about someone, but I want to do something a little more grand, a little more in keeping with the spirit if the idea.
I am not sure who to target. In my late teens, I would write love letters to Alice Walker. I scored her home address in San Francisco through some shady characters and I would write her these letters about once every two months or so. Dear Ms. Walker, I love your work... You get the idea. She never wrote back. (When I was a kid, I wrote to Judy Blume and got a very nice auto-penned response!)
Part of the problem here is that I am already pretty effusive with my literary affection. I can't send a Valentine to Pearl Cleage because she (and all of YOU) know exactly how I feel! I once sat across a breakfast table from Toni Morrison and fixed her in an adoring gaze (which she did her best to ignore. I think my fluttering eyelashes made her uncomfortable.) I really really heart Richard Powers, but he suspects this. I sang Marti Leimbach's praises so far and wide that she finally emailed me from Europe and introduced herself. (Her new book is out in a few months, Daniel Isn't Talking.) So what writer is out there in need of my seize-the-day love?
Here's one opportunity I missed that I regret. I always wanted to tell Gwendolyn Brooks how much her novel, Maude Martha, meant to me. No one talks much about that slim, even, gorgeous book. I don't know why I held back. I think I was waiting until I had some really "proof" that I really was a writer. Then, she died and I never got to tell her.
Okay, I'm trying to think of someone.. Okay, I am going to get in touch with Gregory Orr. He's a poet and the author of THE BLESSING. It's a gorgeous memoir about his journey to repair his soul after accidentally killing his little brother in a hunting accident. It was so brave and so full of love. Today, I am going to email and tell him so. If he writes back, I'll post it!
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There are 5 comments on "All This Love... What to Do With It?". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Michael Fischer ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
Cool topic. Wouldn’t this make a good book, too? A collection of literary “love” letters from writers of all ages, experience, and stages. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has embarrassed himself by gushing over authors in liteary "love" letters or notes! I just can't contain myself sometimes.
Here's something related that I ran across. It's a blogger expressing her love for Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead." In the comments section, you can see where she says that she plans to send her entry—which is quite beautiful, to say the least—to Robinson.
http://readingwritingliving.blogspot.com/2006/02/book-to-cry-over_09.html
BTW, I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't read Butler before, but after reading your entries the last few days—and the comments by others—I plan to check her some of her work out this summer.
February 28, 2006 08:49 AM
Comment #2, by Susan Ito
Michael Fischer, thanks for the mention! I actually did send my blog post to Marilynne Robinson, and shock of shocks, she responded!
http://readingwritingliving.blogspot.com/2006/02/catch-me-before-i-fall-down-and-faint.html
February 28, 2006 10:05 AM
Comment #3, by Jenny Davidson
Well, I will take this opportunity to say how very much I enjoyed your novels, Tayari! They are both striking & beautifully written & I have recommended them to any number of people--can't wait for the next one.
I am still really sad about Octavia Butler; I haven't read all her novels, but three or four of them are really important to me (especially Parable of the Sower & Talents), and I'm going to go and get all the others soon and read them and think about her. I am also annoyed--outraged--that the NYT has not had a proper obituary yet. There was an AP one searchable on the website, but this should have been front-page (at least on-line front-page, no? Why was it not a headline in the books section) coverage.
February 28, 2006 10:19 AM
Comment #4, by beenethereonce
OH MY GOD!!! I just heard the news THIS MORNING that Ms. Butler died this past Monday. Granted I had not been watching or reading the news lately but GOOD GOD, I'm thankful that you at least Tayari had the decency to report it to the literary world immediately. Oh, how I was so looking forward to a sequel to her latest book, "Fledging". This great woman made her transition at the top of her game!!! Over the years, I've grown accustomed to not reading nar' one review or even the inner book jacket/sleeve before reading because I already know that Ms. Butler's novel will be WONDERFUL. Thank goodness that I had the opportunity to have met her once during Atlanta's then biennial Black Arts Festival. Her voice was like a djembe drum--when she spoke you listened and followed every word.
So with all that said, I will have to reach out to my favorite authors today who I have not met--but hope too--and send them a note of thanks for being such wonderful griots. The few that I have time for this evening include David Anthony Durham (A Walk Through Darkness), Bernice McFadden(Sugar), Ben Okri(Famished Road), Fred D'Aguiar(Feeding the Ghosts), Tannarive Due(My Soul to Keep), Ernest J. Gaines(Gathering of Old Men), Delores Phillips (Darkest Child), Gabrielle Zevin(Elsewhere)and Julia Alvarez(In the Time of the Butterflies.
Thanks Tayari for coming up with this idea. It's just another thing to add on my "to-do" list before I go "elsewhere".
March 1, 2006 11:17 AM
Comment #5, by Tayari Jones
Tannarive Due, has written a lovely remembrace for Octavia Butler.
March 1, 2006 03:29 PM