Let's talk about books, baby.
Many of you may already know that in addition to my day job here at My St. Johns Sun, I'm a book reviewer and books reporter for the Sunday Times-Union. I'm also a novelist. My first book, Transit Gloria, is making the rounds of literary agents in New York, and I'm working on a book I've tentatively titled The Embed, about a reporter who volunteers to go to Iraq and finds himself in over his head. Both are high-tension character-driven stories and if you're a fan of Pat Conroy's or Anne Rivers Siddons', I think you'll like my books. I want to use my blog here to talk about books. Reading them, writing them, understanding them. I'm reading Khaled Hosseini's latest novel. Anyone who participated in the St. Johns County Library's St. Johns Reads program last year will be familiar with Hosseini's amazing first novel, The Kite Runner. The new book is titled A Thousand Splendid Suns. Like The Kite Runner, it is set in Hosseini's homeland of Afghanistan. I'll be interviewing Hosseini on June 15, and he'll be in Jacksonville the following week. I'll let you know when my review will be running on the book page. A couple of weeks ago a great Florida writer - and former newspaperman - named Tim Dorsey visited the Bartram Trail library and spoke to almost a hundred fans of his humorous, almost scandalous, books. Dorsey is not just a wonderful writer, his readings are essentially stand-up comedy shows. If you were there you know how great he is in front of an audience. If you weren't, you missed something special. What are you reading? What books have touched you, have changed your life? Who is your favorite author?Why? Are any of you writers? Would you be interested in forming a writing group here in the northwest? A few months ago I interviewed Jon Clinch, the author of Finn, and he invited me to join his online writing group. I'd love to work with some local writers, teaching what I know and learning from others who love to craft the written word. Welcome. I think we're going to have fun here. Related: MarkPettus's blog | login or register to post comments | printer friendly version | Tags: books | Gonzo
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Well, my absolute favorite is one that touches on our own family experience. It's called the Butterfly and the Diving Bell, by Jean Dominique Bauby.
And if you are not into reading ( which admittedly I usually don't have much time for), you can check out the movie version of the Diving Bell and the Butterfly for which John Schnabel got the directors award at the recent 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
And from
Schnabel's 'Diving Bell and the Butterfly' screens in Cannes
One of France's most accomplished actors, Mathieu Amalric, plays Bauby, whose inner monologue is reconstituted by an off-screen narrative.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Schnabel said: 'Le Scaphandre is like death in a way. How do we deal with nothingness?'
'Grab the present,' was the answer.
Amalric said: 'I got the impression I was like a peeping Tom ... I wanted him to be a human being.'
His disaster had prompted Bauby to become aware of who he really was, Schnabel believes. 'Jean-Do had no room (in his life) for any fake pretences,' Schnabel said referring to Bauby by his shortened name.
His life began anew after the accident.
During his new life and using his left eyelid to 'blink' down the memoir, Bauby described his interior world, from the torment of being trapped within his diving bell - a symbol for his body - as a result of his rare condition called locked-in syndrome, to the places his still-active imagination wings him like a butterfly.
Before turning to film (this is his third feature), Schnabel made a name for himself as a neo-expressionist painter and has exhibited at art galleries around the world.
Diving Bell and the Butterfly'
PS I wanted to use a blockquote feature, but didn't know how to go about it.....