Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday Salon--quotable Moore

The Sunday Salon.com

This time of year always challenges my time management skills. I have three children who attend three different schools. That means three "Back-To-School" nights, on three different nights, among many other things. I've been thinking a lot about blogging this week, but haven't actually done any!

And my reading has suffered, too. I had big plans to start some of the books crowding my night table, but didn't start anything new. However, I did finish Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs last night. It was a bittersweet read, and it left me a little sad. It also left me impressed with Moore's skill with language. Her writing is clever, yet still emotionally full and affecting.

I'll leave you with a few quotes:
"Thanks, maybe later?" I said with the question mark our generation believed meant politeness but which baffled our parents.

Waning light rouged and bronzed the clouds so they looked like a mountain range.

"Awesome," I said, in that peculiar way, I knew, our generation had of finding everything either "sucked" or was "awesome." We used awesome the way the British used brilliant: for anything at all. Perhaps, as with the British, it was a kind of antidepressant: inflated rhetoric to keep the sorry truth at bay.

When I went to bed at night I suffered my first bout of insomnia. This is what death would be like, I feared: not sleep but insomnia. To sleep no more, as I had learned in Pre-1700 British Drama. I had never feared insomnia before--like prison, wouldn't it just give you more time to read? I'd always been able to sleep. But now I lay there, fretful as a Bartok quartet.

Alone at dusk I was quiet; I sang nothing.
Enjoy your Sunday reading!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

And I've been thinking a lot about commenting, but haven't done any...so it all works out. :-D

Hope things settle down soon.

gautami tripathy said...

I like that Awesome quote!

TSS: The past week in retrospect and on to the next one...

Literary Feline said...

I can see why you struggle with time management this time of year will everything going on.

I love the quotes you shared--thank you. I hope you have a great week!

Ti said...

I have a hard time with just the two kids in the same school. I cannot imagine three in three different schools. For me, homework is the challenge right now.

Booklogged said...

My children are raised but I still have trouble with time management. Three different schools and different nights for meeting with teachers is cumbersome to say the least. Hope things settle down for you in Oct.

litlove said...

Ouf! I feel for you at the start of term. My son's been having a teenager moment lately (although the past weekend was better), and for some reason that seems to take up time, too! The Moore sounds like a most intriguing read. Still going to get it when it comes out over here.

Gentle Reader said...

Jill--lol--you're right, it all evens out!

gautami--thanks, and loved your post!

Wendy--Things will settle down into a routine, soon, thank goodness!

Ti--homework is a challenge for me with my 8th grader, because his time-management skills are as bad as mine! My 5th grader, on the other hand, is Mr. Organized, and it's easier to get him to do homework in the first place. Good thing my little girl doesn't have homework yet!

booklogged--Yes, October should be a little easier, thanks! I think my time management skills are just bad, no matter what's going on in my life!

litlove--my son's been very teenager-ish lately, too. Lots of eye-rolling and attitude. Fortunately, his sense of humor is still intact, so I try to get him to the point of laughter, and that's how we get through the tough moments...

Rebecca H. said...

I've never read Moore before, and I'm so looking forward to getting there. I've heard so many good things about her latest book that I'll definitely pick it up at some point when I can.

Bybee said...

I so cannot wait to read this novel!

melanie said...

I just ordered this so I'm glad to read your thoughts.