So whence the blog title?

It took me a while to figure out what to call this blog, as it is to primarily be a place for me to capture thoughts on things I've read, watched or experienced.  As I am a writer, I'm interested in dissecting the story, and what did - or did not - work for me.  Thusly, I have no plans to be coy and avoid discussing plot twists.  I'm always for a good plot twist, but it doesn't ruin the story for me if it's revealed before I have a chance to experience it for myself.  That, and I have a fuzzy memory, so by the time I get around to reading/watching/whatever, I will probably have forgotten all about it anyhow.

There was something else I needed to consider, however - the fact that I might well wander off topic.  After all, what fun is writing if you can't write what you want?  And that includes writing reviews.

I was inspired, in fact, by a book by Wislawa Szymborska (a Polish poet, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996).  What?  Never heard of her?  Me neither (despite my B.A. in Creative Writing), until her book nonrequiered reading: prose pieces came out.  I have no idea how I heard about that, although I think Entertainment Weekly, of all magazines, had a review on it and it caught my fancy.

So, two things: now I'm going to try to capture why I read the books (or saw the movie, or started watching the series, etc.) and how I found them.  Because I like to know those things.  I'm not sure it does me any good, but sometimes I wonder what made me pick this up.

I vividly remember finding nonrequired reading.  I had a gift card (a Christmas gift from a difficult boss) to our local independent.  The store had a sidewalk sale, and as I was wondering around I saw the book.  I think I squealed (I'm embarrassing like that).  I remember snatching it up and cradling it.

So, you ask, what is this book about?  The book I was so blasted exited to get my hands on?  Yes.  A collection of book reviews done by Szymborska over a number of years for her local newspaper.  Or that is what they purported to be.  She mostly addressed the topic of the book (most are non-fiction) and usually includes an anecdote form the work in question.  Mostly these are small essays in which intelligence and wit shine through.

I should mention they're translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh.  I think she did an excellent job - there's a flow and a wit to these pieces: they seem conversational. 

I do recommend this book (with the understanding that it may be almost impossible to find).  There's no way that I'm going to lend my copy to anyone.  It sits on my favorites shelf, and I pick it up and leaf through it, knowing that I'll never read any of the books reviewed (age and geography mostly conspire against that happening), but enjoying the command of language.

Only practice, of course, gives that command; I am not saying that my writing compares to Szymborska's, only that she inspired me.