Watership Down



Review of Watership Down by Richard Adams

“I’ve never cried more at the end of a book.” My thirty-year-old friend told me when he finished Watership Down. Unfortunately, I also came to this wonderful book quite late. And couldn’t believe that I had missed this children’s masterpiece. I remember seeing it on the library shelves when I was in school, picking it up, and thinking “Rabbits? No thanks.” That was the wrong decision. Very wrong. Shamefully wrong.

The adventures of Hazel, Bigwig, and Fiver are epic in the truest sense. Yes, this is a story about very real rabbits finding a new home. Yes, it is also in some ways allegorical. But more importantly this novel brings an entire world to life. Lapine vocabulary and legends flesh out the rabbits universe. This is a quest story, a war story, a founding story. Hazel becomes a figure on the scale of Ulysses, King Arthur, or Frodo Baggins. We can only hope we have the courage of this little rabbit when it comes to our own tests and challenges.

I challenge anyone to read this novel and not weep. Not that this is a tragedy. No, you will weep because this tells you everything important about life, in all its sadness and wonder. Then, perhaps you will find the real Watership Down on a map. You will realize that you can visit this holy place. And perhaps you will find yourself on a plane or in a car on your way to this rabbit Jerusalem. Of course, people will think you are crazy for doing this…people who haven’t read Watership Down.


First published at Hackwriters.

Writing Furiously



I'm working on my book, Hamden: Tales from the Sleeping Giant, over break. Sitting at my computer for 5-6 hours a day isn't exactly "vacation," but I'll live. I just finished gathering and organizing the photos. Above is a photo that didn't make it into the book - Eli Whitney's blacksmith shop.

Taking thousands and thousands of words of research notes and shaping them into cohesive chapters is certainly a different type of work. My scholarship on Henry Miller (and Sherlock Holmes - I have another essay accepted!) has certainly helped me prepare for this. But it's a combination of that and my travel writing...turning research into something people actually want to read, giving it life, choosing the memorable details, while still staying true to the facts of the situation.

It's a daunting task, and one I take seriously. What is more important to write than history? There is so much revisionist nonsense out there, and I often hear people making the most outrageous claims about history because of it. Only by going back to the primary sources (and sometimes not even then) can you see how these sorts of lies get told over and over. So, keeping to the facts while still making a story that appeals is a fine line to walk. I'll do my best.

Pickles



Hey, I said I didn't want this to turn into a food blog, but I had to post a picture of our latest experiment - pickling. So far so good...the pickled leeks and cucumbers are tasty. Tonight, the spicy pickled cabbage (kim chi w/o the fermentation).

Xmas Time Again

Its holiday time again.



Time for children playing with toys...



Time for eating giant birds...



Time for snuggling on fleece...



Merry Xmas! Happy Hanukkah! Joyous festivus! Beneficent Saturnalia! And a crackling good Yuletide to all!

My Favorite Restaurant

I'm not going to turn this into a food blog. But since I just received the Momofuku cookbook for the 1st day of Xmas (or of Hanukkah, if you like), I have to give a shout out to this place. Of course, it doesn't need any shouts - David Chang is wildly succesful, and getting a reservation at Momofuku Ko is impossible. But I've been to Momofuku Ssam, and Milk Bar, and no joke, this is some of the best food I've had. Now, I've been to some great restaurants, like Le Saint Amour in Quebec City (amazing) and L'Escargot in Paris, but they are EXPENSIVE restaurants. Momofuku Ssam is totally affordable and has an atmosphere of casual quality that belies the myth of "fine dining." Check it out for yourself below.



I've already experimented with his kimchi stew at home, and it was a revelation. I can't wait to slow roast a pork belly...

Bobcats and Black Snakes

Amy and I revisited a spot from my recently published essay, "The Birds and the Silence." This is the boulder I sat on when the bobcat appeared, before "I walked down the hill and into the summer of my life."



While hiking on High Rock, we found another possible dream house to live in someday. (2010?) We have also hit on something that is going to push my career into overdrive. Look for big changes in the New Year. For now, no peeking!

Sleeping Giant Park Association Xmas Party



Today was the annual Sleeping Giant Park Association Xmas hike and social. The fellowship was strong, the hike was brisk, and the cider was mulled.



Amy and I had a wonderful time meeting new friends, and enjoyed the sing-along after cider and cookies.



Although I've lived in Hamden for over a decade, I never joined the Association for hikes before. I guess I was a bit of a loner. But now it feels good to have others to hike with on the slopes of the Blue Hills, Hobbomock, the Dead Indian, Mount Carmel, the Sleeping Giant, call it what you will - it is home.

The Round Table

As you can see, the author's 'round table' I participated in at Fairfield Borders Bookstore was neither round nor table. In reality, it was a gathering of authors, designed to bring out the maximum number of fans. The ploy worked, since many people came out to see (probably) Marie Bostwick, Litchfield author and New York Times bestseller. But they left buying my book, too.



I had a great little discussion with all the authors there, and particulary with a British expat who had flown with the RAF in World War II. His name currently escapes me, but I'll remember it when I get his signed book for Xmas.



Thanks to all who attended! This was my last "public" appearance this autumn, though I also just appeared on Bridgeport Now, and will be doing several 'private' appearances for local groups coming up in December and January. By then the Hamden book may be finished and the next round will soon begin. The author's life is a busy life.

Sixth Sense

Okay, I try not to simply post everything I see on the web. I watch these TED lectures all the time and see wonderful stuff happening in both the world of ideas and the world of invention. But this is "jaw-dropping" new technology, developed by a 28 year old grad student at MIT named Pranav Mistry. Earlier he developed intelligent sticky notes, etc. There is an April lecture by his MIT professor, as well, which highlights some of the stuff. But this new one is better.

The embed function isn't up yet, so click here to be taken to the TED site.

This invention/development could be the next revolution, akin to the personal computer revolution or the internet. I'm completely blown away. What is most amazing to me is that all the component parts make sense to me, but I never would have thought to put them together (nor would have had the technical skill to pull it off, obviously). This is the heart of invention. When Eli Whitney began the American Industrial Revolution here in Hamden, Connecticut, he was merely building on what others were doing, and taking what others had done and applying that in a new way.

What can YOU see that others cannot?

The Grand Rapids Literary Review Interview

A couple years back I was interviewed by the now defunct Grand Rapids Literary Review. Some of my answers would be a bit different now I think. Nevertheless, below is the fruit of that encounter.

GRLR: Tell us about “making a life as a writer.”

EDL: Well, like everyone else, I started out believing I was a writer just because I thought about it a lot, scribbled a few bad poems, and had some fancy critical opinions. But it really hasn’t been until the last few years that I have become an enormous funnel through which my personal life, my reading, my teaching, and everything else flows in, and writing flows out. When a story or poem or essay is published, I become an “author” – and possibly in the future will make a “living” as a writer. However, that’s only a bonus.

GRLR: Do you have any books out right now? IF so, how do you feel about them? If not, are there plans for a book in the future?

EDL: I have completed work on four books, and one of them is being seriously considered at a publishing house right now. It is called Afoot in Connecticut, and is a non-fiction narrative about hiking in my adopted state. It is also probably my favorite of the completed work, though I’m working on two more right now that I might eventually like better, a historical novel and a travel book about wine-tasting.

GRLR: How do you balance teaching with your own writing?

EDL: That’s a constant problem. Teaching is in some ways the perfect career for a writer, because of the constant input it provides. However, I usually teach extra classes, up to twice the normal professorial load per year. This obviously cuts into writing time. I still manage to have a strong level of output (according to my other writer friends), but only because I am somehow able to steal segments of writing time throughout my day. I think that doing this is a matter of commitment to the practice and craft of writing, but I have been told that it is actually “insane.”

GRLR: What would you tell to others who want to devote their lives to literature?

EDL: I think that everyone’s life should be involved with literature, with telling and listening to stories, with the wonderful dialogue of writers and thinkers that goes on around us, but then again I’m a teacher. To really devote oneself, though, in the way that people are “devoted” to Elvis, is something I recommend only for the few. You must read, read, and read some more. But devotion is not only input. You must create conversation by sending your thoughts out into the world.

GRLR: What has been the most satisfying moment of your writing career?

EDL: That’s an easy one. A student in Saskatchewan emailed me and told me that she was doing an essay on one of my poems, and if I could please send her a little about myself to use in her introduction. I had received feedback before, but this was different. Someone was not only responding to my poem, but talking about it. Suddenly I realized that my work was “out there” and had become part of the great story.

GRLR: If you were on Death Row, and could have one last meal, what would it be?

EDL: This question made my tastebuds argue with each other. I thought about a basket of my teenage favorite, buffalo wings, since the indigestion wouldn’t matter, would it? But there was a large tastebud contingent that argued for a more high-end meal, with a glass of Rothschild wine and some sort of roast duck. I suppose that death brings out the carnivore in me. In a vegetarian world, I would go for some homemade macaroni and cheese and roast leeks.

On WPKN yet again!

I was interviewed by phone on WPKN last Friday morning (WPKN Mornings With Doug Echols). They mention my book throughout, but I am interviewed during the last half hour of the 3 hour show, HERE. Amy listened to it and says that I did well, but you better judge for yourself.

They are offering my book, signed to you personally, for a $40 contribution to one of the only truly independent radio stations in the country.