Constance Towers reading.There's an interview with Megan in this month's Mystery News. Some of the article appears on their website. I found the last line excerpted to be quite funny because I remember her watching all those nineteen forties movies, which seemed to take place mostly in nightclubs. I still have countless pictures she drew of nighclub scenes with glamorous chanteuses entertaining the audience. I never thought it would end up in print.
Here's Megan:
"I find short story writing really hard. I'd probably never do it if I didn't get excited by certain opportunities. I like the challenge and I like the idea that you can play around with things I would never want to write a whole novel about. It's good experimenting with style a little bit and forces me not to sink into atmosphere which is my bad habit, because I'd just write nightclub scenes if I could.
Were any of your childhood passions useful as an adult?
11 comments:
We had the first color TV on our block. A bunch of kids were always stopping by to watch their favorite programs "in living color!" Those early TV programs, both B&W and color, had a huge effect on me.
My husband asked someone we were out with last night, what his favorite sit com was. I hate when he does this because ususally the types we're with deny ever watching TV. But this guy said THE HONEYMOONERS or SEINFELD. Now that about covers the range, doesn't it?
Hmm, interesting question.
My father is obsessed with the more melodic end of the sixties canon, so we often had music in the house. As much as I enjoyed the melody aspect of the material, I became fascinated by the linguistic prowess of someone like Paul Simon (who I think suffers now from having been so popular, he’s almost regarded as cultural wallpaper. But, really, ‘The Boxer’ and ‘Cecilia’ are incredibly impressive pieces) and, on the other hand, prime period Rolling Stones.
My father was also a police officer which meant that, often times, we didn’t see him for several days and equally the house had to be quiet on occasion as he was sleeping before his shift.
At the time I was reading really awfully parentally-approved stuff that I was struggling to maintain an interest in and this was noted by my high school English teacher, who devised an alternative reading list for me (that was freely available in the school library) and I began working my way through ‘Catcher In The Rye’ et al.
Because silence was a prerequisite in the house, it allowed me to cultivate an obsessive streak when reading (it’s not uncommon for me to lose myself in a book/work for anything up to six hours even now) which helped me enormously when it came time to initially go to University and beyond.
My teacher was Miss Gordon-Smith and I’m still enormously grateful to her.
My son took a course his first year in high school where he could read whatever books he wished, as long as it wasn't complete junk. His teacher gently steered him toward reading fine books and then writing excellent critiques of them. This has served him well throughout his life-nobody reads better books than he. And he's not put off my women writers or female protagonists.
Yes, there’s a tremendous amount to be said (I think) for having an idiosyncratic reading list.
Many of my friends from that period barely read and I think they’re all slightly annoyed about the decline of their intellectual life of which I think reading is a crucial part. And who knows? I might be with them if I hadn’t had a reading list specifically designed to cultivate an intellectual life for me. (one of my best friends is a classics lecturer and has a patented rant about the decline of education that is so close to coming out of my mouth now, I’d better stop!)
and anyone who allows the fact that a book is written by/features a female protagonist is doing themselves a massive disservice! (I mean ’To Kill A Mockingbird’, ’Regeneration’? to name but two outright classics)
Well, reading was my main childhood passion and I think it's been really helpful to me throughout my life, in school, in my career, and in my writing
I have so many of the same influences growing up. The Bogart and John Garfield films, in particular, were tops. I will click over and check out the article...
That reminds me I haven't read Pat Barker in a long time.
I read five books a week-the most our library let us take out. Of course, there were far fewer diversions-all that was on TV was cowboys shows. Now look at me hosting crop of western lovers every Friday. Go figure.
I'm still making up stories about cowboys, just like when I was six years old, only now I get paid for them. (Sometimes.)
Megan and you have that in common, James. Did you illustrate yours too?
Nope, I have no artistic talent whatsoever. Can't draw to save my life.
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