Slog - Comments on Reading Tonight http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8 Jiminy crickets, it's an unexciting Friday night in the readings scene. At Borders, we've got Joanna Ferlan and Mary Fox Prather, authors of You Are Special You Were Chosen, a children's book, and at the Central Branch of the Seattle Public Library, Natalie Goldberg, the author of Writing Down the Bones is reading from her new book, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. There's a lot of bad you can say about Writing Down the Bones, (touchy-feely energy oozing off the page, obsessive need to make writing an "all about me" kind of activity) but... Copyright 2008 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:45:40 -0800 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:43:13 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Bellevue Ave so this is why so many adopted children are insufferable assholes; they actually DO think they are special!

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945053 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945053 Books Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:53:52 -0800 Comment by Peter F Yeah, the "actually writing" part seems to be what's holding me back. That, and a lack of talent.

]]> Peter F http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945086 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945086 Books Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:23:09 -0800 Comment by Aislinn I would like to propose the following guidelines: If you don't have the skill to write your memoirs without buying a how-to book, don't write your memoirs. Chances are your life isn't interesting enough for anyone to want to read about anyway, and if it is, someone will probably write a biography about you. No need to do it yourself.

]]> Aislinn http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945186 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945186 Books Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:30:12 -0800 Comment by meatwhichdreams I think the chances are pretty strong that for every person who decides to write their memoir, however unskilled and shitty of a writer they are, there is at least one person who survives them who would, I don't know, be interested in their life.

Just because someone's a shitty writer doesn't mean they didn't leave some kind of mark on the world. Even the most boring life is unique.

If your grandma wrote a shitty, boring memoir, would you read it? To understand her that much more?

]]> meatwhichdreams http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945207 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945207 Books Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:41:47 -0800 Comment by Larf You Are Special, You Are Chosen--is this a book for Jewish kids?

]]> Larf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945302 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/reading_tonight_8#c945302 Books Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:43:13 -0800