Classics Considered

‘Lately, I’ve been, I’ve been thinking’

I can’t really call this a What I’m Reading because I’m barely reading these days… just finishing up Palace of the Peacock (Wilson Harris) and then The Secret History (Donna Tartt). I also read the Prologue to When I Whistle (Endo). But I have no posts prepared for these books yet…

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve also been interviewing for a job at a tech startup. I don’t know if I will be getting an offer or if I will accept it if I do. Feeling really undecided. It’s been good practice, in any case—I haven’t interviewed in a couple of years, and I’ve been getting rusty.

I’m getting so excited for fall! I am working on a poetry book (slowly but surely) which I hope to self-publish in a couple of months. Reading wise, not a lot of plans, just continuing reading books from around the world and whatever catches my fancy. How about you?

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Marian

Responses

Mudpuddle

August 28, 2021 at 4:56 pm

it sounds like you’ve got the job search thing handled… it was a major pain for me: i had an interviewer tell me once that i was the worst interviewee he’d ever interviewed, lol… look forward to your book of poems; i hope it has some haiku in it… i got a prize for one of mine about 15 years ago from a zen monastery in Japan… i wrote about a thousand of them before i quit because i realized i had gone to where i didn’t have anywhere else to go…

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1. Marian
  
  August 28, 2021 at 9:33 pm
  
  So…I’m writing some haiku this evening, motivated by your comment 🙂 I haven’t tried it in a long time, and the format is far more difficult than it appears on the surface, but very satisfying… That’s a real honor, by the way, to be awarded by a zen monastery! I hope you published a book? (Or will?)
  
  Interviewing is definitely a pain for me, too – I just had a total of 3 interviews for one company, the third interview taking most of a day. My brain gave up at some point and I bungled one of the coding questions. I should hear back Monday.
  
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  1. Mudpuddle
    
    August 29, 2021 at 9:04 am
    
    good luck with that if you want the job! no thought of a book: not that sort of thing, i guess…
    
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Graybow

August 28, 2021 at 7:07 pm

Good luck for the interview and poetry book. I used to do some poetic scribbling. As I grew older, I grew less satisfied with my writing. Although I was encouraged by friends’ comments, I never intended to publish my scribblings.

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1. Marian
  
  August 28, 2021 at 9:37 pm
  
  Thanks for the good wishes! I do think we’re our own harshest critics… I have been having trouble deciding which poems to include. Some days I will like a poem, and other days I’ll find it kind of cringe haha.
  
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Jade Nicole Beals

August 29, 2021 at 4:05 am

Ooh, a poetry book! 😮 I can’t wait. I’ve loved your poems and writings in general. 🙂 🙂
I am reading The Lost Girl by D.H. Lawrence (1920) a classic author I’d not remembered learning in school or college and hadn’t gotten to myself ‘til now…It’s been just the right read as I’d been reading more complex, world history sort classic novels and this one’s more of a personal story with deep themes still running through the light, humorous prose of the novel’s beginning.
Anyway, I will look forward to your book. 🙂

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1. Marian
  
  August 30, 2021 at 10:15 pm
  
  Thank you Jade!! 🙂
  I haven’t read DH Lawrence either, although his name crops up on my radar from time to time. It is nice to get into the personal dramas between the heavier reading! I recently finished Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki, and it was one of those kinds of books, not a favorite but a nice interlude.
  
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Rachel Olivia

August 29, 2021 at 7:08 am

It’s at least exciting to have interviews, even if you ultimately don’t get/want the job.

I’ve got The Secret History on my list now. I heard in mentioned a lot of places, but I finally heard more from I think one of your videos. I’d originally assumed it was one of those too trendy, fluffier books.

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1. Marian
  
  August 30, 2021 at 10:17 pm
  
  The jury’s still out for me on The Secret History… my brother really enjoyed it though. Truth be told, if we hadn’t been reading it together, I am not sure if I would have finished it. But I’m at 66% and planning to finish this week or next!
  
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Cyberkitten

August 29, 2021 at 1:39 pm

I remember YEARS ago – back in the 80’s when I was at Uni the first time – sitting on a bus on a rainy day and an entire poem just DROPPED into my head from nowhere. I got most of it on paper before it faded and then REALLY struggled with the last verse or two before I got the whole thing down. It was one the strangest things I can remember happening to me.

Weird poem too! The human mind is STRANGE at times [lol]

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1. Marian
  
  August 30, 2021 at 10:17 pm
  
  That’s really cool! I feel like some of my best poems happen randomly, too.
  
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Mudpuddle

August 29, 2021 at 3:09 pm

wow, CK… pretty impressive… i got hit in the head once while working in a garage: a guy threw a tire at me when i wasn’t looking, hahahah (not quite the same, i know…)

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Sharon Wilfong

August 29, 2021 at 5:43 pm

How about your story? Have you published that?

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1. Marian
  
  August 30, 2021 at 10:18 pm
  
  Not yet but I keep thinking about it! 🙂 I feel it needs so much work still. I wish I could just take a year off and work on it, haha.
  
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smellincoffee

August 30, 2021 at 7:56 am

Good luck with the job hunt and the poetry collection! August is too hot and miserable to do anything in lower Alabama but hole up next to an air conditioner and read….I’m dogsitting until labor day, but no longer by myself: I’m now sharing the home with a large family of evacuees from New Orleans who came in yesterday. Nice people, but stressed and glad to be somewhere safe. I’m still reviewing for the CompTIA — re-watching lectures, constantly challenging myself on notes, taking practice tests online as I can find them to identify and attack my weak spots.

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1. Marian
  
  August 30, 2021 at 10:20 pm
  
  Hey I’m glad to hear you’re doing ok! I was just checking the hurricane track yesterday to see if it was anywhere near you. It must be challenging to study for the exam with all this happening. I pray it goes well!
  
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