Collected Miscellany

Is it the rush of the year coming to an end — complete with those endless torturous political commercials dominating the TV waves — or is it just me, but, is time revolving faster than ever before? Does anyone else feel the earth move…and I’m not referring to the old Carly Simon song…out of sync with the rest of your life?

My business is struggling to move ahead…not in the ‘we may be out of business soon’ aspect, but in the ‘there is so much to do, so many opportunities out there, how do I pick the right one to take’? All of which makes me nervous and prone to wondering if I’m where I should be. Here’s what I think: if half of LIFE is IF, the other half is wondering IF…

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Since I am unable to blog much these days, I thought it might be fun to throw a question out to the ‘sphere – assuming anyone is listening. So here it is. Please respond with a comment or trackback or whatever.

Graham Greene and John LeCare may be great writers but they were fundamentally wrong about the Cold War.

True or false? Discuss.

Hey remember me? I used to write book reviews and post interviews. I have been a little pre-occupied with other things lately and in a bit of a book slump. (If you are interested in my thoughts on politics, foreign policy, sports, and other subjects check out my other blog, A Nickel’s Worth of Free Advice, which has recently been revived from a six month slumber) I have, however, managed to read an actual book, albeit a book for young adults. Review follows.

I am not sure why but I love well designed, nicely illustrated, and adventuresome children’s/young adult books. Perhaps it is a reaction, and an escape from, more serious works that involve complex history, arguments and issues. Lately I just seem to need lighter fare and I find myself turning to this kind of work (see here, and here for past examples). My most recent foray into this genre is The Edge Chronicles a series described by Amazon as a “fantastic boy-meets-world saga from British author-illustrator team Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.”

The first book in the series, Beyond the Deepwoods, tells the story of Twig a boy who grew up among the wood trolls of the deepwoods but who never quite felt at home. Forced from his home out of fear of marauding Sky Pirates Twig is sent to visit his cousins. Intrigued by the wild world outside his door, Twig strays from the path and is immediately caught up in trouble. From this point on, the book basically combines a series of adventures with Twig’s search for his identity.

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I know, it should be, “How ’bout them Red Sox” but the Yankee’s quote is more familiar. Don’t know how many of you were following the games these last few days, but the whole world is talking about them today. It’s always exciting to be a part of history — especially when the history in the making isn’t about war, or bombs, or famine.

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Politics today is such a dull affair.

While that may not seem to be the case currently (with a hotly contested election, high levels of partisanship, and every nitwit with a camcorder getting his or her own TV show or movie deal), “dull,” from a certain perspective, is the best description. And this is no where more evident than in that sorry mess that passes as the political commentary section of the local bookstore.

But we need to be clear about what “dull” means.

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Let me interrupt the David Thayer show to give you an update on where things are and where they might be going around here. As I just noted, David has been doing great work in posting news, views, reviews and interviews. Yvonne has also begun to chip in with posts on a more regular basis. I appreciate their help and enjoy reading their thoughts. What I have come to realize with increasing certainty is I am not in a position to really anchor a “lit blog.” I simply don’t have the requisite knowledge, interest, or time to really make this blog an attractive place to visit on my own. Let’s face it, my melancholy moods and up-and-down reading habits, when combined with my disconnection with anything that might resemble the literary scene, prevents me from using the potential of blogging to any effect. This is relatively clear from the lack of links, hits, or comments of any significance.

What I have come to realize is that I am a book person but not necessarily a literature person. I love to read a wide range of books but I don’t have any particular expertise or background. Hence I tend to lack a voice or a hook that separates this blog from others or prevents it from denigrating into a collection of high school book reports (I am speaking only about my own contributions here and don’t mean to insinuate anything about my co-bloggers). An outgrowth of this is my growing belief that a group blog is the best road for Collected Miscellany. I don’t think I can provide the kind of daily commentary or useful links that other lit blogs provide. Instead what I think the site should reflect the “collected” part of its title and become a group blog for reviews and interviews. In this way the blog won’t be so much a conversation as a bulletin board: posters will throw out their opinion on books and authors and readers can browse and click on what interests them. I am also considering opening up the space for original short fiction. I see this as a “throw things against the Internet and see if they stick” sort of deal. To make this type of site hum, however, I think we need some more content. So I am looking to expand the number and perspectives of the sites co-bloggers.

Seeing how Collected Miscellany is still “my” website in a technical sense, I am working on recruiting bloggers and thinking about exactly what type of mix will work best in my mind. In a sort of executive editor sense, I want the sight to be interesting and informative and will use my admittedly subjective judgement to make those decisions. I will also be working on making sure the site more plainly reflects the contributions of my co-bloggers.

As always, if you have ideas about how to make the site better or what you would like to see let me know.