Chris Nicholson's Writing Weblog
December 31, 2004 • Friday
Happy New Year to all. May your 2005 be even better than your 2004.
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December 30, 2004 • Thursday
A few days ago I finished reading the novel Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. My sister Katie had been urging me to read it for about a year. A few weeks ago she finally just put her copy of the book in my hand and sent me home.
I'm glad she did. I won't say it's a "must-read," but it's certainly an excellent novel. Once the story got going (which took a while), putting the book down was difficult; several nights last week I was reading until 2 or 3 a.m.
Life of Pi is the story of Pi Patel, a teenage Indian boy, son of a zookeeper, who survives the sinking of a cargo ship only to end up as the sole human passenger on a lifeboat with a zebra, orangutan, spotted hyena and 450-pound Bengal tiger. As expected, soon the only two living castaways are Pi and the cat. What’s unexpected are the proceedings of the rest of the story.
The book is more "literary" than I'd first suspected — or even than I'd suspected when I was 90 percent through reading. It's the kind of novel that leaves just enough unanswered questions to generate discussion about "what really happened," the kind of debate that reading groups and high school literature classes love to engage in.
The writing is solid, often poignant and philosophical, and at times even poetic. Additionally, Life of Pi contains what was, for me, one of the greatest prose surprises in modern fiction.
In the future, perhaps I’ll be quicker to read Katie’s recommendations. (But I’m an older brother — so probably not.)
After-note: Incidentally, the hometown of Pi Patel, the setting of Part One of the novel, is Pondicherry, India. It is a real town, located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Pondicherry was one of the towns hit by the tsunami on December 26.
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December 28, 2004 • Tuesday
One of my favorite modern films, Unforgiven, has been added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.
Directed by Clint Eastwood and released in 1992, the film depicts a gripping story about William Munny, a retired, old-West gunslinger who turned from lawlessness years earlier after marrying. At the time of the story, Munny's wife has died and he's trying to raise their children on his own. Hard times force him to pursue one last bounty, despite the disdain for killing that has grown inside him.
When I first saw Unforgiven I considered it an anti-Western Western movie. It didn't glorify the murderous chaos of the old West. Rather, it showed the honest emotions that fueled the people — good and bad — who survived in the barely democratic society of America's frontier.
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December 24, 2004 • Friday
Christmas is almost upon us. As a person who celebrates Christmas, I have a busy day tomorrow.
In the afternoon I'm having my father and siblings over for a quiet night of watching Christmas movies and cooking pizzas. Also, Dad has said he's bringing some of his famous (to us) sausage and peppers.
Saturday I'll be with my sibs, my mom and my step-father at our family's lakehouse in Connecticut. I was hoping cold weather would freeze the lake so we could ice skate all afternoon, but the temperatures didn't cooperate. Still, I'm looking forward to a relaxing holiday weekend.
Despite my onsetting cold.
Too those who celebrate the holiday, have a Merry Christmas. To those of the Jewish faith, I hope you enjoyed your Hanukkah. For those who celebrate the African week of Kwanza, please enjoy your holiday as well. And for anyone who celebrates another end-of-year celebration, may it be happy, merry and good all-around.
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December 21, 2004 • Tuesday
Scholastic Corporation announced today that the sixth Harry Potter book, ... and the Half-Blood Prince, will be released worldwide on July 16. So I guess I know what I'll be doing the third week of July.
In even better news (okay, maybe not really), I have two articles in the new issue of RSi magazine. Both pieces appear in their "2004 Champions of Tennis" section. The first article is about South Carolina's Lexington County Tennis Complex; the second, the USTA's Pacific Northwest section.
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December 15, 2004 • Wednesday
The book Observations from a Broad, written by my friend J. Broad (and which I worked on as an uncredited editor), is now available through Barnes & Noble.
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December 13, 2004 • Monday
My long-time friend J. Broad has just published a book that I worked on as an uncredited editor.
From the book jacket:
"In the winter of 1991, with the baggage of several spectacular relationship failures, a keen eye for observing the absurdities in others, a cavalier disregard for the accepted conventions of professional journalism, and a light lunch consisting of a sandwich, some chips and a plastic cup of chocolate pudding, author J. Broad set out to find those little moments that make life the world’s greatest reality show. After several years of observing, and muttering and nodding to himself, someone finally suggested that he write some of them down. A collection of these commentaries became Observations From A Broad.
"In a series of anecdotal columns written over the past 13 years, the author points out the bizarre, celebrates the ironic and occasionally does it in rhyming couplets (and often in parentheses). Follow J. as he leads you through his imagination while searching for the missing letters in his name. Buckle up as he breaks up with his car. Sit in the bleachers as he registers a truly abysmal record with the fairer sex. Peer through the peephole as he demonstrates the decision-making process necessary before holding a door. You’ll be glad you did."
Observations from a Broad is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
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December 05, 2004 • Sunday
Recently I heard about a unique store in Baltimore. It's called Book Thing. Their niche is this: They give their books away.
Yep, give them away. Don't charge a penny for them. They're free. As many as you want.
Located at 2645 North Charles Street, Book Thing takes donations of books from whomever is willing to hand (or mail) them in. The staff sorts through the donations, gets them into the store's inventory, and then customers are free to peruse and take home any books they want. For free.
It's kind of like a library where you don't need a card, and where you don't need to return the books. The store stays in business by selling any highly valuable books that come their way (which accounts for well less than 1 percent of their donations).
Book Thing is on my must-see list for the next time I visit Baltimore. In fact, I may make the four-hour drive sometime this winter, just to see the place. (Don't laugh — I once drove to Baltimore just to see Edgar Allen Poe's grave, then grabbed lunch and came home.)
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