I'm sorry that your mother hasn't been well. And I'm glad that you enjoyed Blackouts and thanks for the shout out! I'm still thinking about that novel; it was such a remarkable experience. I really liked Last Night at the Telegraph Club. It was YA but it wasn't toooo YA. Congratulations on the imminent publication of your book!
Welcome back. I'm sorry your mother has been unwell, but happy you were able to spend time with her. Thanks for the review of Blackout, which is on my list of things to read. Also, I haven't read any Elmore Leonard, but he's famous Detroiter, so it'd behoove me to fill that gap in my reading. The excitement and disappointment in re-reading final drafts is REAL. Take as much joy out of the process as you can.
Thanks Tootight. I hope you do read Blackouts. I find Leonard’s books really entertaining though the one I just finished, Gold Coast, wasn’t very good. Get Shorty and Out if Sight are my favorites.
Yes, we missed you! I'm sorry to hear about your mother and wish her much care. Great reading and book editing update! I can relate to the disorienting feeling that can happen when returning to a time-intensive project. I'm sure it's part of the process!
Thank you Johanna. My mom is doing much better. I decided that working with a publisher on a book is like a long distance friendship: You don’t play a part in most of their lives, but when you are together it’s intense.
Hi Brian. Great to see you again. I’m sorry to hear your mom hasn’t been well. I’m really looking forward to reading your book. Congratulations again. I do encourage you to read Malinda Lo’s novel. I reviewed it recently for the banned book challenge. Her books are being horribly attacked, challenged, and banned in this country, and they need to be out there and available. What’s been happening to her speaks directly to what Justin Torres is writing about in Blackouts, and it’s still happening in many places in this country right now. I found the message of Blackouts to be brilliant and essential, but the execution to be tedious. I’m glad you were able to derive some joy and distraction from Elmore Leonard during your road trips. I’m glad to see you back, I’m looking forward to the arrival of your book.
Thank you Pat. I’m afraid that I will be engaging in some rather shameful self promotion in the coming weeks. The further I get into The New Life the more I look forward to getting to Lo’s book🤓.
Great wrap up. Glad to see you back. Hope your mom is feeling better. Happy to hear that you enjoyed Blackouts more than I did. Maybe it deserves a re-read from me as I did feel like maybe I rushed it a bit due to the booktube prize deadline. I have The New Life too, but haven't started reading it yet. Good to hear your thoughts on it. Looking forward to checking out your book when it releases! I'm working my way through Hijab Butch Blues atm.
Thanks Caitlyn. I think Blackouts was just a “me” kind of book because of the way it was formatted and organized. The New Life was conventional in its structure so that probably hurt it for me a little bit. I just finished Last Night at the Telegraph Club which I like a lot.
I had noticed I hadn't seen a new video from you in a while. Hope your mother is doing better. Very exciting that your book will be out soon. Congrats again on that.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is excellent, it lead me down rabbit holes especially of post war San Francisco looking at buildings and neighborhoods she mentioned. I think the historical nature of it will draw you in because it’s uncovering history that’s not really well known. On Melinda Lo’s bloggsite she actually shared some of the research and sources she used to frame her story in time and place accurately, definitely check it out. Good to see you back and I hope you’ve entered a period of stability with your family.
Thank you. And thanks for the info on Telegraph Club. I am looking forward to it even more. I think my mom has turned the corner and will be completely healed soon. Thank you for your positive wishes.
I’m sorry your mom wasn’t doing well, I hope she is feeling better. Congratulations on your book, that’s amazing! Blackouts sounds really good, It’ll have to go on my tbr.
Reading your own book many times is probably like looking at the word "vacuum" for too long. Then it just looks wrong. How can that be right? But it is right. I remember getting that feeling in college writing papers. I can't imagine a whole book! :)
I’m so sorry your mother hasn’t been well. I will keep you both in my thoughts. These last few weeks before publication are such a crazy-exciting time! Congratulations!
Thank you Hannah. This experience has reminded me what a hurry up and then wait process publishing can be. Nothing for months then everything all at once, then nothing again.
I also greatly enjoy Elmore Leonard's book. Thanks for reminding me that I have several that I have not yet read. I'd recommend the audiobook of Mr. Paradise, that is read by the actor Robert Foster (he was in the movie Jackie Brown).
Welcome back, sorry to hear about your mother. I understand what you're talking about with rereading your work. I got essays back from my university course and I'm looking at sentences that are missing words like have and don't make sense. Glad you enjoyed parts of Ruth Ozeki's book, pity it didn't work for you - but it is interesting that a lot of your criticisms are things that don't bother me as a reader, I don't mind predictability in the plot if something is stimulating or entertaining me. Maybe this explains why we disagree about a few books.
Thanks Scott. My mom is doing better and will hopefully be home soon. Rereading your own work is a special firm of torture designed to convince you that you suck and are a bore on top of sucking.😂 I do think we are fundamentally different readers in terms of what we care most about in a book, but it’s nice when we agree as we did with a number of the books on this years Women’s Prize lists. I still think the third or fourth best book on the short list won.
I'm listening to a collection of Western short stories by Elmore Leonard. The audio is narrated by Henry Rollins, David Straithairn, Tom Wopat, and William Atherton. Congratulations on your book being published soon!
@@BookishTexan It's a hit and miss collection for me, but the one's I like, I really like, and the narrators are so good. I'll be curious what you think.
Howdy! Great to see you. I'm reading Last Night at the Telegraph Club, and am almost through. It might technically be a YA novel, but its quite mature. Neither the writing nor the subject matter ever feels dumbed down in the slightest. I'm impressed by it. (It could be tighter. I felt like most of the flashbacks to her parents slowed the narrative, though they provided good context.)
Hope your man is ok . I’ve staggered to a stop in my reading. We are having weird weather for June. It’s cold. It’s always raining in Ireland but June should be warmer. Last week we had to put the heating on! I need the sunshine.
I can’t help but envy your cold June I’m afraid. We’ve been in the mid to high 90s (35c) for much of the month. My mom seems to be on the mend. Fingers crossed there won’t be anymore set backs.
Nice to see you back, Brian. All good wishes for your mom! Exciting that your book is coming anon. Wow, indexing! I've never ventured into that, though at past employers we had a small stable of indexers we'd hire on. But that was no so long ago, in the 90s, that the indexers were, except maybe at the end of my tenure, working from a hard copy ms. I admire your research chops, especially because I'm struggling these days to manage/call up the material I have amassed. Seems paper will be called for.
Thanks Marian. Indexing was a pain. I wish I had hired someone to do it for me. Finding the words to index was easy. Arranging the index properly given the number of military units and their hierarchy was a bit of a nightmare.
great to see u back and hope your mom is doing better. Didn't know u were about to publish a book but the title alone is enough is to make it sound intriguing. We've talked about what a great crime fiction writer elmore leonard is and I've read all the books u mentioned except raylan which I DNFed but hope to return to it as he's one of leonard's most popular characters. Be well and keep up your good work!⚛😀❤
Hey I actually read the Ozeki book and I liked it more than you but appreciate your analysis. I hadn't thought it as an "young adult" book but it could work for that age. She's a fascinating writer - 'Year of Meats' is her first novel and worth reading.
I’m not sure I think it’s a YA book either, but it seemed to at least have a YA subplot. I thought it was very good, just not all of gat appealing to me. I will definitely read another of Ozeki’s books. Thanks for your great comment
I am glad to hear that I was not the only one that was not impressed by the Ruth Ozeki's book. I don't care much for a child as a main protagonist. I also think that the book drags and she rushes in the last 20 pages to wrap-up the story. Well written, but if it wasn't for the Booktube prize, I probably would not have read it.
I felt the sane way about the ending. Even as I neared what I knew would be the inevitable outcome I would as thinking, “Does Ozeki have time to wrap this up.” Turns out there answer was no, not in a satisfactory way.
The perils of being published! 😂 You have been missed, btw. I sometimes feel envious of people who have long solo drives during which they can sink into a good audiobooks. Unfortunately the circumstances which set such things up tend to be bad ones. I’m not so fond of driving - here in Chicago - but the idea of “the open road” still holds its romantic appeal even though roads never tend to be open or untrafficked wherever. Hope your mom’s doing better.
It’s an odd thing to complain about I know, but reading one’s own work too often is disconcerting. I do enjoy driving over distances for 3-5 hours outside of cities, particularly on my own. I think my mom is finally on the mend.
I read the Ozeki book for the BookTube Prize last year. I wasn’t overwhelmed. Just OK. I remember the ending being a disappointment. I also Blackouts for the BookTube prize. Again, not overly impressed. He was trying so hard to be profound and important that he missed out on being a good book. Fifth place out of six.
I think Ozeki’s book provoked an aged based reaction. Not sure that I am the audience for a book about a troubled teen making his way through grief and puberty anymore.
_First!_ I was just gonna text ya, buddy 😊 You know my love of Leonard 📚 The publication date is almost here 🎉 We'll have to get you back on the show this August ... lots to talk about 💭
I was always intrigued as to who was responsible for the redactions in the scientific text in "Blackouts". Blackouts is far superior to The New Life, covering similar content. Hope your Mom is doing better. x
Thanks Marc. My mom is doing better. The only reason I am still reading The New Life is that the similarities to Blackouts makes me want to get to the end to compare.
