I agree with the Lev Tolstoy quote completely, but I also feel like there's more to it. What is a happy family and an unhappy family? We're probably both of those things at the same time. Peter Orner More Quotes by Peter Orner More Quotes From Peter Orner But this is exactly why I read--and don't belong to a book group--because reading is the most individual thing there is. Why collectivize it? Didn't we have enough bad English teachers in school? Crowd sourcing and literature shouldn't mix. Peter Orner reading teacher book Actually, you’re not famous at all. Maybe you’ll get some traction after you’re dead? Peter Orner traction Alexis Coe rescues a buried but extraordinarily telling episode from the 1890s that resonates in all sorts of ways with today. That in itself would be an accomplishment. But this is a book that is truly riveting, a narrative that gallops. Lizzy Borden eat your heart out. Here’s a real crime of passion. Or was it? I dare you to pick this one up and try, just try to put it down. Peter Orner passion real book I revise and revise and revise. I'm not even sure "revise" is the right word. I work a story almost to death before it's done. Peter Orner right-words done stories Rarely is the pain of losing someone expressed with such directness, energy, and, yes, humor. The grief in Evan Kuhlman'sWolf Boyis palpable, and so is the flawed, honest humanity of his characters. Here is real loss and somehow, real catharsis. Peter Orner pain grief real John Colman Wood's The Names of Things is a thoughtful, patient, and ultimately rewarding book. It's about, among many other things, the connections human beings make, that in spite of everything, we will always make. To quote from the book, 'What he saw in the people was what the old anthropologists called communitas. It wasn't that the people sang and moved. It was their singing and moving together' Singing and moving together, Wood has found a way to express this profound and beautiful idea through fiction. Peter Orner beautiful book moving Like no other writer in contemporary American literature, Brock Clarke has a way of looking at us, I mean looking straight at us--warts, lots of warts, and beauty and hypocrisy and love, too, the gamut. And hes done it again in this brilliant The Happiest People in the World, a novel that is as hilarious and thought-provoking as it is ultimately, deadly, deadly serious. I for one am grateful hes out there--watching our every move. Peter Orner grateful mean moving I think some writers should wait for something to say. Peter Orner waiting thinking A stellar, fully-realized collection of stories... grounded, wonderfully, in the river valleys of western Maine. You come away not only understanding a place but the soul of its people. Peter Orner soul rivers people I think anything we do - eating, walking down the street, online shopping - gives you another perspective on writing stories. Peter Orner shopping writing thinking I always say writing fiction isn't something you teach. It's something you do, and only experimentation - i.e. doing it, either badly or good sometimes - can help anybody get any better or worse at it. Peter Orner writing helping fiction I've spent so many years living in one place and imaging another. Peter Orner imaging years I have a friend who teaches yoga (or is it pilates?), and she said that I don't seem to live in the moment. And I said, "Exactly!" I'd go nuts if I lived in the moment. Peter Orner yoga nuts live-in-the-moment Lot of stories in deceit, how characters deceive other people, but most of all, I think, how they deceive themselves. We're not as tricky as we think we are. Peter Orner character people thinking Everybody, doesn't matter who you are, escapes time. And for me, nothing is stranger than the thought that kids are just kids. Nobody is just anything. Whether you are eight or eighty, you've got your own unique take on how weird this world is. Peter Orner eight unique kids I used to be surprised and a little annoyed when characters would reappear in my mind, itching to be in another story. Now I realize it's part of the deal, that you create these people out of thin air but then, if you do it right, they actually live. Peter Orner air character people If a novel or a story works, you don't stop thinking about it; it doesn't truly end. Peter Orner ends stories thinking I beat a story to within an inch of its life - that's when I know its done. Not before, not after. Peter Orner beats done stories I've spent a lot of time in prisons, first doing legal work and later, teaching. Peter Orner prison teaching firsts One story I've been trying to write for years, and haven't been able to finish, is about a face I saw, just a glimpse of a face, in a max security prison in North Carolina. I'm still trying to understand what I saw in that guy's face. Peter Orner guy writing years
