Stuff Jay Is Reading
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On occasion I connect with my students when and if we talk about personal reading. This might be before or after class. They might ask me about a book or an author, and when they do, they reveal an enthusiasm for reading that most keep hidden away. This makes teaching so much more fun —…
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This had to be in the early fifties in Greenwich Village, downtown Manhattan, in the heart of New York City, where author Patricia Highsmith hung out and drank in a lesbian bar on MacDougal Street called Eve’s Hangout. How could I possibly infer that it was a gay bar? The first thing you saw when you…
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This week, I reread one of my favorite novels from one of my favorite writers: The Cry of the Owl by Patricia Highsmith. I spent much of 2025 picking novels off my shelves here in Mexicali. My goal was to read 50 novels in 50 weeks. I’m glad I did. They all seemed to be…
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At my age, I have made a return to my shelves to read books I may have been introduced to in college but really didn’t understand. This time it’s Truman Capote’s novela Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I’m not to sure I understand it any better forty years after the first time I read it, but I…
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I don’t know much how other people choose their books. I never hear it come up in everyday conversation. I’m sure many book readers go to their own secret websites and podcasts. I DO. Choosing the right book is a big deal for me. As I get older, I have difficulty squeezing my reading…
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Does anyone ever ask how you choose the books you read? Probably not. Sadly, over the last forty years or so, I have seen a gradual decline in reading. NO INTEREST. That’s not news, but that’s not GOOD. I’m an ENGLISH TEACHER. When I ask my students where they find their books, they tell…
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In every beginning writing class that I’ve ever taken, I hear the advice, “Write what you know.” This sounds good, but it doesn’t always work. Often, you get so close to your subject, you can’t see the forest from the trees On the other hand, you can try to distance yourself from your subject…
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I know Chrissie Hynde from the seventies. In her Pretenders song, “Up the Neck,” Chrissie belts out, “Lust turns to anger, a kiss to a slug…” Up until then, I don’t think I had every seen a woman like that on stage before; in front of the band, her guitar slung low across her hips,…
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Earlier this month I read a memoir about alcoholism that included the life and struggles of legendary playwright Tennessee Williams. The book, called “The Trip to Echo Spring,” written by Olivia Lange, shed light on hardcore drunk writers that despite their addictions were somehow able to produce some of the most brilliant literature we…
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I’m not sure WHEN or HOW it happened, but at early age, I became drawn in, sucked in, to the books written by boozy, drug-addled authors. For me, this may have been in high school, and I didn’t even drink or smoke. At age 16-17, I probably got turned on by Stephen King’s strange,…