A GOOD NOVEL, A BAD INFLUENCE
Can a good novel be a bad influence? I often emulate whatever I am reading (I am always reading something, fiction or non-fiction), sometimes incorporating their features into my own writing.For instance, several years ago Joseph Kanon's Istanbul Passage came along at a time when I was learning how to write proper dialogue. It was full of marvelous, skillfully constructed dialogue. Soon after finishing it I embarked upon my first successful, primarily dialogue driven story, Testicle Talk.More recently, last December I began Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, currently a PBS Masterpiece Theater serial, a novel of historical fiction dealing with England[...]
AN UNEXPECTED LEFTOVER (CHATEAU LYNCH BAGES)
How does one keep wine leftovers? It is an age old question to which the wine industry has recently provided elaborate solutions, vacuum sealers, inert gasses, elaborate serving machines in wine bars. While this is not a problem for me - leftovers in my house are rare - on the few occasions when this happens, I prefer the simplest solution of all. Recently this was tested on a thirty-three year old wine. Once a bottle of wine is opened and the liquid is exposed to oxygen, a process of maturation sets into motion that ends in spoilage. Limiting the air[...]
A UNIQUE DINNER WITH OLD BORDEAUX
We opened the outdoor evening by the poolside with a 1999 Billecart-Salmon Brut, one of four champagnes our guest Alan Cooper brought. It was dark hued, bubbles scant, but still crisp and fruity, a bit nutty, well balanced. By the time all ten of us congregated around the table with an ice tub for the champagne, our server began offering an appetizer of prosciutto with goat cheese and fig jam on mini toasted baguettes, each topped with a mint leaf that added a special tang to their flavor explosion. There also was seared foie gras with cherry compote on [...]
A SPARK OF INSPIRATION
All fictional stories start with a spark of inspiration, often small ones. For example, Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was inspired by a news account he read about a woman who threw herself in front of a moving train. He then imagined the back story of what might have led to such an act. In the process he created a massive classic that, among other things, includes Tolstoy himself in the character of Levin, with accounts of real events from the author's own life. The novel ends with Anna killing herself by jumping in front of a train. For non-writers it[...]
OPEN THAT BOTTLE (VEUVE CLIQUOT, GRANDE DAME)
The Wall Street Journal used to have an annual Open That Bottle event. Invented by their then wine columnists Dorothy J Gaiter and John Brecher, a husband and wife couple, the event encouraged wine drinkers to uncork a special bottle that they were holding out on. Readers who participated submitted stories about their experience to the paper, many with interesting, poignant, informative back-stories, and some were published. The columnists retired in late 2009 and so did the event.I never partook in Open That Bottle, even though I had many special bottles that awaited an occasion. Maybe I didn't because I[...]
PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING; TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
Nearly a year after I published my memoir Dogmeat I sent my editor Mim her first photo of Dr. Wilson, the mentor and tormentor so prominent in the story. It was within the context of an unrelated issue. She wrote back and said that the photo was the spitting image of the way I had described him in the book. Dr. Wilson was exactly the way she had imagined him. I was proud and much pleased with that comment.With my current book project Mim is suggesting that I include some photos. Many of my stories happen in exotic locales such[...]