From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #481 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Friday, October 12 2001 Volume 01 : Number 481 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 22:19:29 -0600 From: Scott and Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] Stories about War Gee, I guess I'm commenting on my own post. How narcissistic is that? Oy! I wrote: >It makes me want to read stories--both based in fact, and just >made-up stories--that explore this issue. It makes me want to see if >I'm the only one who feels the way I do. I ended up reading an interesting essay in _Irreantum_ after I posted this that I think is worth discussing. List member Paris Anderson published a personal essay in the Summer 2001 issue called "Growing Up Tough" that shares some of his own experiences with terror and despair and alienation and confusion at a very difficult time in his life. I found myself reacting to the essay very differently on re-reading it yesterday than I had before 911. In some ways it was more difficult for me in light of the bombings. In any case it was a powerful and difficult essay that exposed very deep and poignant feelings of what it means to be afraid both of dying and of living. Has anyone else read that essay? Any thoughts? Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 00:06:15 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] DAVIS, _The Other Side of Heaven_ (Deseret News) Andrew Hall forwarded this item: Church leader's story comes to life on big screen By Jeff Vice Deseret News movie critic An LDS Church general authority's harrowing adventures as an LDS missionary in the Kingdom of Tonga are coming to the big screen. Excel Theatrical Distribution, which released the Richard Dutcher films "God's Army" and "Brigham City," has announced that it is picking up the rights for "The Other Side of Heaven," a drama based on the real-life experiences of Elder John H. Groberg of the First Quorum of the Seventy. _______________ Excel was not able to get either of Richard Dutcher's films into my city of nearly 250,000. I don't know if they tried. I don't know if the national chains that run the two 16-screen theaters in town just weren't interested. I saw GA on videocassette. I wound up in Salt Lake on an unexpected trip and made time to see BC. For the most part, the two 16-screen theaters in town run the same 16 movies each week. Any film showing is available at either theater. And yet, there still was not room for one screen to show either of those two films. So, will Excel be able to make _The Other Side of Heaven_ really come to the big screen here? Is there something about this film that will let Excel make a truly national release in December (or next Spring, since last Fall didn't seem to work)? The phrase "trying to get it into select theaters around the country in time for the Christmas season" really bothers me. This is a film I would like very much to see. Even my speaking with the two theater managers didn't help. Did it hurt? Does someone here know how the system works? Was it just too much of a bother for the theaters or their chains? Larry Jackson ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 11:57:12 -0400 From: Tony Markham Subject: Re: [AML] Gen. Conf. Music > Wasn't the music in conference fabulous? I especially > > enjoyed the Sunday morning session's hymn > > arrangements. "Hie to Kolob" gave me chills. Any arrangement that can obfuscate the lyric, "there is no end to race," is wonderful. How the choir, GA's, congregation, and church sing this without going cross-eyed is beyond me. And to think that someone would go to all the trouble to change the line "You who unto Jesus..." because it sounded too much like Yoohoo unto Jesus, and yet would leave the other alone. I just want to douse somebody with ice cold water. Wake up you dunderhead! Try "There is no end to _GRACE_" Or "There is no end to _my embarrassment over this lyric in an otherwise sublime song_" [MOD: My suggested edit would be "No end to human race," which I have always believed (or chosen to believe?) was the intended meaning...] Tony Markham - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 12:49:03 -0400 From: "Debra L. Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN MoTab Recording to Support September 11th Victims: Kent Larsen 8Oct01 US NY NYC A1 MoTab Recording to Support September 11th Victims NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- A Mormon Tabernacle Choir recording is one of 15 songs by various artists included on a new album benefiting the Twin Towers Fund. The Choir's recording of "The Star Spangled Banner" is the 14th track on the new album "God Bless America" from Columbia Records, which will be in stores October 16th. The label says a 'substantial portion' of the proceeds from album sales will go to the Twin Towers Fund, supporting the families of the police, firemen and other government personnel who lost their lives in the World Trade Center. The album features a total of 15 tracks by popular artists, including a new studio version of "God Bless America" by Canadian singer Celine Dion, who sang a live version of the song at the recent "America: A Tribute to Heroes" telethon. The album also includes a previously unreleased live acoustic version of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Peaceful World." According to an on-line list of Mormon Tabernacle Choir recordings, the choir last recorded "The Star Spangled Banner" for their 1965 album "God Bless America," also released by Columbia. That recording is used on the new album. >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 05:52:38 +1000 From: "helena.chester" Subject: RE: [AML] Margaret YOUNG, _I Am Jane_ (Review) What about BYU--doesn't it have the resources to produce videos? But, however it is done, I would definitely be a customer for a copy. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 12:36:03 -0600 From: "Benson Parkinson" Subject: Re: [AML] Audience for Journals I've spent considerable time in my ancestors' journals, and they wrote all = kinds. I've surprised myself at how much good I've gotten from the most = mundane entries. On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for _also_ = doing a personal history, in which you address your descendants directly = and succinctly. One thing I've learned from reading journals is that they tend to get the = little things and miss the big ones. You don't see it when you're in it, = or at least grasp its importance, and by the time you do, your momentum = has carried you to other things. Or a journal will have everything leading = up to a big event and then stop suddenly right before the climax, = presumably because the author is too overwhelmed by events to write that = day (or week or month or year). On the other hand, several of my ancestors = began journals the day they left for missions or crossed the plains and = dropped off writing as soon as they finished, so that's all we know about = them. That's a lot, but now that I'm raising my kids I want to know how = _they_ raised them. I keep trying to get my single sister to write her history for the benefit = of _my_ descendants. All of them can learn from her, and some no doubt = will be in her shoes. So far no luck. I'm doing a collection of 10-page = histories of my brothers and sisters, with typeset photos. Hopefully that = way all the histories will get passed down all the lines, and if any of = them lose the history of their own ancestor, they can get it from their = distant cousins (whom they will presumably then have to meet). Maybe I can = get my sister to contribute to that anyway, for the sake of artistic = unity. Ben Parkinson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 14:23:49 -0600 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Audience for Journals - ---Original Message From: Jeffrey Savage > I think that it was in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that the bad > guy says something like, "This watch can be bought for $15, > but bury it in the Earth for 1000 years and it becomes pricesless." > > What you and I view as fluff, may be viewed by future > generations as invaluable. I know that if my Grandfather had > kept a journal, I would be facinated to read it, even though > he spent a good portion of his life running or just visiting > various bars. > > And honestly I am just as interested in the things that they > took for granted as their "Deep" thoughts. We often think > that the only biographies of interest are famous people. But > just studying the lives of ordinary people that came before > us, especially if they are related, can provide much insight > about ourselves. I agree with this, but I wonder how that would work in the future. Past cultures had a much larger barrier to entry in their documentary efforts. Oral tradition was common because it was easier than other time-spanning technologies. Not so today. We produce an obscene amount of *stuff*. Since technologies that cross space also cross time, I'm wondering if my little contribution will ever have any meaning. Journals are one of the only ways to learn of family life in the 19th century and they were somewhat rare. Look at the richness of research material we are producing that describes and analyzes 21st century and my contribution seems rather, well, obscure. Add to that the fact I am a married white male and I don't see how my journal will ever take on general interest. And for the family angle, my kids all know me personally and my grand-kids will likely as well. Those that are interested can ask, and each future generation has an increasing a) distance and b) population of progenitors to chose from. My progeny are likely to be more interested in John Howland who fell off the Mayflower. > Just as an example, I would want to know what it was about > you/the times/the culture that made you feel the importance > of encrypting your files. What would someone 100 years ago > have thought of that? Heh. It wasn't important to encrypt the files. I'm just a geek and I like playing with encryption. 100 years ago, encrypting a journal just wasn't that viable. Some journals sold with locks and all, but they were easily enough defeated--the locks were more of a detection than a prevention device (you could see that the strap had been cut etc.). Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 11:59:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Darlene Young Subject: Re: [AML] Audience for Journals Jacob, The very best piece on journal writing I've ever read is a chapter called "The 5-Minutes-a-Day Journal" in Louise Plummer's "Thoughts of a Grasshopper." She gives great reasons for writing in a journal, but her ideas for making the journal writing fun and interesting are what really make this piece valuable. Read it, read it--in fact, buy the book and read the whole thing because all of the essays in it are fantastic--hilarious, touching, personal and real. I envy anyone who gets to read it for the first time. Here's an example: one of her journal ideas is to write lists. She shares her list of things she found when she cleaned under her bed (the following is all a direct quote from pp.10-12): Books: on triple combination; "A Mormon Mother," by Annie Tanner; "The Clown," by Heinrich Boll; "The Tin Drum" by Gunter Grass; "An Essay on Criticism," by Graham Hough; "The Labyrinth of Solitude," by Octavio Paz; the December '83 "National Geographic;" the Roseville phone directory; "By My Guest," by Conrad Hilton; the April '83 "Popular Photography;" "Time" magazine, February 27, 1984; Louise's journal, March 1977; "The Power of Positive Thinking," by Norman Vincent Peale; the February '84 "Reader's Digest," including the titles "My Angry Son" and "Advice from Sexually Happy Wives One set of Tom's office keys A photograph of Sam and Louise A photograph of Tom and completed jigsaw puzzle A letter from Roseville schools about Jonathan's registration Dishes: one red mixing bowl; two saucers; two mugs; one kitchen knife; one empty cherry cola can; one empty Haagen-Dazs chocolate chip carton with lid; one Melmac cup One Rotex labeler One broken toothbrush holder One photograph of Dave and Sue Salmon and girls One empty raisin carton Four black lead pencils One red lead pencil Five felt-tip pens One ballpoint pen One roll of packing tape ne cloth handkerchief One pair of pantyhose One black high-heeled shoe One plastic race car One page from the church directory Two pen caps One broken dart One hanger One bank-deposit slip One seminary worksheet (Exodus 24, 25, and 27) One white shoelace One yellow wrapping ribbon One Roseville bank envelope One disposable razor Three yellow legal pads, one filled with notes on how to get rich, including the title "You Can Negotiate Anything" One stake directory One plastic action figure One pair of scissors One metal whistle One roll of toilet paper Notes by Tom on developing a seasonal recreational facility for ultralite planes, golf, fishing, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and key words from Norman Vincent Peale: "visualize, prayerize, actualize." One empty Kleenex box One score sheet from Yahtzee One belt One piece of chalk One orage peel AND One popsicle stick (End of quote) I would love to know personally a woman who doesn't bother to clean out under her bed very often, but when she does she takes the time to chronicle it in her journal! ===== Darlene Young __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 16:52:03 -0400 From: "Debra L. Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN Finding the Secrets to Healing Our Relationships: Shadow Mountain Press Releases 9Oct01 US UT SLC A2 [MOD: This is only marginally related to literary matters, but I think it provides some interesting food for thought in depicting characters from a Mormon perspective...] Finding the Secrets to Healing Our Relationships SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- From our relationships often flow our deepest joys, but these relationships can sometimes turn bad and thus also bring us our deepest sorrows. When that happens they seem almost impossible to heal, in large part because we can't see how to rid ourselves of the negative thoughts and feelings, like resentment and mistrust, that have grown within us. In "Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves" (Shadow Mountain, $19.95), C. Terry Warner throws surprising and welcome new light on these troubled emotions. He spells out how we can abandon them completely and in the process heal our relationships. As the founder of the renowned Arbinger Institute, Dr. Warner has, along with his colleagues, helped thousands of individuals and families, as well as many organizations, to bring about deep changes in their lives and rediscover the richness and productivity of caring relationships. "Bonds That Make Us Free" is the completion of a manuscript that over the past two decades has circulated nationwide in photocopy form, passed on from friend to friend and thus becoming an underground "classic." Therapists and counselors have adopted it as a crucial component in their work with troubled people. Materials based upon the manuscript have been used to transform organizations in education, business, and rehabilitation in many parts of the world. Dr. Warner begins by showing how and why we generate our entrapping feelings and thoughts, and thus deceive ourselves about our responsibility to them. Even our conscience becomes unreliable, and we cannot find our way out of this emotional predicament. He then shows us the way out--how we can open ourselves to the truth about the people we've been blaming and about ourselves. This allows those feelings of negativity and cynicism to melt away, because a simple understanding of ourselves honestly helps break the self-deception. "Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves" is a groundbreaking tutorial for the human spirit, one that has served many people as an alternative to therapy. "The simple, clean truth about ourselves," Dr. Warner writes, "has more therapeutic power than any psychological theory." ABOUT THE AUTHOR C. Terry Warner holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and is a professor of philosophy at Brigham Young University. He has been a visiting senior member of Linacre College, Oxford University, and in 1979 founded The Arbinger Institute, a widely respected group that devotes itself to helping organizations, families, and individuals. He and his wife, Susan, are the parents of ten children. >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 15:26:25 -0700 (PDT) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] Audience for Journals - --- cgileadi@emerytelcom.net wrote: >but I otherwise don't care to think about anyone > reading my > journal. I find myself trapped when I write with Someone Someday in my > mind, > ready to read it. > I had a difficult time writing in my journal while I was on my mission because for me it became a literary act. I couldn't shake the trap that Cathy so ably describes. Plus I have a hard time writing anyway. Sometimes that fact frustrates me because my mission was so rich in stories and the details of life in Romania...amazing, heartbreaking, vivid, contradictory. But I nurture (or perhaps they simply fester on their own) certain stories and details, sounds and sights and smells, in my mind. They come to me as I walk to and from BART. I'm hoping someday to write much of it down. And already they show up in story ideas and things I've written or am working on. I had a companion who wrote in his journal every day. He wrote a 'classic' journal: Here's what I did, what happened, and how I felt. Someday I'll track him down and see if he'll let me read portions of it, extract details, etc. I'm sure that it's an important document for him and his posterity. But I wonder if he came away with the stories and impressions I did. These images that recur. What are those lines from Eliot? [After some quick Internet research] What I was thinking of is found in T.S. Eliot's poem _Marina_: 'What images return/ O my daughter?' I don't have the patience to write down details. I find that I write down the images that return. So I've read some good responses to Jacob's original query about who is/should be the/an audience for journal writing. But is there something to be said for letting things percolate? Or am I just a loser who should simply write everything down like Lavinia Anderson taking notes at the conference Cathy was at? Capture it before it's gone. I bet Eric Samuelson keeps, if not a personal journal, an extensive writing journal. Marvin Payne has done a great series of articles for Meridian Magaizine on journal writing: http://www.meridianmagazine.com/backstagegraffiti/index.html Is journal writing a key sign of professionalism, or do some of you out there get by with out it? And here's my real question: can one realistically keep both a personal journal and a writing journal? What's the difference between the two? If I only keep a writing journal am I shortchanging my posterity? Are all the fragments that I have, the story drafts and ideas, the amazing lines, a good thing to leave my posterity or should I start keeping a daily diary? Perhaps so. Do I really want them to know me only through my creative writing? But perhaps they can know me better that way. Ooops. Looking back at Jacobs original post, he's pretty much asking the same thing I am above. Well, hopefully these questions generate a whole new round of responses because, although I've enjoyed the posts so far, I'm still hungry for more. ~~William Morris Oakland, California (actually San Francisco at the moment) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 12:25:02 -0600 From: "Benson Parkinson" Subject: Re: [AML] LDS Last Days Lit I heard a rumor once that Gerald Lund's book _The Coming of the Lord_ = (which Roy Schmidt praised on the list) was written on assignment, I think = from Joseph Fielding Smith, who hated Duane Crowther's _Prophecy, Key to = the Future_. I don' t know if it's true (either the assignment, or who = from, or that JFS hated the book), but I've heard Lund's book praised by = curriculum people in the Church Office Building (where I work). Ben Parkinson > > > _Prophecy, Key to the Future,_ by Crowther, though > > > controversial, is an excellent source for End-time stories > > > because he forces a fairly logical timeline on events. > >=20 > > You have to be careful with Crowther. He's controversial because some > > of his most important sources are, um, unreliable or at the very least > > disputable. He banks a lot on the verity of those improbable sources. > >=20 > Knowing that, I've been careful to not base any event in my Millennium > book entirely on Crowther. And even then, I fictionalized it enough so > that the source was ultimately a catalyst rather than a template. >=20 > Thom - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 00:48:04 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Horizon Publisher Thom Duncan wrote: > My first novel was published by them in 1990. They gave me the ugliest > cover in the history of LDS literature. They did the bare minimum to > publicize the book. > > They were always on time with their royalty payments, however. With an ugly cover and no publicity, I'm surprised there were any royalties. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 17:33:55 -0700 From: "Jeff Needle" Subject: Re: [AML] CHANDLER & CHANDLER, _The Gun of Joseph Smith_ (Review) Wow! Amazing stuff. Perhaps it will indeed end up someplace where we can all see them, maybe the Museum across from Temple Square. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brown" To: Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 10:43 AM Subject: Re: [AML] CHANDLER & CHANDLER, _The Gun of Joseph Smith_ (Review) > INTERESTING, Jeff. Reminds me--I held in my hot little hand the pistol > Joseph Smith had with him in Carthage Jail. It belongs to Alva Matheson in > Cedar City, the 98 year old amazing fellow who actually conversed with John > Higbee when John was 80 and Alva was 8. He has a little tiny bedroom in his > basement and MANY guns used in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, plus other > artifacts that would blow you away. Hopefully they will go to a museum > someday! VERY interesting! Marilyn Brown > > > -- > AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature > > - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 18:41:02 -0600 From: luannstaheli Subject: Re: [AML] Book Signing for _Cutting Edge_ Jeff, Hello and welcome to Spanish Fork. I live just a few blocks from you, in the Wolf Hollow 1st ward. I'm in a critique group with your neighbor, Stephanni Hicken, and she was telling us about your success. Congratulations! Lu Ann Staheli - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 20:19:56 -0600 From: Steve Subject: Re: [AML] Gen. Conf. Music on 10/11/01 9:57 AM, Tony Markham at markhata@delhi.edu wrote: > Try "There is no end to _GRACE_" Or "There is no end to _my embarrassment > over this lyric in an otherwise sublime song_" I actually understood it as "grace" when they sang it. Did you? Steve - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 21:17:44 -0700 From: "Susan Kroupa" Subject: [AML] Re: Reviews, CARD, _Sarah_, and HAMILTON, _The Book of Ruth_ Cathy, (and anyone else on this list) read Leif Enger's PEACE LIKE A RIVER. It's a marvelous book that deals matter-of-factly with a man who talks with God alot and who can do miracles. The narrator's voice is like a cross between Twain and Scout in _To Kill A Mockingbird_. The family members all love each other. And much of it is laugh-out-loud funny. Bookpage called this book "a surprising and beguiling mix of heroic quest, cowboy romance and moral fable." PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY says "This is a stunning debut novel, one that sneaks up on you like a whisper and warms you like a quilt in a North Dakota winter, a novel about faith, miracles and family that is, ultimately, miraculous." BOOKLIST says "What readers will appreciate first in Enger's marvelous novel is the language. His limpid sentences are composed with the clarity and richness for which poets strive." Here's a short excerpt to give you an idea of style: From my first breath in this world, all I wanted was a good set of lungs and the air to fill them with--given circumstances, you might presume, for an American baby of the twentieth century. Think about your own first gasp: a shocking wind roweling so easily down your throat, and you still slipping around in the doctor's hands. How you yowled! Not a thing on your mind but breakfast, and that was on the way. When I was born to Helen and Jeremiah Land, in 1951, my lungs refused to kick in. My father wasn't in the delivery room or even in the building; the halls of Wilson Hospital were close and short, and Dad had gone out to pace in the damp September wind. He was praying, rounding the block for the fifth time, when the air quickened. He opened his eyes and discovered he was running--sprinting across the grass toward the door. "How'd you know?" I adored this story, made him tell it all the time. "God told me you were in trouble." "Out loud? Did you hear him?" "Nope, not out loud, But He made me run, Reuben. I guess I figured it out on the way." I had, in fact, been delivered some minutes before. My mother was dazed, propped against soggy pillows, unable to comprehend what Dr. Animas Nokes was telling her. "He still isn't breathing, Mrs. Land." ... When Dad skidded into the room, Dr. Nokes was sitting on the side of the bed holding my mother's hand. She was wailing--I picture her as an old woman here, which is funny, since I was never to see her as one--and old Nokes was attempting to ease her grief. It was unavoidable, he was saying; nothing could be done; perhaps it was for the best. I was lying uncovered on a metal table across the room. Dad lifted me gently. I was very clean...and I was gray and beginning to cool. A little clay boy is what I was. "Breathe," Dad said. Sue - ----- Original Message ----- > > Reviewed by Cathy (Gileadi) Wilson > > I did my Masters in American Literature many years ago; I was young, a > member of the poor-me generation that often wallowed in its literary > miseries. Even so, at the end of the degree, I was pretty sick of all that > downer literature. We love a good story, and there's plenty of misery in > the world to write about, but every year I get less and less tolerant of the > bludgeony type of story we find in _The Book of Ruth_. > > It's easier to write misery than real life laced with hope and end up with a > story that keeps readers reading. Card pulls it off in _Sarah_ and points > the way for LDS authors to try and do the same. > > Cathy (Gileadi) Wilson > Editing Etc. > 1400 West 2060 North > Helper UT 84526 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 18:59:04 -0600 From: "Sharlee Glenn" Subject: Re: [AML] Reviews: HAMILTON, _The Book of Ruth_ Cathy Wilson writes: > At this point in my life, I'd rather end up with hope. _Map of the World_ > seemed to me like a therapy session, and so did _The Book of Ruth_. Why do > readers love these books enough to make them bestsellers? I have no answer. Probably because Oprah tells them to. Seriously. I have to wonder how many of the millions of women who buy the Oprah Club books actually read them. I found both _Map of the World_ and _The Book of Ruth_ in mint condition at D.I. :-) I happen to love Hamilton. I liked _Map_ much more than _The Book of Ruth_, but I was blown-away by the power of Hamilton's language and the vitality of her voice in both books. I hated the way _Ruth_ ended (come to think of it, I pretty much hated the way _Map_ ended too), but I read it with a kind of breathless wonder. I probably wouldn't recommend Hamilton to any of my friends who are not writers. I probably wouldn't even like her very much myself if I were not a writer. The truth is that I read novels very differently now than I did before I started writing fiction. I read for the language, the style, the voice, not for the plot. I guess that's why I love Toni Morrison and Eudora Welty so much too. I'm just a sucker for a brilliantly-turned phrase. [NOTE: Following inserted by moderator from a separate message:] Just a quick P.S. to my earlier post on Hamilton. I didn't mean to imply that her work is all style and sound with no substance. _Map of the World_ is a profound treatise on the power, nature, and limitations of forgiveness. The protagonist's best friend is one of the most skillfully drawn and sympathetically portrayed deeply religious characters I have yet encountered in contemporary American fiction. Sharlee Glenn glennsj@inet-1.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 22:44:30 -0600 From: "Morgan Adair" Subject: RE: [AML] Audience for Journals >>> jsavage@jeffreysavage.com 10/10/01 02:28PM >>> > >What you and I view as fluff, may be viewed by future generations as >invaluable. I know that if my Grandfather had kept a journal, I would be >facinated to read it, even though he spent a good portion of his life >running or just visiting various bars. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich spoke at UVSC last week. She talked about the two = things she is best-known for: a quote ("Well-behaved women seldom make = history"), and her study of the diary of a well-behaved woman (_A = Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812_,= for which Ulrich won the Pulitzer and Bancroft Prizes). She talked about = how much she learned about the everyday life of common people of that time = from Martha Ballard's diary. On the other hand, I've been working on a biography of my great-great = grandfather for several years now. His journal is a source of endless = frustration. He grew up in New York, close to a certain Smith family; he = helped build the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples; he attended the School of = the Prophets when the Word of Wisdom was given; he crossed the plains and = helped found a half-dozen towns in southern Utah. His journal deals with = all these events in single sentences. And then he has dozens of entries = like, "Felt sick today. Went to the store and read the news with Joseph = [his brother]. No mail again." He was president of the Springfield, = Illinois branch when the town had a population of a few thousand and = Abraham Lincoln was practicing law there. And did he ever say a word about = the tall guy who lived on the other side of town who later went to = Washington? Behold, I say unto you, nay. MBA (Morgan B. Adair) - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 00:23:47 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] re: The List and the WTC Frank Maxwell: Larry, how would one obtain a copy of the talk that was presented? After reading your description of the process, I'd like to read the final version. ... Also, Larry, in what area of the country do you live? I've previously asked this to others on the list, after they've recounted interesting personal experiences. I think including details of place and locality adds crispness to one's stories. _______________ Shameless plug alert: According to the biography attached to my review of Elder Groberg's _In the Eye of the Storm_ in the Summer 2001 issue of Irreantum, "He lives with his family in the southwestern part of the United States." End alert. While I agree that details of place and locality may add "crispness to one's stories," too precise a locale may also make it difficult to share some sensitive details that sometimes make a story very interesting. As for how one would obtain a copy of the talk, one would first ask, as you have done. Then, according to 3 Nephi 27:29 (and others), one would receive. Not being one to follow such a simple pattern in such a marvelous scripture, this one would further inquire as to the preference for an Adobe pdf file or an MS Word 97 doc file, or even simple ASCII text which, if Jonathan the Moderator be willing, might even go to the List. These choices and decisions might come by private revelation to my email address, shown below. [MOD: I think I would prefer not to post this one to the List, since the topic isn't primarily literary.] In the meantime, I'll ask if it's ok with my co-conspiritor, since the words weren't all mine. I think he'll be ok with it, but I need to check. We meet again this Saturday. Larry Jackson ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 09:23:07 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Gen. Conf. Music My wife and I have sung Hie to Kolob as a solo on many occasions. We sing = it "Nor to the human race." (Like Tony, I'd prefer to think of that as = the intended meaning). [MOD: I have to cut in with an apology for confusing Eric; that particular suggestion was mine, inserted rudely into Tony's post.] The other possibility is "there is no end to race = as in jerks who presume to judge their brothers and sisters based on = racial or cultural differences." But that's just too depressing; one = would hope that that sort of thing would die out eventually. =20 With the exception of that one line, I love the hymn. It's the strangest, = loopiest poem in the Mormon canon, which is why I like it. Eric Samuelsen =20 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:38:20 -0500 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: Re: [AML] Gen. Conf. Music At 10:57 AM 10/11/01, Tony Markham wrote: > > Wasn't the music in conference fabulous? I especially > > > enjoyed the Sunday morning session's hymn > > > arrangements. "Hie to Kolob" gave me chills. > >Any arrangement that can obfuscate the lyric, "there is no end to race," is >wonderful. How the choir, GA's, congregation, and church sing this without >going cross-eyed is beyond me. And to think that someone would go to all= the >trouble to change the line "You who unto Jesus..." because it sounded too >much like Yoohoo unto Jesus, and yet would leave the other alone. > >I just want to douse somebody with ice cold water. Wake up you dunderhead! > >Try "There is no end to _GRACE_" Or "There is no end to _my embarrassment >over this lyric in an otherwise sublime song_" > >[MOD: My suggested edit would be "No end to human race," which I have= always >believed (or chosen to believe?) was the intended meaning...] Pardon this "Me, too!" type of response, but I agree with Jonathan on=20 having always interpreted it that way (and in fact never thought of any=20 other possibility until reading the above message . . . ) - -- Ronn! :) God bless America, Land that I love! Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam=85 God bless America! My home, sweet home. - -- Irving Berlin (1888-1989) - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #481 ******************************