RANDOM THOUGHTS

by Melodie Johnson Howe

Good News. From the author Ann Patchett writing for The Wall Street Journal: I’ve just come in from a meeting of the Nashville Public Library Foundation Board. And after sitting through the dismal report on the state of our endowment, the conversation turned to more positive news: the use of library computers is way up since people have been filling out more online job applications, the puppet truck is enjoying high levels of popularity, the after-school program for teens is thriving. “But listen to this,” our excited director of libraries Dona Nicely tells us, “according to our survey, patrons say the main reason they come to the library is for books! We have to get the word out. It isn’t over. People still want to read!”

Patchett continues: According to a recent report from the National Endowment for the Arts, our Nashville library is bearing out a national trend. For the first time in 25 years, the number of people reading fiction is on the rise.

In a year when there seems to have been nothing but collapse I think this is great news, though I’m not sure about the puppet truck. Friends have told me that it is the bad economy that is helping sell fiction. The reason? Books are the cheapest form of entertainment. I say hooey. (I said hooey?) The reading of fiction has been building and much of it is due to the blooming of book clubs across the country, Oprah, (yes, Oprah.) and the readers who love to talk about books. Remember the question: “Is the theater dead?” A similar question will be asked about books while we continue reading and writing them. Speaking of books I highly recommend Patchett’s novel,Bel Canto.

I hope the librarian, Dona Nicely, has read the short story writer, Damon Runyon. She may owe him her last name.

I worked with Patrick McGoohan on a movie called “Moonshine War.” He was a true actor. Not a performer. He did not have the need to draw an audience around him as many actors do. He often sat alone on the set looking unapproachable. I had an angry intense scene with him and he scared the hell out of me with his raw cold power. He was an actor who didn’t need to be loved.

John Mortimer was nominated for a Barry Award for best short story in 2005. And so was I. When I saw my name on the list with his all I could think of was John Mortimer and me? (Sorry JLW for the bad grammar.) We both lost. But that’s okay because Ed Hoch won. Rumpole will endure. But my sadness is for the loss of Mortimer’s brilliant and witty mind. I recommend his autobiography, Clinging to the Wreckage.

A while back Dick Stodghill was railing against the padding in novels. And I was reminded of a scene I had been writing for a book called Beauty Dies. In it my protagonist Maggie Hill is running down a New York street. Since I love the city I was determined to capture it. As Maggie ran, I relentlessly described every nook and cranny that she passed by. When finished, I was thrilled with the scene. The next day I reread it. It was slow, tedious, and unintentionally funny. It seemed to take her a month to run six blocks. BUT I did get four great lines of sharp description from that long page of words. I think many authors are writing to reach a certain number of pages. And it shows in many of their novels. One of the qualities a good writer needs is a critical monitor. Unless he can afford his own personal editor.