Charleston, South Carolina by Jim McKeown

November 4, 2011 by rabbitreader2 | 2 Comments

Here I am in overcast, breezy, wonderful Charleston.  Our annual trips for this weekend conference never fail to relax, renew, and settle my weary bones.  This trip comes at precisely the right time – after the furious work of The Stone Circle, mid-terms, the beginning of the last push to the end of this semester, and, new this year, the final proofing of the November Issue of Bohemia. 

A friend asked me if maybe I have a bit too much work on my plate.  I emphatically answered, “No!”  I love every bit of what I do.  My classes are going well – for the most part – Stone Circle is at the printer, Bohemia is nearly so, and I am now ready for the final four weeks of the semester.

Charleston plays a large role in the truth of what I write.

I brought four books with me.  The first, Good without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Gregory Epstein, is an interesting philosophical history of humanism.  I have been dipping in and out of this one for a couple of weeks, and I have decided this weekend will see the end of it.

While on the flight here, I looked at the latest issue of Poets and Writers, and read an article by Ellen Sussman, whose recently published novel, French Lessons, I happen to have and brought as book Number Two.  In the P&W article, she writes about the importance of writers writing, as often and as much as they can.  So, I spent most of today reading about the adventures of Josie in Paris – my favorite city outside the US.  Some might see this as “chick lit,” but I do not.  It has a flare of the literary about it, and I do enjoy the occasional romance.

I am excited about Number Three, José Saramago’s last novel, Cain, but the pick of this litter is the 2011 Booker Prize-winning novel by Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending.   More later, I have to get back to my reading!

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