novels – Page 3 – Andrew Careaga

What makes fiction literary?

How do we define a style that many see as elitist, pretentious, and irrelevant?

What does the term “literary fiction” mean? What makes a story or essay or novel literary instead of … something else?

That’s a question I’ve been pondering for some time now. Lately, a series of pieces appearing online have attempted to get at an answer.

Celebrate Hispanic heritage: read Hispanic/Latinx writers

‘… culture shapes identity and defines possibility’ and ‘teaches us who we are, what to believe, and how to dream.’

National Hispanic Heritage Month is upon us once again in the USA, and as has become my custom, I plan to devote quite a bit of my reading time to literature by people of Hispanic heritage this month.

I think it’s important to appreciate, learn from, and celebrate the contributions of cultures beyond our mainstream American culture. I agree with the words of actress, director, and producer America Ferrera, who writes in her introduction to America Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, “culture shapes identity and defines possibility” and “teaches us who we are, what to believe, and how to dream. We should all be able to look at the world around us and see a reflection of our true lived experiences. Until then, the American story will never be complete.”

How do we make reading fun again?

Reading for pleasure is down. What’s a writer to do?

As a kid growing up in the ’60s and ’70s, I remember public service announcements interrupting my Saturday-morning cartoon time to tell me about an organization called Reading Is Fundamental. RIF is still around, and still working to promote literary among children in the U.S., but judging from a recent study of American’s reading habits, fewer people in this country are reading for pleasure than they were two decades ago.

A PSA for Reading Is Fundamental

According to this study, “reading for pleasure in the United States has declined by more than 40% over the last 20 years–raising urgent questions about the cultural, educational and health consequences of a nation reading less.”

Friday Five: recent reads, watches, and listens

Happy Friday, readers! Here are five things that have captured my attention lately:

Reading: My friend and neighbor Agnes Vojta‘s latest collection of poetry, Love Song to Gravity. Agnes is a poet and a physicist, so the title of this collection makes sense. In Love Song…, Agnes explores grief, nature, the change of seasons, time, love, and many other things that make us human and connect us to each other and to our world, including, of course, gravity. You can read some selected poems from this book, and listen to Agnes read some of them. You can also read, right here on this website, my Friday Five Q&A with Agnes from March 2024.
Watching: A great, short (under 10-minute) TED Talk titled “A meditation on Rumi and the power of poetry,” delivered in December 2023 by Iranian-born author and translator Leili Anvar. In this talk, she reflects on the poetry of Rumi, a 13th-century mystic Persian poet, and the power of poetry and language.
Listening to: This podcast interview by organizational psychologist Adam Grant with the very funny Ed Helms (who played Andy Bernard, aka the ‘Nard Dog, on The Office) about learning through failure, with mentions of Helms’ book about failure, SNAFU: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups. Helms cut his teeth as a standup comedian, and if there’s any occupation that submits itself to failure and humiliation more regularly than a writer, it’s that of standup comedian. I recommend every writer give this a listen.
Reading: Debuting at 70, an essay by Ruth Bonapace, who published her debut novel, The Bulgarian Training Manual, last year as a newly minted septuagenarian. (I’m closing in on age 65, so there’s hope for me yet.)
Reading and listening to: Handmade Playlist Box Set: The Complete Works of Summer, a nostalgia-inducing essay by writer and music lover Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, etc.) on the music of summer seasons past and present, complete with Spotify playlists. (This reminds me: years ago, before I moved on to Apple Music for much of my listening, I put together a summer playlist of my own, called #summersongs, and made it open for collaboration, so if you want to add to it, feel free to do so. Or just have a listen if you’re so inclined, and marvel at my impeccable taste in music.)

Have a good weekend, and try to enjoy these waning days of summer.

Top image: Me poolside with my copy of Agnes Vojta’s latest collection of poems, Love Song to Gravity.

Friday Five: a conversation with UK writer u.v. ray

‘I don’t write existential angst, I write existential rebellion.’

Just as the premature rumors of Samuel Clemens’/Mark Twain’s death were greatly exaggerated, so it is with UK writer u.v. ray. Never mind that his official author’s bio on Amazon claims he “went missing during a sail-boat trip in the Bermuda Triangle” last February, soon after he completed his chapbook Speed Trials ’94. He’s alive and well–or alive and writing at least–and is about to launch a new novel, Druggernaut, into the world. Currently Spinners editor Roual Galloway and u.v. are making final preparations for the book launch. It will be available very soon from 5767 Productions.

Writer u.v. ray with a proof copy of his new novel, *Druggernaut*

Born in Birmingham, England, u.v.’s raw, gritty fiction and poetry evokes comparisons to writers like Charles Bukowski and William S. Burroughs and others who captured the dark world of society’s underbelly. After dropping out of school at 15, he spent decades drifting through bars and nightclubs, experiences that fuel his works like We Are Glass (2012) and Drug Story (2019). His writing, published in numerous underground magazines, portrays a visceral exploration of alienation and fleeting redemption.