Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
A quick, 104 page book on the influences in Eudora Welty’s life and how they shaped her as a writer.
I think Eudora Welty is becoming my literary role model. The more I learn about her and the more I read, the more I find to admire. I read her One Writer's Beginnings, which I think all aspiring writers should probably read. She is gleefully in love with life and frighteningly honest, and she grew up in a beautiful way. One Writer's Beginnings ends: "As you have seen, I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within." She lived a long, healthy life, and she didn't kill herself or kill anyone else or go mad or marry 5 different people; she was just a very observant, cheerful lady who loved to write incredibly complex people.
Honestly expected to like this a lot more than I did. The idea of a book about the moments that created a famous writer was more interesting than the actual reading of it was.
"We were all wrapped by the long ride into some cocoon of our own," says Eudora Welty, describing a long family trip in a car.
In general, this is how I feel listening to Eudora Welty's voice; I've collected all of her recorded works because listening to her evokes in me an altered meditative state of bliss. But hearing her on this three-CD recording of her live reading of a memoir with contemplations on writing (Listening, Learning to See, and Finding a Voice) to an audience--well, it's beyond heavenly.
I've always had a fantasy of spending personal time with Ms. Welty. I would like to just hang out with her, listen to anything she'd say--professionally as a mentor writer, or personally. This CD set is as close as I can get to that experience. You hear her goof and apologize, you hear her warmth, and you hear her mesmerizing voice and accent.
There are a very few writers whose voice reading their own work takes it to a level of transcendent joy and meditation for the listener. This is she. This is that.
In general, this is how I feel listening to Eudora Welty's voice; I've collected all of her recorded works because listening to her evokes in me an altered meditative state of bliss. But hearing her on this three-CD recording of her live reading of a memoir with contemplations on writing (Listening, Learning to See, and Finding a Voice) to an audience--well, it's beyond heavenly.
I've always had a fantasy of spending personal time with Ms. Welty. I would like to just hang out with her, listen to anything she'd say--professionally as a mentor writer, or personally. This CD set is as close as I can get to that experience. You hear her goof and apologize, you hear her warmth, and you hear her mesmerizing voice and accent.
There are a very few writers whose voice reading their own work takes it to a level of transcendent joy and meditation for the listener. This is she. This is that.
I had hoped that Eudora Welty's memoir would be interesting. It was not. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was familiar with Welty's work. I read this for required reading and did not enjoy it.
The first part of the book was a little interesting. Welty mostly talks about her parents and their histories in the memoir which became increasingly boring the farther I got into it. I can sort of relate though: if I wrote a memoir I'd probably spend 100 pages talking about my family history, too.
One Writer's Beginnings wanted to be a thoughtful memoir, but it became lost in meaningless metaphors about mountains and time. It didn't make sense to me. This book will be more interesting to a previous fan of Eudora Welty's novels. So if you have read her books, I would recommend this! But if you haven't, it will just be a waste of time.
The first part of the book was a little interesting. Welty mostly talks about her parents and their histories in the memoir which became increasingly boring the farther I got into it. I can sort of relate though: if I wrote a memoir I'd probably spend 100 pages talking about my family history, too.
One Writer's Beginnings wanted to be a thoughtful memoir, but it became lost in meaningless metaphors about mountains and time. It didn't make sense to me. This book will be more interesting to a previous fan of Eudora Welty's novels. So if you have read her books, I would recommend this! But if you haven't, it will just be a waste of time.
Since Welty's short story "A Worn Path" is the reason I became an English major, and therefore an editor and librarian and teacher, it would seem churlish to give anything fewer than 5 stars to the story of her own life. Plus it's good.
This is a bit of a slow burn at first. There are highs when the author begins to see her parents and her family in general through different lenses, reflecting on how their choices and identities made her identity, as well as her life as an author, possible. A bit disjointed at times, it is still a brief read that can offer a lot to someone interested in the author in particular, or in the general reflection on how the writing life is born.
Would recommend: Probably
This memoir is my first Eudora Welty, which is probably not great since she is a fiction writer at heart. However, it was recommended in On Writing Well, so I borrowed it from the library. It's a slim little thing, just barely over 100 pages, and I flew through the first third with great gusto. The first section is about her childhood in Jackson, Mississippi, and the attention to detail is lovely. The second section was also enjoyable, but the third, about her various stories and eventually becoming a published writer, held me less strongly. The last part dragged along for me, and I finished it out of duty more than anything else -- no one wants to quit a 100-pager at page 70. Even so, I would like to read her essays and short stories, and if I find a cheap, used copy of this memoir, I'd take it home with me.
This memoir is my first Eudora Welty, which is probably not great since she is a fiction writer at heart. However, it was recommended in On Writing Well, so I borrowed it from the library. It's a slim little thing, just barely over 100 pages, and I flew through the first third with great gusto. The first section is about her childhood in Jackson, Mississippi, and the attention to detail is lovely. The second section was also enjoyable, but the third, about her various stories and eventually becoming a published writer, held me less strongly. The last part dragged along for me, and I finished it out of duty more than anything else -- no one wants to quit a 100-pager at page 70. Even so, I would like to read her essays and short stories, and if I find a cheap, used copy of this memoir, I'd take it home with me.
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced