books
to read
music for your eyes::
"I'm
always making
a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been."
-
Billie Holiday
If
you listen
to serious blues and jazz
and are looking to read
about one of the
greatest legends in music,
Word Smitten editors
suggest you begin
with this book by Farah Griffin, an author whose own sense of
style, witty observations, and
thoughtful correlations
about today's artists and the legendary Billie Holiday are bringing
new insight to this celebrated and elegant woman's singing career.
Like Ms. Griffin, we are great fans of Lady Day.
If
You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery:
In Search of Billie Holiday
By Farah Jasmine Griffin
Hardcover:
288 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.86 x 9.56 x 6.43
Publisher: Free Press; (May 2001)
ISBN: 0684868083
Excerpt
from a Publishers Weekly review:
"This rumination on the famous jazz singer is a mix of
hagiography, music appreciation and criticism of past biographers,
yet on its own terms, it works.
Griffin
is determined not to see Holiday as a tragic victim. Probably
the best-known book about Holiday is her autobiography, Lady
Sings the Blues, written "with" William Dufty (Griffin
claims that Dufty actually created the book from talks and previously
published interviews with Holiday).
Griffin
repeatedly points out errors in that work (e.g., it opens claiming
that when Holiday was born, her mother was only 13, when in
fact she was 19) and speculates as to why such errors might
have been made intentionally (e.g., to portray her mother not
as promiscuous but rather as the young victim of an older man).
Griffin
writes in a pleasant, easy tone, and many of her observations
about the litany of notorious stereotypes applied to Holiday
are astute... Griffin compares Holiday to other artists, like
Bessie Smith, L'il Kim and Mary J. Blige, only to decide that
none can compete with Holiday." Copyright 2001 Cahners
Business Information, Inc.
Griffin's
agent is Loretta Barrett.
::More
on Billie Holiday::
PBS/JAZZ
Poetry~Saint
Billie
Suddenly
it's summer and time for flash
fiction.
For writers who are not yet familiar with
the form of fiction known as "flash" or "sudden"
fiction, we recommend this book (on the the publisher's backlist,
but very available):
Flash
Fiction - 72 Very Short Stories
Edited by James Thomas, Denise Thomas and Tom Hazuka
1992 / paperback / ISBN 0-393-30883-9
W. W. Norton & Company Inc.
It's Word Smitten's recommended read. More praise:
"Flash Fiction is purely and
simply a delight. Lots of stars are mustered here, but best
of all for my money are the newer names and voices that speak
well to and for the future." —George
Garrett, Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing, University
of Virginia
Recommended
excerpts from the book:
Bread
By Margaret Atwood
August
Evening
By Joyce Carol Oates
The
Widow
By John Updike
[James
and Denise Thomas live in Ohio, where he teaches at Wright State
University. Tom Hazuka teaches in the English Department at
Central Connecticut State University.]
Looking
to read an excerpt?
Don't know which book to buy?
We recommend BookBrowse.com for a great read and for up-to-date
book launch information.
Looking for knowledgable book proprietors? We suggest supporting
local independent bookstores. We do.
Word Smitten is a proud supporter and member
of CLMP.
Native
Shore Fiction (Short Stories)
Archived submissions:
Honorable Mention from last year's Storycove writers and the
winning entry for Storycove and for The
1010 Fiction.
