Cormac McCarthy had his Lettera 32 Olivetti. I want a keyboard I can love for a lifetime!

I believe it was Paul Auster who wrote an essay for Toni Morrison's Burn this book: PEN writers speak out on the power of the word in which he described his obsession with writing instruments. I've shared this obsession since I was taught to write my name. I was one of the kids who would ask for pen sets and think the mechanical pencil was childish (which is ironic, because until I was nearly finished with my Bachelor degree, I wrote everything except for checks in pencil, in case it needed editing). But I've always LOVED pens and journals and paper and yadda yadda.

In fact, I currently have a pen in my desk drawer that I've owned for probably two decades (& I'm only 30, so it's been with me over half my life!). It ran out of ink long ago and I haven't been able to find a replacement cartridge. But it has such a perfect height & weight that I'm unable to part with it. It's not even comfortable to write with! It's metal and causes a horrible indention on my finger that feels like it has reached and begun to grind on bone if I use it very long. But there's just something about the way I remember my penmanship appearing (when the dang thing still had ink) that keeps me from throwing it away.

ANYWAY __ THE POINT IS __ Knowing this, I am astonished that I've just realized the hideous design of my current Dell Studio laptop keyboard! It's flat, unresponsive and utterly painful to use after 2,000 or so words.

I'm not romantic enough about writing to think I need to toil away on my beige IBM Selectric II, though I do thoroughly enjoy using it. In fact, I probably WOULD use the darn thing if I could find sensibly priced ink ribbons. But a good keyboard built for those of us who spend hours at a time typing away MUST exist somewhere, right? So, I'm on the hunt.

Any heads-up on where to look is greatly appreciated!

52 books in 52 weeks

I had intended to blog my attempt to read 52 books in 52 weeks. But I'm already having to play catch-up in documenting my reading list for this year. So, I'm bailing on the 52-52 structure. I don't feel bad about it. Seems a pointless way to structure your artistic intake or intellectual expansion anyway. Instead, I'm just gonna keep things loose.

One thing I've read so far this year is Chris Offutt's No Heroes: A Memoir of Coming Home. I like it. It is a simple and easy read, but I thoroughly enjoy the candidness behind Offutt's post-college take on his rural homeland. A lot of it rings true for myself. I didn't know until after reading it that Offutt was involved in Weeds Season 5, which is simply an interesting digression and not really relevant to the book. I plan to read more from Offutt.

I also read George Singleton's The Half-Mammals of Dixie, which is a collection of overlapping short stories that borders on being an episodic novel. It was the same type of Southern/Rural appeal as the above mentioned Offutt work.

While working on a stack of other titles, I completed K.R. Moorhead's The First Law of Motion: A Novel. It kept my attention and is a fast read - something to carry with you to help kill boredom. The protagonist of the story is utterly despicable, but she somehow starts to make you pity her. I wouldn't recommend it outright. But, if asked, I wouldn't discourage someone from reading it, either. It's ALMOST a female version of Chad Kultgen's the average american male, but not quite.

The latest concluded novel is S.E. Hinton's Hawkes Harbor. While the escapades of Jamie and Kellen are thoroughly entertaining, toward the middle of the book the story looses focus and becomes convoluted. If you want to read something great from Hinton, read The Outsiders. If you want to read a good vampire story, go to your nearest bookstore, find a woman (most likely dressed in black with long purple-tinted hair and smelling of cats) and ask her for a recommendation.