Wednesday Nights - From Wild to Not So Much

Back when I was a frosh in college, Wednesday night was known as “Wild Wednesdays” at Who’s On First, a delightful little dive-of-a-bar by Fenway Park.  It was 18 to party….21 to drink.  Which obviously meant, if you were a girl with a pulse you could drink. 

And in a 'holy crap' moment...it appears
this place is still there!

I know the pulse test to be true, because when I first got to BU not only was I not-quite-18, but I also didn’t have Driver’s License to prove I was only 17.  It was a college ID and a smile.  And BAM!  Wild.  Wednesdays.  (And always, ALWAYS, terrible, miserable Thursday mornings in my COM101 class.) 

But fast-forward a few lot of years and, oh! how the mighty have fallen.  There’s not going to be any question of “who’s on first?” tonight.  More like “who’s on the couch?”.   What can I say? Older and wiser, perhaps.  But really it’s suburban visit + snowy storm + I’m far more selective with my nights out no desire right now to rage.

In the years after college, when I knew deep down I wanted to write, but was too afraid to openly pursue it, I used to devour all sorts of writing advice and books.  My dad actually turned my onto this column in The New York Times, called “Writers on Writing”.  (In case the title wasn’t clear enough, it was writers…well…talking about writing.) And that’s kind of where I’m stealing my new Wednesday theme from….Writing on Wednesday.

I devoured the NYT column.  Because I was eager. And obsessed. And convinced that if I read enough great articles about writing by the writers I admired (and even those I didn’t necessarily count amongst my favorites but from who I gleaned some wonderful writing-life lessons) that I too could become a greater writer in my own right.  (God, that was a little bit of a painful sentence…write….right…right?). 

Now I realize some people might think I’m puffing my little ego by calling myself a writer, but someone once said, “If you write, you’re a writer”.  So there you go.

Anyway…while I by no means have the authority to talk about the craft of writing per say (partially because I though “persay” was one big word until spellcheck just spellchecked my ass in this writing moment.). But for me, Wednesdays are my days to write about writing…..writers I love, books I’m reading or want to be reading, quotes or inspirations about writing, ideas I’m tossing around and all that great stuff.

Now, I’ve oddly managed to have a smidge of self-control in Barnes & Noble these days and have even managed to part with some books that were collecting dust and taking up some very valuable real estate on my bookshelf….books that I will never read once (never mind again) or books that I ditched part way through.  Out with the old and in with the new.

So here’s what’s on the nightstand….or on deck for nightstand status….these days…..

Something Old:

I am the girl who will watch a movie three times over.  And a TV episode twice that.  And who will reread books over and over, even though I know how the story ends.  I’m also the girl who doesn’t understand people who don’t follow this same behavior, but that’s a head case for another day.

So, while clocking some quality time at the parents this holiday season, I made a promise to them (and myself) to go through some final boxes of stuff that are living out their years in the basement. There are lots of letters and pictures from my college and high school days (and I would probably die if my parents read any of them, so thank God they have major respect for privacy).

But my main selfish goal was to find a book I knew I had, that I didn’t bring to NYC with me all those years ago – The Robber Bride. When I was first introduced to Margaret Atwood in college, but way of The Handmaid’s Tale, I can best describe the reading of that book as a total game changer.  In love with her writing style. Her storytelling. Her everything.  I became an instant fan.  And it was one of those ‘a-ha’ moments that solidified my desire to become a writer….to think “I want to write something that impacts some nineteen-year-old girl someday”.

When I read The Robber Bride there was no room for doubt.  Margaret Atwood has been on my admired-author list ever since.  I will admit I’ve lost touch with her books over the years, but saw a quote from The Robber Bride recently and, as usual, I became obsessed with getting it back.

I’m now so So SO excited to have my dog-eared, underlined copy back in my hands.  And even more excited to read it again at a whole different point in my life for a whole different perspective.  By far one of my most favorite things to do is reread and rediscover books that hit home with me….and to see what I get from them after years of life and new perspective….

Something New…

I just picked up Carole Radziwell’s What Remains.  I will full on confess my girl crush started early on in the latest RHONY’s season and when my friend M. told me about Carole’s Bravo blog, the crush got bigger.

I had every intention of getting this book sooner, but you know how that story goes.  And then a few weeks ago I was reading an interview with Chris Colfer and he listed Carole’s book on his “to read” list and it was like fate reminding me to get it.

I expect full tears, as it’s the true story of how her best friend, Caroline Bessette, and then her husband, both die within three weeks of each other.  It’s about pushing through and picking yourself up and how to go on when you feel like you can’t.  It sounds weird to say I’m excited to read this one, so will go with curious and very interested.

I’m also the girl who cries while watching those previously repeated movies…and TV shows….and books and hopefully will come out the other side with a new perspective and appreciation for things.

And something that is filled with clues….

I mentioned Alafair Burke not so long ago, when I was reading Never Tell a modern day mystery set in NYC that opens with a popular prep school girl being found in her bathtub, dead from a suicide.  Or was it murder?  I was hooked. 

In a major reading faux pas, I knew going in that this book was part of a series about Detective Ellie Hatcher…and was in fact the newest book in the series…yet went ahead and read it anyway, totally out of order.  Burn me at the stake. 

But the silver lining - in discovering a series in progress, I don’t have to wait impatiently for the next book to come out.  Still not playing by the rules, I bought the second and third books in the series and am about 100 pages into Angel’s Tip. The back jacket of the book - three girls come to NYC on a Spring Break trip of a lifetime.  One girl is found dead the next morning and Ellie and her partner work to find out the who, what, when, where and why.  So far, so great!

I have to say Alafair Burke’s books are fast-paced, somewhat twisty reads and am so happy to have a new author in the fold.

Three up.  One partway down. 

So what are you reading these days?  Any recommendations? I’m always on the lookout for the next best thing so please….tell me what’s on your reading list.

 Or your writing list if that's more your thing....