More Joyce

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This morning, I started reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, which I bought for a mere $2 at the Princeton Library (they have the best on-going book sale. Also got The Falls by JCO, coincidentally. And Joyce teaches in Princeton and lives down the street from Dan. Do you think she would mind if I just happened by her place? She has a story called "My Madman" about an academic who gets threatened in the elevator by an wiry, unhinged graduate student. I bet it's based on something she has experienced). Anyway, I already love this book. Maybe I am predisposed to love it because on the cover, it states, "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize," but I do think it's well-written. Have only read part of the first chapter, but I like it already. You should read it.

Had that super transparent insecurity dream last night where I'm in a play but don't know any of the lines and haven't rehearsed. I think, in this one, I wasn't actually going onstage, but I was helping someone I knew from college practice his lines. He was a Shakespeare villain, can't remember which one, though I know it wasn't Iago. Everyone I knew from the theater department at that time came parading by and I thought, What?They're still here? I think it's because I'm working on a story about a 14 year old girl who wants to audition for the gifted high school program. We had one near me and I was always jealous b/c they won superior ratings at our high school competitions.

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