Priceless

My 8-year-old son brought home his report card the other day and the comments from his various teachers were good to read. Overall he was evaluated as being a good student with academic talent at the appropriate level. He was described more than once as "enthusiastic."

i began to wonder if "enthusiastic" was a code word / euphemism for something else. My suspicion was heightened after reading comments from the gym teacher.

His gym teacher used "enthusiastic", but then put in parentheses: "sometimes takes unneccesary risks with self; ex. sliding across the gym floor."

Well, he is an 8-year-old boy and he is in GYM class.

More Jazz

Luke comments:

I agree with Tim's take on the book. I bought and reccomended Jazz for
a couple people a year or two ago. I think that his writing took a bell
shaped curve, from the searching of VW, hit its stride at the top with
Jazz, and now is starting to lose some attraction for me with
Searching, as he goes from wanderer to pilgrim to preacher in his tone, across
the three books.

it's interesting to hear the comments coming in on this book. and i have to say it adds to my interest, which is a good thing.

but it also makes me wonder: as a writer who one day would love to write for a living; authoring books which would be instructive as well as pleasurable to read, it seems it is easy to become to "preachy" in tone and lose readers.

how does a writer speak firmly and with a sense of authority about something; speak with conviction from the depth of his/her heart, without crossing a line into "preachy-ness" and alienate readers?

it seems a blurry line at times.

More Jazz

Luke comments:

I agree with Tim's take on the book. I bought and reccomended Jazz for
a couple people a year or two ago. I think that his writing took a bell
shaped curve, from the searching of VW, hit its stride at the top with
Jazz, and now is starting to lose some attraction for me with
Searching, as he goes from wanderer to pilgrim to preacher in his tone, across
the three books.

it's interesting to hear the comments coming in on this book. and i have to say it adds to my interest, which is a good thing.

but it also makes me wonder: as a writer who one day would love to write for a living; authoring books which would be instructive as well as pleasurable to read, it seems it is easy to become to "preachy" in tone and lose readers.

how does a writer speak firmly and with a sense of authority about something; speak with conviction from the depth of his/her heart, without crossing a line into "preachy-ness" and alienate readers?

it seems a blurry line at times.

Blue Like Jazz . . .

Tim comments:

I felt Miller's politics coming through more in his subsequent book,
Searching For God Knows What, than in Jazz. That may be why I liked the
latter much more than the former. Blue Like Jazz is the "cool thing"
these days it seems, but I actually read it more than 2 years ago now,
having been familiarized with Miller's writing through his first book,
Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance. I loved "Prayer" and found
"Jazz" to be life changing, in the end, as it lead me to my decision to
find a new church - BRV, which has obviously snowballed into a series
of other life changing events. So I guess that qualifies as a ringing
endorsement, eh?

yes, it is a ringing endorsement. i see what Leslie meant, i just started the book but already i am struck by Miller's honesty and vulnerability.