Human beings just got to tell stories

April 12, 2009

Back from Utah.

What a glorious trip! This is my third (fourth?) trip to St. George, Utah for work on my book but this time I really felt a much stronger sense of place–which I hope (no, I believe) I can convey in the book. Some days I just sat outside in the red rock canyon and listened to the sounds and wrote in my journal. It was a much needed trip.

I also read from my new favorite book, Tom Spanbauer’s The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon. For years my favorite book has been Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides but now I think Spanbauer’s book is going to knock Eugenides off of the top spot.

I’m completely enamored with Spanbauer’s detail and descriptions, the bawdiness, the honesty– and the narrator, Shed, who I’ve developed a slight crush on.

Two lines from the book really stood out to me this week (both spoken by the character Shed):

Human beings just got to tell stories.

and

The only thing that keeps us from floating off with the wind is our stories. They give us a name and put us in a place, allow us to keep on touching.