Dear friends of childhood, classmates, thank you,
scant hundred of you, for providing a
sufficiency of human types: beauty,
bully, hanger-on, natural,
twin, and fatso - all a writer needs,
all there in Shillington, its trolley cars
and little factories, cornfields and trees
leaf fires, snowflakes, pumpkins, valentines.
(to print the rest would not be an injustice, just an invitation to enjoy what John Updike has always brought me...much inspired writing and passionate prose I never forget, even after reading him in high school. In fact, as would be natural for any curious reader, his writings mean more to me now than they did when I was only 19. Like E.B. White, his stories (taking a walk from his poems now) are so good that when I read them, I actually connect with them. Based on my own life. And That, my friends, is good writing. When someone you don't know, you don't get the chance to show off on Facebook or some old city you lived in, touches you personally and has done that from age 12 or so. That is true talent, on their part.
I highly recommend John Updike and also EB White's essays to read to your children. White had an office in NYC but a suburban farm in the East Coast which he tried to take care of after his retirement. He gave us " Charlotte's Web" but he also wrote mostly adult essays and short stories for a living and they are worth the read. I wish everyone would read his volumes and come away with the happiness, peace and also questions he had about the turbulence of the hurricanes of the East Coast and the changes his family was facing. Both writers are outstanding for relativity and understanding of our modern world and it's changes. With humor and insight.
Read a book!
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