Saturday, September 19, 2009

Saturday Scavenger Hunt - YARN


So - the word for the week is YARN coined by moi. I tag Woman with No Regrets for next week's word.

The obvious YARN for me is, well, YARN.




As I was thinking about it this week, however, I decided that I wanted to go with the YARN in "She tells a good YARN."

SO as I thought about the YARN I would tell, I came up with Ditka.

As in Butckus.

But as I was reading this morning, trying to wake up. I realized that the guy who wrote the book I am reading, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien could really tell a good YARN.


So let me share part of his really good YARN.

It's time to be blunt.
I'm forty-three years old, true, and I'm a writer
now, and a long time ago I walked through
Quang Ngai Province as a foot soldier.

Almost everything else is invented.

But it's not a game. It's a form.
Right here, now, as I invent myself,
I'm thinking of all I want to tell you about why
this book is written as it is. For instance, I want
to tell you this: twenty years ago I watched a
man die on a trial near the village of My Khe.
I did not kill him. But I was present, you see,
and my presence was guilt enough. I
remember his face, which was not a pretty face,
because his jaw was in his throat, and I
remember felling the burden of responsibility
and grief. I blamed myself. And rightly so,
because I was present.

But listen, even that story is made up.

This guy Tim can sure write. It is amazing how a novel about soldiers in Vietnam can
be about me, living this life of mine.

It's a good read. Check it out!

Happy weekend, soldiers!

5 comments:

  1. I will definitely have to check that out...you know how I love a good yarn.

    Your knitting yarn is so pretty, I love the colors.

    Can't wait to see what NoRegrets picks :-)

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  2. I have not read that book but have heard from many that it is well worth reading. A confession here... I have not read anything much lately. Sssshhhh... .I know, I'm a librarian... I am supposed to read all the time and I did for years and now I'm on hiatus. Don't tell!

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  3. I am a voracious reader, but I haven't heard about this book. I will have to put it on my lengthy "To Read" list.

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  4. laura - it is a good book - well written with thought that I have had, but have not put into writing

    no regrets - thanks for taking the gauntlet!

    Ananda - Silly lady - not reading? You will curl up into a ball and die - get thee to a book!

    cube - it is absolutely worth the list!

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