The Story I Am: Mad About the Writing Life

Rosenblatt (Lapham Rising) scoured through his back catalog to produce this delightful collection of short pieces, which include excerpts from his novels and memoirs (some previously unpublished) and selections of his essays for Time, the New York Review of Books, the Washington Post, and other publications. Though Rosenblatt writes of his desire to avoid obvious connections, thematic links nonetheless emerge. Foremost among these is Rosenblatt’s fascination with writing, in all its forms. In going through his work of over 40 years, he writes, he found a unity of “tone and mood”—“as though I had been playing a few notes of music at a time, scattered over a great many years, and then heard all the disparate parts coalesce into one recognizable tune.” He conveys his appreciation of “the writer’s life” through anecdotes from his teaching, appraisals of other writers, and descriptions of the process of capturing thought in language. The brevity of the excerpts makes the book challenging to read cover to cover, but readers who dip in for short visits will be rewarded. By turns funny, acerbic, and wistful, this collection will provide Rosenblatt’s many fans with much to delight them. Agent: Gloria Loomis, Watkins/Loomis Agency. (Apr.)