Summer Reading Roundup: Mattaponi Queen

I've been on a short story kick recently, starting with some McSweeney's books I read while I was housesitting, going through Alice Munro's Runaway (which really deserves its own post), and winding up with Belle Boggs' Mattaponi Queen.

I bought Mattaponi Queen a few weeks ago, then when I was at Quail Ridge last weekend I saw that the author was coming this week! So for a few days I was reading Alice Munro's stories and Belle Boggs' simultaneously. I don't recommend this. The stories in Runaway pack a bigger punch and are better-constructed, but that is also a career-topping collection for Alice Munro. Belle Boggs, who is much younger, writes like the recent MFA that she is. Which isn't a bad thing, but I couldn't keep from comparing the two as I read. Maybe just don't try to read two similar books simultaneously in general!

The stories in MQ are really nice vignettes (or longer arcs) and the rural Virginian scenery is laid out beautifully. The characters are believable if not so heart-grabbing as Munro's; the pace is also not as quick, or it feels slower, which is sort of what I mean by the MFA style--the characters take a little longer to get in your head, and the overall feel is not so dynamic as it is ruminative. But I would recommend it. Did I grade the other book(s) with letter grades? If so, MQ gets a B+.

And! Belle Boggs was at Quail Ridge last night and I went to see her read. She and her mom pickled some stuff and made jams to pass out at her readings, so here is a jar of "Loretta's hot bread & butter pickles" (the pickles and jams were all named after characters...maybe there will be another collection of their recipes and cooking habits?) pictured next to the book. Isn't the cover art beautiful?? Obviously I brought my copy for her to sign. She asked if I was a writer, to which I replied "uhh...well..." because I don't know if "yes" is an honest answer to that, but neither is no. You know.

"Well, I teach high school," she said, and signed my book with all best wishes. She also pressed a four-leaf clover into the title page.

Read this book, everybody.

Raleigh wins

Raleigh is the best place to live in America!!!! Who knew????

The article states that Raleigh's housing market is growing faster than all other major markets except Las Vegas. Our proportion of young adults ranks third to Austin and D.C. So why don't we have things like SXSW and the Smithsonian? There's always this.

Bad on bad on bad

Bad news, that is! Three of my favorite places in Raleigh are going to be gone within 2 months (max). I'm sad and mad about this.

1. Rockford. Closed suddenly yesterday! Rob and I had dinner there just on Saturday and it was great. I was so thankful for the cozy little second-story space and unpretentious servers and cheap sandwiches and drinks. So thankful, but I guess not thankful enough! CLOSED.

2. Jackpot. I had mixed feelings about this place and occasionally would hem and haw about going there; but like many fun things, I quit my complaining when I got there and would usually stay until closing time. Especially after the smoking ban! Lots of complaints about "hipsters," blah blah, but it was cheap there and you'd always run into someone you knew. And the music was good most of the time. And IHOP is right across the gravel parking lot! Closing "imminently."

3. Get Dressed! If you know Greensboro, it was a little like Design Archives but not as pricey and right across the street from the bead store, Ornamentea...aka perfect! I bought a lot of things there that I now wear weekly or even daily, like my favorite little silver-feathers ring. I hate that this place is closing. It's happening next month though, so there's still time to go. I bet the final sales will be amazing.

This is all sad partly because I enjoyed these places and partly because they gave Raleigh some needed character and community. Community is a "buzzword" these days but I don't know what else to call walking into a bar and knowing everyone in it.

One commenter on the blog where I read all my bad news lately, New Raleigh, wrote this and I have to agree. Well said, "Synaesthesiac":

It is ironic that many of the qualities that make a city a popular new area for growth get bulldozed to support that growth. It occurs because of a major disconnect between developers and the street level of culture. Rarely a developer like Empire bridges the gap. It is the cultural elements that help make the headlines, attracting both good growth as well as soulless capitalists. I always wondered what is the fundamental difference between the Glenwood South scene, Jackpot, and Fayetteville St. scenes. Some casual interviews revealed that the Glenwood South crowd is dominated by very recent relocees, often northerners, whereas the other spots are mostly North Carolinians. The out of towners move here because of the headlines, but aren’t properly sensitized to understand the culture once they arrive. They have no sentimentality about a place like Jackpot, and will pay to move in to some new condo without a wince. It is a sad but inevitable process.