Can you believe this is the last check-in of this year’s MARM?
The temperatures have steadily dropped all month and just the past two mornings, instead of waking up to a layer of frost there has been a skitter (a dusting) of snow, so December is just around the corner. For reals.
In just a few days, I’ll post a wrap-up to highlight everyone’s contributions (if you have participated and contributed but haven’t yet added a link, please add below, so that other MARM-ers can read about what you’ve been reading/watching).
In last week’s New York Times Book Review, (was it last week? I’m perpetually behind with papers), Jenny Slate answered the By-the-Book question “What’s the best book you’ve ever gotten as a gift” in appropriately MARMish fashion:
“My mother gave me ‘Cat’s Eye,’ by Margaret Atwood, when I was in seventh grade. It’s about an artist affected by the social trauma of her teen years. I wasn’t faring well in the social set, and it must have killed my mother to see me become suddenly quiet and flinchy. The book completely rerouted my experience. It was as if I were untangled from a net.”
This year, even more than most years, I have been looking to MARM reading for that kind of untangling.
It has been comforting to think of other people prioritising this kind of reading, thinking of all of you, who also value the work of writers and artists who ask hard questions, willing to engage rather than simply consume (not that I think everyone must always read like this, for this single reason, or always for this reason: there are other reasons and other ways to engage).
MARM 2024 PLANS
Launch (November 1)
Dancing Girls, “Training” (November 5)
Old Babes in the Wood, “My Evil Mother” (November 7)
Week Two: Update and Check-In (November 10)
Dancing Girls, “Lives of the Poets” (November 12)
Old Babes in the Wood, “The Dead Interview” (November 14)
Week Three: Update and Check-In (November 16)
Margaret Atwood’s 85th Birthday (November 18)
Dancing Girls, “Dancing Girls” (November 19)
Old Babes in the Wood, “Impatient Griselda” (November 21)
Week Four: Update and Check-In (November 24)
Dancing Girls, “Giving Birth” (November 26)
Old Babes in the Wood, “Bad Teeth” (November 28)
Wrap-Up (November 30)
In a year with a record number of democratic elections around the globe, and with the recent American election having such far-reaching implications globally, it’s felt more important than ever to feel in company.
Somewhere in the NYT (it was probably the same weekend in which Jenny Slate’s “By the Book” appeared, someone quoted Timothy Snyder writing in a Philadelphia newspaper: “They want you to be alone. Nobody is going to fix this alone. That’s not how this works.”
If you’re MARMing, you’re not alone! If you’re reading this, you aren’t alone. (And even if you’re not reading this, you’re not alone either.)
And here’s a bit of proof from England and Australia—5.709 km and 18,142 km from where Margaret Atwood lives—with:
In a similar spirit of recalling community, Stefanie (who’s not technically MARMing, but who’s been steadily commenting) recently shared this video in her cosy digital corner of the world, with Michael Franti & Spearhead performing “Brighter Day”.
She wanted to embed the video but ran into a technical limitiation, so I’m including it here for all of us, in case you missed her share. Hopefully it brightens your day too, and maybe you can share it as well.
Pass it on, says seventh-grade me.
This past week, I watched that video a few times. And I read the Dancing Girls and Old Babes short stories for that week and this week, to see how well I’m doing with my Bingo—still no rows or columns complete, and that’s probably where things will settle out (thank you Photos, for regularly asking me if I want to delete my cluttered images, I appreciate being reminded of my clutter-love with too many books and papers). Then I watched the two-hour-long video about the Griseldas.
This week I will read another essay from Burning Questions (which I have borrowed three times from the library and should really add to my collection) and begin Stacey Abrams’ debut thriller (which MA recommended on Twitter shortly after it was published). These two volumes are my small nod to #LoveYourLibrary which BookishBeck hosts monthly on the last Monday, pictured alongside with my updated Bingo card.
How about you? Were you reading Margaret Atwood in the seventh grade? (I most definitely was not.)
What did seventh-grade you read instead? (The Three Investigators mysteries, L.M. Montgomery’s girlhood stories, and the Anastasia Krupnik series.)
Did your social set make you flinch? Do you follow “By the Book”? (Devotedly.)
Are you a fan of Jenny Slate? (I was a Marcel the Shell fan before he got famous.)
Margaret Atwood
“If you were a rocky, watery northern country, cool in climate, large in geographical expanse, small but diverse in population, and with a huge aggressive neighbour to the south, why wouldn’t you have concerns that varied from those of the huge aggressive neighbour?”
Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972)
Thanks for the shout-out. I will finally have some reviews for you tomorrow or Wednesday. Fun to see Michael Franti’s name here. He was a regular at a music and arts festival we used to attend up until c. 2010 and could be relied on for uplift.
I most definitely wasn’t reading Atwood in 7th grade. It’s funny, Cat’s Eye was my first of hers too, I think. I read it in high school and loved it. 7th grade me was reading a mix of juvenile and adult titles – I think I read Danielle Steele in 7th grade, alongside teen thrillers by Christopher Pike. I only know Jenny Slate from her role on Parks and Rec – she played Mona-Lisa (LOL!) the sister of Jean-Ralphio. So funny.
As far as MARM goes, this year it was not meant to be for me. I tried Good Bones and Simple Murders, and I realized that I don’t have the patience for flash fiction. At least not in a “read this in a timely fashion” sort of way. I prefer a novel – or at least a short story – to sink my teeth into. A page or two doesn’t give my much of anything. (But curiously, a poem gives me a lot. Go figure!)
Thank you for the reminder that we are not alone! It is comforting to think of all the bookish friends out there bravely facing the challenges of daily modern life.