I've long admired your criticism and excellent taste but you have never been more wrong, The Dog Story is work of staggering genius. I'm going to tell it to my 4-year-old tonight and I predict she'll be obsessed. Also, congratulations on The Default World; I just ordered it!
I totally forgot I owed you a follow up on this--M loved it obsessively (asked for it every night) for a week and a half, then moved on to other stories, which is her usual MO for any story of the mouth (aka a story I tell her without a picture book for reference). I downloaded it to my phone and read your exact words the first time, but the beats were easy enough to memorize I retold it from memory after that first time.
Hi Naomi - I just discovered you yesterday from a couple YouTube interviews (Jared Henderson and Henry Oliver) and decided to visit your Substack today. In those interviews I was instantly taken by your enthusiasm for your classics reading, but in your writing I am gobsmacked by your ability to so capture Henry James's ineffable and endlessly fascinating literary qualities. In January 2025 I became increasingly disillusioned reading the novels of our zeitgeist, so I spontaneously started skimming an uncracked James paperback ("The American") I had purchased 25 years earlier as an undergraduate. While not HJ's best work, I had vowed upon completion to read "all of James" and have not missed a day since. I wake up at 4:45am every morning so I can be on my sofa of desolation at 5am to read maybe 25 pages before work. I am invigorated by having an actual reading routine.
Anyway, my main point in writing is that YOU--among the THOUSANDS of BookTube videos, blog posts and even scholarly articles from the HJR I have consumed--have, in my view, most accurately communicated the strangely addictive allure of James's late style. Without exception everyone who comments on James "gets in and gets out" and rarely mentions him again. It's a kind of reluctant rhetoric that I have found baffling, especially coming from literary minded commentators. But your observations have been real bangers and revelations.
I am subscribing for a year. This isn't a scheme to get you writing more about ol' Harry, but only my expression of gratitude for your patient and thoughtful readings of him. I now know that you are applying such loving commentary to the countless other writers I wish to explore.
When a kid uses their imagination in a story you just know it's going to be good. I thoroughly enjoyed the dog story, and I'm not even a kid. I'll read it to my brother (who is a kid) and see what he thinks. Thank you for sharing.
I love The Wings of the Dove and most of the novels of Henry James, and I love reading what you write about him! As for telling stories to children, it is a rare collaborative effort..perhaps the story is where your unconscious mind can meet someone else’s— and I think it is a good reminder that not everything has to be a book. Or, maybe someday you will write a children’s book with your daughter!
I send drafts to friends, and now, twenty years into my writing career, I do want their honest feedback--I'm tired of having to parse and translate peoples' comments to figure out what they REALLY think. Just give it to me straight. But that being said, if I feel hurt after I get their comments, I might not send them anything more (I'm only human after all!) Also sometimes peoples real opinion doesn't really help you artistically in terms of revising the project or figuring out what to do next--that's not their fault, but it means maybe they're not the best beta reader. That being said, early in my career, I definitely mostly wanted validation =]
I've long admired your criticism and excellent taste but you have never been more wrong, The Dog Story is work of staggering genius. I'm going to tell it to my 4-year-old tonight and I predict she'll be obsessed. Also, congratulations on The Default World; I just ordered it!
Oh that would be really good if you could do that. Because I've wondered if dog story would appeal to other kids other than my own
I totally forgot I owed you a follow up on this--M loved it obsessively (asked for it every night) for a week and a half, then moved on to other stories, which is her usual MO for any story of the mouth (aka a story I tell her without a picture book for reference). I downloaded it to my phone and read your exact words the first time, but the beats were easy enough to memorize I retold it from memory after that first time.
OMG. Wow!!!
Hi Naomi - I just discovered you yesterday from a couple YouTube interviews (Jared Henderson and Henry Oliver) and decided to visit your Substack today. In those interviews I was instantly taken by your enthusiasm for your classics reading, but in your writing I am gobsmacked by your ability to so capture Henry James's ineffable and endlessly fascinating literary qualities. In January 2025 I became increasingly disillusioned reading the novels of our zeitgeist, so I spontaneously started skimming an uncracked James paperback ("The American") I had purchased 25 years earlier as an undergraduate. While not HJ's best work, I had vowed upon completion to read "all of James" and have not missed a day since. I wake up at 4:45am every morning so I can be on my sofa of desolation at 5am to read maybe 25 pages before work. I am invigorated by having an actual reading routine.
Anyway, my main point in writing is that YOU--among the THOUSANDS of BookTube videos, blog posts and even scholarly articles from the HJR I have consumed--have, in my view, most accurately communicated the strangely addictive allure of James's late style. Without exception everyone who comments on James "gets in and gets out" and rarely mentions him again. It's a kind of reluctant rhetoric that I have found baffling, especially coming from literary minded commentators. But your observations have been real bangers and revelations.
I am subscribing for a year. This isn't a scheme to get you writing more about ol' Harry, but only my expression of gratitude for your patient and thoughtful readings of him. I now know that you are applying such loving commentary to the countless other writers I wish to explore.
And looking forward to your book on May 19th!
-Bryant Manning
When a kid uses their imagination in a story you just know it's going to be good. I thoroughly enjoyed the dog story, and I'm not even a kid. I'll read it to my brother (who is a kid) and see what he thinks. Thank you for sharing.
So many people telling me my boring story is good! Maybe there's a lesson for me here somewhere =]
wait, the dog story is really good! lmk when you need someone to translate it into Spanish!
I love The Wings of the Dove and most of the novels of Henry James, and I love reading what you write about him! As for telling stories to children, it is a rare collaborative effort..perhaps the story is where your unconscious mind can meet someone else’s— and I think it is a good reminder that not everything has to be a book. Or, maybe someday you will write a children’s book with your daughter!
I send drafts to friends, and now, twenty years into my writing career, I do want their honest feedback--I'm tired of having to parse and translate peoples' comments to figure out what they REALLY think. Just give it to me straight. But that being said, if I feel hurt after I get their comments, I might not send them anything more (I'm only human after all!) Also sometimes peoples real opinion doesn't really help you artistically in terms of revising the project or figuring out what to do next--that's not their fault, but it means maybe they're not the best beta reader. That being said, early in my career, I definitely mostly wanted validation =]