E-mail exchange

To:Monica Toler
From:Regina Davis
Re: Rick Bragg -- No big words here
Posted Sunday, Sept. 29 8:47 p.m.
Greetings!
Since you and I are the first brave volunteers for the Sunday Book Club e-mail exchange, let's start by talking about what we liked best about the book.
Personally, I could make a long list of things I like about Bragg's writing, but I think the one aspect that appeals to me most is his casual, unpretentious style. He says he learned how to tell stories by listening to his male relatives "on the porch" telling stories about the "good ol' days," and I think this is where he also learned his literary voice. It's probably what makes him a successful journalist too, because it gives him the ability to make you interested in the story, not just the news report.
Any thoughts? What did you like best about the book?
Regina

To: Regina Davis
From: Monica Toler
Re: Laugh out loud
Posted Tuesday, Oct. 1 2:41 p.m.
Hello!
I, too, liked his casual, easy to read style. It's almost as if he was sitting there next to you telling you all these stories. I'll bet if you were to talk to him, you would find he writes like he talks. I also liked the first part of the book better than the rest of it because I would laugh out loud about some of the stories about he and his brothers when they were little.
Monica

To: Monica Toler
From: Regina Davis
Re: Where's my red pen?!!
Posted Sunday, Oct. 6 4:04 p.m.
Monica --
Funny you should mention that he "writes like he talks." Today I was discussing the book with another copy editor here at the Gazette and she made a similar comment. We get paid to nit-pick, and believe it or not, sometimes my fingers itch to hold a red pen whenever I'm reading something, even if I'm reading for pleasure. At any rate, she commented to me that Bragg's sentences are very LONG but it doesn't take away from his skill because "he writes like he's sitting across from you just talking."
Bragg constantly points out that his experience is different from that of his colleagues because he didn't go to college. Maybe this is a good thing. Learning the finer points of grammar ala Composition 101 may have stifled the storyteller in him.
As for which part I liked best, I think I liked the last half, when he concentrates on his journalism career. I especially enjoyed the excerpts from his articles. I keep thinking about when he wrote for the Florida paper and how nice it would be to open your paper every morning and read a really good story about really interesting people (which is not to say that the Gazette has a lack of such stories). But how often do we read something and think, "Wow, this is a really neat story"?
But I liked the childhood stories, too. Which brings me to my next question, what do you make of "Momma"? Bragg sets her up as the heroine of his story, but she isn't what you would normally think of as a heroine. I think she's an "Appalachian heroine" and anyone who reads the story who is from this region understands because they have a "Momma" in their family tree, someone who made enormous sacrifces. What's your take, is this a cultural thing?

To: Regina Davis
From: Monica Toler
Re: You know that story...
Posted Sunday, Oct. 6 11:47 p.m.
Regina,
What are you talking about, pick up the paper and read good writers? All we have to do is get on the computer. (But I know what you mean, I like the feel of a newspaper in my hands, too.) I do it all the time. I read the The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Los Angeles Times and now the St. Petersburg Times.
It is amazing what a good writer can do with the same words.
I agree with you about Bragg and college. Some stuffy professor probably would not have liked his style of writing, and told him it would never get him anywhere and that would have been that. He has this wonder magic that makes you feel like he has known all of these people he writes about personally. What a gift.
I also liked the excerpts from his articles. It prompted me go look more of them up on the computer. Especially the ones for which he received the Pulitzer Prize.
As for Momma, I thought when he was moving from Florida to Alabama, back to Florida, to California, then to New York, that the focus of the book shifted from his mother to him. But he brings her back into the story so vividly with the trip to New York to receive his Pulitzer that you knew she was there all along. He just had to shield her from all the ugliness people do to other people in this cruel world. We would all do the same. Like Bragg says, "Everybody loves their momma."
I reckon so.
As for the cultural thing, maybe Bragg's appeal part of is "a cultural thing," but here in W.Va. we know a thing or two about making sacrifices. But then again, who wouldn't give all the credit to their mother, or whomever it was that raised and fed and protected them.
You know the story Bill Cosby tells about his son? He raises him up to be a big football player. Makes him rough and tough out in the backyard 'till it hurts dad too much to play rough and tough. The son is the big star of the jr. high team, the big star of the high school team, goes on to college on a football scholarship, the star player all year, the last game of his senior year, the BIG bowl game, the camera shows the son, what does he say......."Hi MOM!"
I love that story.
Monica