No, not the TV show. Though the term does call up from a 1940s/50s childhood the memory of RCA’s then-logo with the little dog, head cocked, listening to a Victrola. Its title, “his master’s voice,” did not bother me at all back then. I took it for granted that the dog was male, the owner was male, and for all I knew, the record player probably was too. To borrow from James Brown, it was a man’s, man’s, man’s world. Some would say it’s still . . . but wait, I digress. The voice I’m referring to here is the author’s voice. There are writers, Scheherazades among us if you will, whose name on a book or a magazine piece is enough to compel me to read on. I’ll bet you have your own list too. The likelihood that I would eagerly read, minus John McPhee’s name as author, thousands and thousands of words on geology, fly fishing, a canoe trip, or the great plains, for example, is vanishingly tiny. Susan Orlean is another I’ll happily follow down any rabbit hole that interests her: an orchid thief with no front teeth? I’m in! There’s also Stephen King, but only his non-fiction or short stories. The Johns, Updike and Cheever. The Janes, Austen and Smiley. Thomas McGuane, Rick Bass, Adam Gopnik, Alice Munro. And Ann Patchett and Lorrie Moore, who were mentioned in an earlier post - I’ll read their stories anytime. Sometimes it’s just a single title that works its magic, often, not always, a short story collection. Those I will read over and over. I’ve just about worn out Last Days of the Dog Men by Brad Watson, The Member Guest by Clint McCown, and Margaret Laurence’s Rachel, Rachel. I could go on (and on and on) but I will spare you, gentle reader, stopping here, except to say there are no wrong lists, no bad choices of beloveds. The heart wants what it wants, and in this case at least, gets to have it.
1 Comment
Diana
3/17/2022 03:41:22 pm
Have added your authors and books to my, long, disorganized list. Thank you!
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We tend to write about what we know. I am a writer, thus this blog: Why write? What, when, where to write? Stay tuned. Archives
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