I'm doing 43 things
the millionaires by inman majors
First of all, let me say that this book is very special to me. Why? because the person who wrote the book was a former professor of mine. I had the pleasure of having him as a professor twice for a fiction writing classes.
I have this theory that you shouldn’t see the work of your professors until you have your own style, and I’ve stuck to this theory both for art and writing professors I’ve had. It’s one thing to be good and incorporating the styles of other masters of your art into your own work, but it’s quite another to mimic it, and the worst is when you mimic it badly. So I bought this book when he released it (even though he told us that because we have no money we as college students and shouldn’t “waste” our money on an expensive, hard bound book) and saved it until he was no longer my professor to read.
Mark Costello, author of “The Big If” says about Majors’ work:
A knowing social novel, ruthlessly alive. Inman Majors may know everything.
When I read Costello’s review, I laughed. Majors does not appear to know everything, not in the least. He’s clever, funny, a instinctual teacher, but very, very humble. If he knew everything, he certainly would not make that everything.
Still, his writing shows a lot of social knowledge and a strong understanding of many different view points. His characterization was fantastic, and I was particularly impressed at his ability to get into the female mindset.
Anyway, his book was about young money in the old southern political system. We follow a set of brothers and the political advisors as one runs for public office and sets forth a plan to put a small, Tennessean town on the map. Majors did significant research on southern political workings and captured the social environment of the men: their wives, their mistresses, their children, political allies and opponents.
There’s a lot of life in these pages. I recommend putting it on your “to-read” list.
Quotes:
“A word to the wise. Remove the high hat when in the presence of another man’s leisure.”
“Bout god-dam, life was interesting. It was interesting and if you didn’t think so, tough luck for you, you weren’t paying enough attention.”
“Waitress drinking vodka tonics with the triple limes from a wine glass. A tough of class, yes, the vessel and the multiple bits of citrus.”
“She wiped hastily at [her tears] with a paper napkin, hating as she had since childhood that her anger lay so close to the surface, that her anger was often expressed at this manner. To shed tears of sadness or joy was one thing. That she didn’t mind. To be angry to the point of hostility, and then to have that powerful feeling, that strong feeling, accompanied by tears, so weak-looking stereotypical, so easily misunderstood by others, well that was simply intolerable.”
“Corrine Cole stood in her enormous walk-in closet, rifling through dresses at the rate to send the hangers singing a lively and metallic tune along the rod.”
“The true asshole and the true nice folk are indisputable. It’s the in-between, the grey area between the sometime asshole, sometime nice folk, that makes life interesting.”
“Though from the look of things, his moon was on the wane. Past his bedtime. Out of practice and out of late-night shape.”
“I’m starting to think you might be in it just for the adventure.”
“There’s no need, she said. I’ m not afraid of the dark.”
“She’d hear her father joke enough times about the social boutique of the women’s room to rebel at that particular stereotype. She always went to the restroom alone and wondered if her father had been training her from the beginning.”
“The truth of the matter was that she misplayed her hand.”
“It should not be underestimated, game day in October.”
“Little girls are all dressed Like Shirley Temple. They are too cute to look at long, carried on their father’s shoulders, clapping to the passing band.”
“I can see you smiling from the back of your head”
“Last word to the wise: Gentlemen such as these will leave you feeling like the smartest person in the room. Be sure that you are.”
“She touched his glass to his. Sometimes, she said, I think you’re a bit of a cynic.
And you’re toasting me for that?
I’m toasting because I love you anyway.”
“Some couples just fit together. Some men could make a woman rest easy.”
“Why was she dressed like Jacqueline Onassis?...it was just the dress of someone ready to play mother, ready to take care of business.”
“Agent Harris had the easy style of a smart person who didn’t much care if you knew it or not.”
“He smiles at Teague. The right smile. The smile of a friend welcoming a friend who is always welcome, always.”
“Curiosity and the cat.”
“I’ll have to do something, anything to see if I still can. Kill a man. Become an evangelist. Run-off with a fifteen-year-old girl. Join the Peace Corps.”
So in-keeping with my extension allowance, I need to read another book, a November read, to count this towards this goal. Off to pick a book from my shelf…..
