Date: July 7, 2007
Author: Erica Jong
Title: Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life
Rating: 5/10, would be a good plane book
How I got a hold of this book: I bought it from Politics & Prose after my last book club. This book is the selection for the July 9, 2007 book club.
Where I read this book: Home, Metro, Mayorga Cafe, Montgomery County Public Library. My AC doesn't work so I had to get creative with where to read. It had to have air conditioning, and be open on Saturdays.
This book made me feel: Like I wanted to write.
Why I like it: There is validation for being a writer.
Why I didn't like it: I don't think I have to be drunk as Hemingway and a whore to be a good writer. Why do so many memoirs emphasize drugs and sex?
The plot in five words/phrases: Sex, drugs, name-dropping, 30-years, writing.
This book made me think of: Elizabeth Gilbert as I recently read her memoir.
Memorable character: Erica's daughter, Molly.
Memorable quote: I was there because I was a writer and a writer is someone who takes the universal whore of language and turns her into a virgin again.
Person I met while reading this book: Staff at Mayorga Cafe gave me extra bread for my hummus platter.
Something memorable that happened in my life during the time it took to read the book: I have to get out of my apartment to read as my AC is broken, and it's in the 90s.
If I could recommend this book to one person, it would be: Those going on a plane trip, and who liked Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
How has this book changed my life: I thought about how I defined myself as a writer because how Erica's life is represented in the book is almost nothing like mine.
Will I read it again: Not likely
Notes: It really validated women writers and should be read for that alone. When it strayed away from her life within a group called writers to that of a group called name-droppers it wasn't as interesting. Of course, she is just telling it like it is.
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