Mission Mission

Last week, we were told to read Steinbeck, and I suggested The Moon Is Down, and then I started In Dubious Battle on reader Tim’s recommendation, and I’m loving it. This Mission Wheatpaste Book Club thing is working out just fine. (Check out Tim’s blog btw, it rules.)

Anyway, I don’t know anything about Sylvia Plath. What should we read?

Photo by our pal KJ.

3 Responses to “Public Service Announcement: Read Sylvia Plath”

1. Cranky Old Mission Guy says:

   July 5, 2010 at 9:38 am

   I tried, but it was too depressing. Her diaries, of course, which were posthumously heavily edited by the husband who some say drove her to suicide. Maybe if I were a young, healthy, female English Lit major, with everything to live for, her musings would have something to say to me, as I dithered about with my youthful resentment against the way of all things…

   As an antidote, I recommend the story “Writing Caliban” by Kathe Koja & Barry N. Malzberg, in the anthology Alternate Outlaws, edited by Mike Resnick, which proposes an alternate history in which Plath becomes the successful author of historical novels after engineering the murder of her philandering husband.

   Great fun, I say! I am not entirely unsympathetic to her plight, and welcome a happy resolution.
2. Lois Battle says:

   July 5, 2010 at 12:52 pm

   Try Steinbeck’s son, Thomas Steinbeck for a wonderful romp through the history of California and its Chinese citizens. The Shadow of a Cypress was terrific.
3. Public Service Announcement: Remember to Properly Secure Your Bicycle « Mission Mission says:

   July 8, 2010 at 10:12 am

   [...] Public Service Announcement: Read Sylvia Plath Explore posts in the same categories: Cycling [...]
4. Shakuntala says:

   July 11, 2010 at 5:33 pm

   Her only novel, The Bell Jar, is maybe my favorite book! I am too shallow for poetry and therefore have not read any of hers but maybe someday I will.