True Notebooks by Mark Salzman

This book has been sitting on my book shelf for a couple years.

My aunt gave it to me. She found it in a hotel book exchange while on vacation somewhere in the Caribbean (I totally dig hotel book exchanges, but that's a topic for another time).

Anyway, she picked it up and sent it to me because of the topic. It's a memoir written by a man, Mark Salzman, who is a writer. He volunteers to teach creative writing classes at a juvenile prison and this book chronicles his experiences. Seeing as how I used to be a public school teacher and now work as a writer, my aunt thought I would enjoy this book.

The fact that it's languished on my bookshelf for so long is more a reflection of my long reading list and not of the author. I was actually excited about the book when I got it. I recognized the author's name as I had read two of his other books: Iron & Silk and Lying Awake.

Iron and Silk is a travel memoir about the two years he spent teaching English in China. I've always remembered that title fondly.

Lying Awake is a novel about a nun who has divine visions and thus believes herself close to God. But then she learns that she is ill. Her illness has been causing her visions and now she wonders just exactly how close to God she is.

Now, this book that I just finished, True Notebooks, was a really good read -- and on so many levels.

First, as a citizen, I was totally hooked reading about the criminal justice system and how minors are treated.

Second, the teacher in me was totally hooked. I couldn't imagine myself teaching these kids to write. I would have pulled out my hair!

Third, the writer in me was totally hooked. Within the last month, I wrote a story about a group of women in a corrections facility who were writing poetry. I interviewed their teacher. Reading this book was like going deeper into that article I wrote.

Forth, throughout the course of True Notebooks, while the boys in the juvenile prison are struggling to write, the author is also struggling to write. He's having problems finishing his novel, Lying Awake. As I'd read that book, I found it fascinating to read about its creation.

All around, True Notebooks was a really great read. I highly recommend it.