Airstream Dispatches Reads David MacLean

Airstream Dispatches (now registering!) is a worldwide book club for writers that provides innovative systems for accountability, useful to writers and book lovers alike. I’ve carefully selected the authors and books we’ll be studying for this program–although, in the case of David MacLean, the lovely Patricia Ann McNair suggested the book.

I checked out David’s work and website and was completely sold. In Airstream Dispatches, when we discuss David’s memoir, The Answer to the Riddle is Me, we’ll get into the nitty gritty of the difference between “the truth” and “the facts,” as well as what you “can” and “can’t do” in creative nonfiction. Or as the poet Kwame Dawes puts it: “People can sue you for the truth, but they can only get you for the facts.” While I don’t think most writing rules should be taught as black and white, there are certainly things that everyone writing nonfiction needs to consider. We’ll take the seriousness and worry out of this topic by having fun, imagining more than you thought possible, and learning while we’re at it.

During the process of choosing books and authors, I was curious about which independent bookstore each author loved and why. Here’s what David MacLean had to say: “My local indy bookstore is The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. I love its narrow, tall aisles. The revolutionary veterinarian, Temple Grandin, built a hugging machine for herself. Narrow tall aisles filled with books are my hugging machine.”