2024 book list
1.Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer. This was a great book. It hit close to home with a father failing from alzheimer's... but it had so many layers to the plot... and amazing themes to discuss at book club. really well done. wedn book club at JO's if you are looking for a book rec, this is it.
2.the personal librarian ... by marie benedict... historical fiction about JP Morgan's personal librarian.... she was whip smart, successful, and hiding her ethnicity. complicated well done story. book club
3..Gladman, Renee. Calamities... linked essays about the writer's life .... sort of non-linear, free wheeling.... (for MFA program)
4...Lockwood, Patricia. Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals. cool poetry book with especially interesting juxtapositions.... (for MFA program)
5..Lockwood, Patricia. No One Is Talking About This: A Novel.... a reread because i realized she was the same author as the last poetry book ..... i found this book so interesting both reads.... but didn't really find a way to imagine they were from the same authors. non linear story, but very clear. (for MFA program)
6...Elson, Rebecca. A Responsibility to Awe. .. poetry ... really excellent science themed poems. (for MFA program)
7...Bernays, Anne and Painter, Pamela. What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. sweet Val gave me this book ..... i appreciate her so much .... and have been picking it up for idea nuggets lately.... (for MFA program)
8...Park, Ishle Yi. Angel & Hannah: A Novel in Verse. yay. a beautiful novel in verse with a modern day/new york burroughs romeo and juliet feel. (for MFA program)
9...Ann Patchett's Tom Lake .... well, thank you meryl streep. i listened to this because i had heard suchgreat things about the star's narration. did not disappoint.... the book was charming and made even more delightful by the narration. for w book club. later this year if you are looking for a book rec, this is it.
10....Crossan, Sarah. Here Is the Beehive. Little, Brown and Company, 2020. i reread this because, 1, i love it and it is worth a reread ... and 2, i'm using it in my critical thesis this semester because i'm writing about novel's in verse. great book. if you are looking for a book rec, this is it.
11...Elliott, David. Bull. Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2017. verse novel about the minotaur. spectacular poetry, a plot you know part of already ... with twists. (for MFA program)Elliott, David.
12....Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc. Clarion Books, 2019. same author as above ... even better book... about the last moments of joan of arc for multiple surprising perspectives ... a reread for my academic thesis. (for MFA program)
13...Rakoff, David. Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish. Doubleday, 2013. charming, rhyming, quirky novel in verse. (for MFA program)
14...Reynolds, Jason. Long Way Down. Atheneum. 2017. ... one of my faves last year ... reread for this giant thesis paper i have to write for grad school. but i LOVED LOVED it. so fantastic and creative. really fantastic. (for MFA program)
15...Novik, Naomi. His Majesty's Dragon. listened to it on audible .... it was fun fantasy/historical fiction .... the dragon egg for napoleon was intercepted by someone else. fun book
16...Oakley, Catherine. The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise. fun book club book about a variety of relationships and some fun twists..thursday MH..book club really liked. looking for fun and light? this.
17...Harjo, Joy. An American Sunrise. yay.... a poet laureate .... great book. really enjoyed it... listened to it on audible. (for MFA program)
18...Castillo, Ana. Watercolor Women/opaque Men. ...a picaresque novel, which means about a rogue or a rascal, at odds with society .... and in this case it is a woman who is a single mom sorting out her sexual identity... novel in verse.... (for MFA program)
19...Axelsson, Linnea. Aednan: An Epic. Translated by Saskia Vogel ....I first listened to this book, then felt compelled to also hold it in my hands to read it. Seeing the poetry felt important. Three generations of Sami women are depicted in this novel in verse. The story telling on audio seemed lyrical and lulling. The page looked like specks of poem that could be rocks strewn across a snowy, Swedish landscape/page. I was pretty surprised that the look of the poems did not match what I expected after having it read aloud to me. I did not actually have/make a notion in my head before opening the book, but the look was a surprise. I should have anticipated a paucity of words on the page when the book was so fat and the recording was less than three hours, easily a third as long as most novels I listen to. While noodling around the internet to see what people were saying about this translation I came across a quote that was used on Amazon and other sites: “Crystalline prose that reads like poetry and myth at once. There are intricate layers of beauty and meaning here in sparse clusters across a vast new landscape as I’ve never read before. The music of this book is old, and it is new, and it is old.”—Tommy Orange, bestselling author of There, There and Wandering Stars PROSE THAT READS LIKE POETRY …. somewhere else it was called prose poetry in stanzas. I'm struck over and over about the vast variety of poetry. When you add novel story to poetry not everyone comes out with the same idea/notion/product. All these novels in verse look different. Pretty much all of them could be argued to be something else. Novel in verse, poetry novel, whatever you call it, seems the definition is vague and broad by the authors and reviewers. Overall, Aednan was a sad story. It's about the indigenous people of Scandinavia and the shameful way they were treated. Similar to US history, Lise was taken from her parents and put in a school to take away her heritage, her language, her family, her way of life. I was unaware of the colonialist traumas in Scandinavia. Three of my grandparents were first generation Americans from Norway and Sweden. It does not feel like a small not knowing. I enjoyed the learning, the story, the characters.(for MFA program)
20...Wright, C. D. Deepstep Come Shining. road trip novel in verse. (for MFA program)
21....Woolf, Virginia. A Letter to a Young Poet;Including the Essay 'Craftsmanship'.My friend gave me this skinny Virginia Woolf book for giving her a ride to a social outing. I was a bit familiar with V.Woolf, did a google dive, and enjoyed this, in no small part, because I love an epistolatory. I like the familiarity and informalness of this. (for MFA program)
22....Gluck, Louise. Wild Iris. I was fascinated by the structure of this collection of poems. There are seven poems titled Matins and ten titled Vespers. So many morning prayers and ending in even more evening prayers. I find this so curious. I noticed the same repetition of titles in Jericho Brown's The Tradition, with multiple poems called Duplex. I understand why JB did it, having created a new form, the duplex and pointing that out through his book. I don't understand why LG did it. I don't mind it. I like the tone of the collection with god/deity/the great gardener in the sky being a narrator, as well as the poems from the flowers' point of view. I found the whole thing beautiful. I can understand why people would tell me to read it as a "novel in verse" even though it is most surely not. It is a beautifully rendered collection, clearly written to go together exactly so. It speaks more to ideas and sentiments than a novel story. (for MFA program)
23....Gluck, Louise. Meadowlands. HarperCollins, 1996. AWESOME well done novel in verse that intersperses the story of Penelope and Telemachus waiting for Oddyseus to come home with a modern storyline of a couple breaking up. (for MFA program)
24....Powell, Richard. Whom the Gods Would Destroy. I was thinking about Greek Mythology and had a hankering to reread this book again .... i read it first in middle school ... after my mom and brother read it .... and i've read it a bunch of times since. Helios is a trojan bastard prince. I love him.
25....Piccoult, Jodi. Picture Perfect. I simultaneously couldn't put this book down AND didn't love it because I was so annoyed at some plot bits from the very beginning. I wanted her to LEARN, walk away. but, as always, J Piccoult created a page turner.
26....What Maisie Knew, by Henry James was intriguing. I think I would have loved it a century ago as a serial, its original form. I also miss old fashion TV, waiting a week for a show. But, I binged this Maisie book instead of savoring it. I hardly savor a book anymore, choosing to plow through. Sometimes this is probably a character flaw… or a product of our hurry up society. The Maisie reading was old fashioned. I felt bogged down by it sometimes, but the story was compelling. What is going to happen to Maisie with the terrible parents? I realized I was more invested than I thought I was when Maisie chooses Mrs. Wix to be her guardian at the end. Thematically, I can get behind it because good wins out over evil. Maisie basically raises herself to be reliable and moral based on her exposure to so much of the opposite. (for MFA program)
27... Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. Whoa. What a weird book. A novel with a 999 line poem in the middle. John is the poet. Charles is the fictional editor and delusional writer of introduction, commentary and footnotes. I can't say I understood it all but you can't miss the weird. I like that Nabokov was stretching the boundaries of writing, putting something out into the world that is so unique. (for MFA program)
28...May B., A Novel in Verse by Caroline Starr Rose is a YA book that reads like Little House On the Prairie with an edge. May's parents rent her out to an unhappy, newlywed couple who abandon her as one runs away and the other dies off looking for his runaway spouse. May lives in their sod house waiting for the never-will-happen return of either one. As winter comes and food runs out and the solitude just has to end, May saves herself, hiking through a deadly blizzard and returns to her family who, of course, are filled with horror at what she's been through. The poetry is mostly sparse narrative with no emphasis on form, meter, rhyme, though it does read lyrically to me. (for MFA program)
29...Suddenly We by Evie Shockley. What a feast for the eyes on top of grand poetry. she :: creates :: poems that are visually enticing by using ~~ all manner~~ of special characters from the keyboard… and I think it adds character! She has a particular poem about women's voting rights and uses the word plashless. I had to look it up. I was surprised to find its use example is from an Emily Dickinson poem, "Leap, plashless as they swim." I'm sure Evie used the word because Emily did, and that fills me with joy. What a great book of poetry. I could have written my critical thesis on its depth and breadth and visual wonder. (for MFA program)
30...Hieronymous Bosch's Illustrated Alphabet by Sue William Silverman is an alphabetized book of poems. I really enjoyed the experimental oddity of word choices that overpowered the repetitiveness of the poetry. The poetry became rote, the fun and surprise was in word choices. It reads like joyful play, similar to a first peek at Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, but, just like Heironymus' painting there is hidden darkness, startling moments, sharp edges to get cut on. I had the good fortune of seeing Garden Of Earthly Delights at the Prado in Madrid in the spring of 2021. Did you know I was an Art History major in college? I revel in paintings like this and appreciated the nod from Sue to Bosch. (for MFA program)
31.....how wild + soft you are, by four poets and one editor/also author, Nicci Mecchler, is from the tiny PorkBelly Press and is a hand cut and sewn chapbook. The poets have collaborated and, I imagine, edited each others' work to the point of no one poem belonging to one person. Artistically enchanting. (for MFA program)
32...Woman Without Shame, poems by Sandra Cisneros is a fantastic collection. My older daughter gave me a signed copy. Julia and I both loved Cisneros' book The House on Mango Street, a Latina coming of age story. I was trying to sort out what I loved about this poetry book, the why is it so good to me, and I think it is because I now feel like I know the poet. And I like her. Some books of poetry don't really give you deep insight into the writer. Some of them, Billy Collins or Mary Oliver might be examples for me, aren't sharing themselves as much as they are celebrating or exploring topics that, I imagine, they hope others will appreciate. That might be wrong. Even if they are writing to explore something for themselves, based on sales, their work is appealing at large. Cisneros is a Buddhist, Latina, Lesbian poet who by and large through poetry is telling her truth. She's not telling us to live in gratitude for flowers, love dogs, or appreciate mountains. One poem, El Jardin, End of Day, I just picked out while looking for an example here of a more generalized poem, a la Billy or Mary appreciation. This poem has the same tone, but with a little criticism, some editorial notes, and "little dogs sniff concrete" rather than bounding through fields of wild flowers. Great book. I love it perhaps because the collection tells me an autobiographical story. A new favorite. (for MFA program)
33....The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd, a book club book for me, is historical fiction about a real woman, Eliza Lucas Pinckney who was left in SC to manage her father's plantations at the ripe old age of 17. The story held my attention as I tend to enjoy historical fiction, but some story elements, I believe the fictional bits, were overly dramatic and unlikely. Many of the characters were overdrawn, especially the bad guys. This has none of the subtlety of Maisie, but is a wildly popular book, a book to read for pleasure, that some will take as truth, disregarding the fiction of historical fiction. book club
34....The Woman by Kristen Hannah, a book club book by a popular author, was a great start and weak ending. Frankie is from a 60s affluent family that values men over women. The family has a history of military service, and little sister Frankie joins the Air Force's nursing staff and goes to Vietnam herself. Her innocence and the horror of a military hospital feel a bit like the TV show MASH but Frankie's character is well fleshed out and interesting. Until. When Frankie goes home the book gets pretty soap opera, intertwined with no one believing there were women over there in Vietnam and the historical disdain for Vietnam vets…. and stupid parents. Great start. Weak ending. Will most certainly become a Netflix movie. book club
35...The Measure by Nikki Erlick is for one of my book club's this month. Everyone on earth over 21 is delivered a box with a string. The string is a measure of your life's length. Do you look inside? How does the information alter your life? The book is super intriguing. Great, fresh, oddball story. I was impressed with the author thinking up so many ways those strings would effect life and lives. book club
36. They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera .... same premise as the book above. I read the other first so i loved it for its novelty .... this one i loved because i was much more invested in the characters. Really charming, lovely, thought provoking. I read it for joy but hope a book club will choose it because I'd love to chat about it.
37. The Swimmers by by Julie Otsuka…. I think it was the matter of factness in the story that appealed most. I also know that I LOVE books that have an oddball premise, some quirk that the author thinks up that is so new and fresh. A crack in a pool being so disruptive, such a conspiracy, was really fun to read about. Which of those people would I be? (for MFA program)
38. The Very Secret Society or Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna ….. clever. light. lovely characters. exciting witchiness. for you if you like coze witch books. haha. niche.
39. One Turpentine Lane by Elinor Lipman ….light, fluffy, a little mystery, free on kindle unlimited
40. The Only Street in Paris: Rue des Martyrs by Elaine Sciolino … Rec from my spring advisor Natasha … to read because I was going to Paris. I had my france going pals read it with me … and then we walked the Rue des Martyrs. Tres bon.
41. A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas. A pleasant doggie memoir for book club. book club
42. The Way My Way by Bill Bennett…. a book about walking the camino … read it and discussed it with my camino pals in May.
43. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods. Magical Realism with some mystery. book club
44. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. Memoir … but more. There's a thread of academic research on love? desire? sexuality? Seems like a vulnerable book of her truth.
45. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. Thriller. Psychological Drama. I don't want to really tell you about it cause I don't want to ruin the surprises. Evie is sort of a bad guy under cover and then doesn't want to be a bad guy anymore. book club
46. A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke. Oh! Magical Realism at its finest. A weird quirk of fate it seems and a young girl spends her entire life on the move. It is pretty epic spanning her whole life. I loved the surprises as she tried to understand the (bad) magic. Excellent.
47. Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman. WW2 historical fiction. Women taking over (very well) men's jobs.
48. Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez. RomCom with cute characters. I"m surprised there aren't more books about travel nurses. Two people who start dating because they have a similar curse: everyone they date marries the next person they date. book club
49. Strangers We Know by Elle Marr. Kindle Unlimited (means free to me). Pretty creepy. Suspense. Good story telling. DNA and serial killers and adoption.
50. James by Percival Everett. James as in Jim from Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Great book. Perfect for book club discussions. Jim is a full and brilliant character instead of a smaller, flatter character like in the original. book club
51. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I had to reread it once I finished James, trying to see James through P. Everett's eyes.
52. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. I have fond memories of loving this in high school and loved this repeat read.
53. Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain. haha. It was on my shelf for this Twain binge. Not my favorite but interesting satire on race … and convinces me that Twain would indeed like the new book James.
54. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. Old timey time travel. Twain's pro science, anti-monarchy satire.
55. Anne Harding. Gender: Two Novellas in Verse. The first novella, Martin/Martina was well done. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I think the story and the feelings were more stellar than the poetry. I like that I've sorted out some of my feelings and thoughts about novels in verse, so that reading this one, I was happy to let myself be absorbed by the story. (for MFA program)
56.Browne, Mahogany L. Chlorine Sky. I've heard Mahogany Browne read her poetry. She is a powerful speaker. I get more out of her poems hearing it than I do reading it to myself. I was lukewarm on her after reading her book in preparation for seeing her. Then I loved her. I also at the same time had the opportunity to do a poetry workshop with her. She was smart and funny and charming. So, reading this one, Chlorine Sky, I was hopeful…. and not disappointed. It is a YA novel in verse, quite well done, a coming of age story about a high school girl. At 200 pages of verse, it reads like a novella, short and quick. I found the story and the poetry worthwhile. (for MFA program)
57.Mechler, Nicci, ed. Love Me, Love My Belly: A Body Image Zine, Issue 6. Porkbelly Press, 2022.
58. Seaman, Michelle. Grant Me the Tooth, Chapbook. Porkbelly Press, 2022.
59. Ayres, Jane. my lost womb still sings to me. Porkbelly Press, 2023.
60. Honda, Suzanne. When We Were Birds. Porkbelly Press, 2022.
61. Rose, Adrie. I Will Write a Love Poem. Porkbelly Press, 2023.
These five poetry books are all hand cut and sewn at Porkbelly Press. They arrived by mail wrapped up like gifts. They are beautiful to behold. I found the themes and the poems interesting but not magical like their container. (for MFA program)
62. Redmond, Glenis. The Songs Of Everything: A Poet's Exploration Of South Carolina's State Parks. I've seen Glenis present her poetry a few times in the last ten years. She's a powerful performer and her readings are grand/intense. Reading this book does not feel the same to me as the others I have read. She is the Poet Laureate of Greenville, SC and writing about South Carolina parks. The book is small, chapbook sized, with more nature imagery than her usual, which makes sense. Her emphasis on her ancestors, slavery, and race are more subtle, braided in with roots and branches and hiking paths. (for MFA program)
63. Peterson, Katie. Life in a Field: Poems.I adore this book. I love that it is prose poetry and a narrative but so mysterious. I loved most the donkey's point of view. I found the whole thing to be such a surprise. Lines like " all the more reason to talk about flowers" just delight me. High on my list of novel-in-verse-adjacent books. (for MFA program)
64. Limon, Ada. Bright Dead Things. I have two poetry book reading methods. 1. Read it all in one sitting. 2. Read a poem or two or three a day by leaving the book by my bed or on the table next to my favorite spot on the couch. I think the more effective way is the latter, which I did for this book, but in the hustle bustle read fast MFA version of my life, I have been tending toward the other. I found nearly every one of Ada Limon's poems in this book to be strong, interesting and provocative (for MFA program)
65. Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. I thought it was excellent. Mostly I think she's a brave writer. I have poems I've written that are sad or angry that I'm not ready to share. She is so vulnerable and interesting. Joan Didion is awesome. (for MFA program)
66. Sandwich by Catherine Newman hits close to home, about a middle aged woman sandwiched between her young adult kids and her aging parents. This time of life is not advertised as being so hard, but this book reflects my truth. Plus, it was funny. Hard things are easier to manage with some humor.
67. Crank by Ellen Hopkins,
68. Burned by Ellen Hopkins,
69. Impulse by Ellen Hopkins.
I love novels in verse. Wrote my critical thesis on them. These were stronger novel story than poetry, but the poetry made the books exciting and well paced. (for MFA program)
70. Soil by Camille Dungy. I really enjoyed her reading and talk at residency. I had planned to read it ahead but didn't. I think I enjoyed it more knowing her voice and how interesting she is. I always appreciate poets who branch out to other writing endeavors. Her prose is lovely. (for MFA program)
71. The Alphabet In the Park by Adelia Prado.
"Once in a while, God takes poetry away from me.
I look at a stone, I see a stone." (p.39)
I loved this book. I'd heard of the poet and read a few poems online, but the book was a gift. I like the everydayness of most of her topics. She feels relatable. (for MFA program)
72. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine. Amazon says it is a book length poem or a collection of lyric essays. I'm rereading it because I find the form so intriguing. Some of it to me should be called beautiful reportage of brutal moments. I think the book's hybridity makes it less read than other books, but certainly the contents should be read by everyone in light of the marked increase in racism in our country. (for MFA program)
73… Beach Read by Emily Henry. Light and fluffy, I read it on an airplane. Two writers who think the other's genre is easier. Easygoing rom/com.
74. The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World by Lewis Hyde. Recommended by 4th semester advisor in regards to my lecture on creativity. I've recommended it to others. Part sociology and anthropology and history of gift giving. The second half is about our own gifts and creativity. (for MFA program)
75. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. crazy book. so odd. very funny/fun. I think it is a dystopian satire set in the far future of 2012 or at least that's when it was written. Everything is sort of turned on its ear and weird. The world has had a crisis and the results seem possible and improbable and funny.
76. The Missing Sister by Elle Marr. A psychological thriller/whodunit/mystery with twins. Entertaining and I never guessed the next twist.
77. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. A mysterious start. Is this just a power outage? Is it the apocalypse. Well, that omniscient narrator drops some bombs for you, so that the reader knows a lot of details that the characters can't even begin to imagine as they hopefully think everything will be ok. LOVED. book club
78. The Dog Star by Peter Heller. I read thi because I loved the apoc vibe of Leave the World Behind and wanted more. I did a GIANT google dive into post apoc and "this is the moment the apoc is starting" and "we don't know it's an apoc" books. and came up with this one to read. This one is a guy with a plane, living his life at a hangar. one friend. spend all their time defending themselves and scouting. The main character is excellent, kind, sympathetic, sad but hopeful, worth reading about. Great rec from a long list of post apoc books.
79. The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. Well. That was too long. The story was interesting and braided multiple time lines together. Early aviation, twins, hollywood, women fliers. At our book club someone said they could imagine it as a movie. I think it would have to be an 8 part Netflix event. book club
80. Old In Art School by Nell Painter. I'm doing some creativity research and this memoir felt relatable, only mine would be called old in my MFA writing program. old in poetry school? might have a better ring. This book is deeper than mine would be as the author is a writer, researcher, historian, woman of color who goes back for her bachelor in art. I really enjoyed it. (for MFA program)
TO HERE ON AUGUST 30, 2024
Current listen:
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (on Audible)
Current book:
Mona Lisa: Leonardo and the Mona Lisa Story by Donald Sassoon (upstairs by my bed)
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (downstairs on the coffee table)
I have been reading these two a long time … mostly telling me they are too big, too heavy, too long … and that I'm more of a kindle person or an audiobook listener. Slow and steady, I hope to get through them.
Current Kindle:
it is out of batteries so I"m not sure what my next one is. haha.
tuesday book club
jan... the personal librarian ... by marie benedict .. at LS's
feb.. mitch albom, stranger in the lifeboat @mb h's (OOT)
march … demon copperhead… cb
april… the lost bookshop…. @d's
may … the woman by k hannah… @tm
june… tom lake @sarah's
july.. what the fire brings
aug .. the great circle … hi @ 57th
sept…@af.... the measure
oct
nov
dec ... a december to remember by jenny bayliss
wedn book club
jan....Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer... JO
feb....Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner at KS’s (OOT)
march .... @sb …
april... @fh….three dog life
may... @cg … the garden
june....Tom Lake by Ann Patchett... mm
july... @kj ….
aug... leave the world behind by rumen alam @Liesel
sept ... @cr ….
oct
nov
dec
thurs book club
jan ... AF, Birnam Woods by Eleanor Catton (OOT)
feb...MH...Oakley, Catherine. The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise.
march ...kristen hannah, the women ... KK
april
may … first lie wins
june … just for the summer
july
aug
sept .. how to read a book by monica wood
oct
nov
dec
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