What are you reading this fall?

I have not been very good at keeping up with this blog lately, but I'm curious to know what everyone is reading this time of year. Do your reading habits change with the habits in terms of what you like to read and how much time you have? Whenever I've been in school (which, actually, has been always up until now), I have a much harder time finding time or energy or motivation to read non-school related material, whether I am teaching or taking classes myself (or especially when both).

All my books are in storage in Columbus, Ohio right now. Okay, that is not entirely true--all the books I had with me in Ohio are now in storage in Ohio, but I still have several bookshelves full of books here in Rhode Island. But ALL my poetry books are in storage, and that in itself has proven very frustrating. So I've been collecting books from the library, starting with poetry. I've also been collecting recommendations for mysteries and spooky Halloween reads. I'll post a more specific list (long) later, but in the meantime, what about you?

Kevin Prufer and Erika Meitner

Long time, no post...

This week, I taught Erika Meitner's Ideal Cities (her first of two book publications in something like a year and a half -- wowza). Beautiful poems on motherhood, small towns, big towns, and the fears and dangers that ribbon through those places, fault lines about to rupture. The first poem (which was published first in The Journal) sets a fantastically high bar, but the rest keep up (especially a tender poem about a monster truck rally), inventive form after inventive form...

Next week, I'm teaching Kevin Prufer's In a Beautiful Country, which is one gripping little book. In this book, all of Meitner's fears come to the surface, and then some. Hello, death. Hello, machinery of war. Hello, snow and ice. Hello, numbness...almost... But: hello, love, as well. Emily Dickinson without the reassuring ambiguity (ha). Funny and fierce and a feast of sound and no easy consolation. Angels and snowflakes -- and somehow, remarkably, no sentimentality.

I recommend! I recommend!

...Ida

Just started Charles Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and it's awesome!!!

Tunneling Through Good Reads

I've been reading like a fiend recently. And I just discovered two things that I was surprised I had never heard of before: Kevin Wilson and GoodReads.

So, first to my newest prose crush: Mr. Kevin Wilson. I just read his collection of short stories, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, and I loved it! I fell in love with his writing style, his oddness and his insight. It was like reading an expanded poem. It was lovely. His sense of humor is so up my alley. I feel like each story could spur me to thinking about and writing a new poem. I am currently trying to resist the impulse to buy his newest book, Family Fang, because it is only in hardback at the moment and buku expensive considering what my current book consumption and book buying habit is already. Anyone else read Wilson??

That brings me to GoodReads. I want to GoodRead more! It's like an instant book club. But it's also dangerous. I can totally see myself losing hours and hours of my time trying to find, remember and list every book I've ever read. I've resisted adding the poetry books I've read for that exact reason! If you guys want to GoodRead as part of this blog, I am totally down!!

--RR

The Lost Symbol

I have been spending time by the pool reading The Lost Symbol. It is a quick read, and exciting story, and has some interesting stuff about Noetic Science. I have been fascinated by metaphysics, energy healing, consciousness, etc. for a while, but this is the first time I've come across this particular field of study label. Let's be clear: this is not literature. In fact, there is a lot about this book that annoys me, first and foremost being the incessant overuse of the adjective "elegant." How many times will an editor let you get away with using this word? If you are Dan Brown, apparently, a zillion. Fair enough. My recommendation: a Dan Brown drinking game. When to drink? Every time he uses the word "elegant." Drink once when it is used as an adjective to describe a person, twice when used to describe a place or thing, and three times when used as an adverb. Every time he starts a chapter with a travel guide/history lecture opening paragraph about a particular landmark. Every time he mentions Harvard, Yale, the Masons, or the Church. Every time a menacing character whispers or speaks eerily over the phone. Every time a character addresses Robert Langdon as Professor. Every time a character is confused, perplexed, or says, "I don't understand." Every time a chapter ends with a sudden revelation by one (drink once) or two (drink twice) characters (who are simultaneously pursued and in pursuit), but that is not revealed to the reader (effective use of suspense, or ineffective use of POV? Discuss.). Any time a character winks or says, "Exactly," "Of course," or "Of course not." And of course, every time a character thinks in italics (drink twice if the thought ends in a question mark, and three times if the thought ends in an interrobang). By the end of this game, you will no longer be bothered by the little bothersome things this book does. You will be drunk and happy enough to enjoy--but not too drunk to be able to follow--the fast-paced thrill ride from chapter 1 to chapter 133.

As a side note, I was totally entertained to read this book, which makes frequent reference to the symbolic importance of the number 33, in the year I turned 33. Coincidence? Of course not.

One Day by David Nicholls

As I was at a bookstore yesterday browsing for a present for my 16-year old cousin who loves to read (I settled on The Kite Runner), I saw that One Day by David Nicholls was on sale because apparently a movie based on the story is going to premier this month. I am usually wary of books that I love that get turned into movies, even if it is the writer that is adapting the book. So I thought that before some of you go watch it, maybe I could interest you in reading this one of a kind book.

I think the reason why I really enjoyed reading this book is because I see myself in it. The endless talks through the night about books, politics, culture; keeping in touch through the years through a postcard or a letter. So before the summer ends, what not read a book that visits the life of two friends for a day every summer during twenty years? A tale of the modern times, about timing and change in peoples dreams and wants as they get older.

Posted by Anabela