Gotta love serendipity! I had been missing Jessica Wilson’s poetry book club (it’s been a while, I know) and now Dana Guthrie Martin just kicked off a Poetry x 12 reading project for 2010. Dana has a specific theme for every month, but readers self-select the poetry they want to read.
January — Read a poetry collection published the year you were born
I wasn’t sure how to go about finding such ancient volumes, but Wikipedia is helpful, if not entirely accurate. I had hoped to read one of the women in their list: Marianne Moore, Denise Levertov, H.D. (Hilda Dolittle), Muriel Rukeyser, May Sarton, Marie Ponsot — but they were actually published the year before or after my birth.
So I am going with Ogden Nash and You Can’t Get There from Here. I’ve got a copy, illustrated by Maurice Sendack, coming from the library.
Other things I am reading: A lot of Dave Eggers, who has been on my list for a long while. I so enjoyed the movie Where the Wild Things Are that I could wait no longer. (Nice tie-in to my book choice above, eh?) I read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Very glad I read it– loved it nearly all the way, except for the ending, which seemed abrupt.) and What is the What (Fantastic book, will be on my top 10 for a long, long time.) and am nearly finished with a work he is associated with: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009 (editor) and The Autobiographer’s Handbook (edited by Jennifer Traig) even though I am not writing my autobiography. (I am writing memoir-like pieces.)
I bought Amy Gerstler’s new book Dearest Creature and love it so much I can hardly stand myself. I read two and a half poems to a coworker while we were driving back from a meeting Wednesday (she was driving) and would have read more had we not got to the train station she dropped me off at. Here’s where I am now:
Mrs. Monster Pens Her Memoir
Here’s a technical question.
Dare I write my fractured past
I’m also in the middle of Nabokov’s Pale Fire, although it took me a while to get into it (I love it now, the strange exposed wit). I also read a very light piece over the holidays: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which is as charming as it is touted to be. And a very quick read. Good plane book.
The advantages of self-education can be delightful, or a little bit of a kaleidescope, too. (Have I ever mentioned that is the one thing I collect, besides cats, books, husbands — although I am on my last, and dust?)
Related posts:
I’ve got to read Mrs.vMonster Pens Her Memoir in it’s entirety! Wonderful beginning. I have such a giant stack of books to read that I’m reluctant to order it now, but I might just have to put it on my wish list.
Your book list could hurt a lesser person, Christine. I’ll pen Mrs. Monster on a postcard and mail it to you.
1960 is ripe with poets. I’m going to a book by Ann Sexton. It’s sort of cheating, because I’ve already read it, but it deserves to be read again, and studied. (To Bedlam and Back Again)
Nice!! I may cheat a little and pull some Richard Wilber poems I have, too — selected works. He won the Pulitzer in 57. I need to read more Sexton.
Hi. I am excited that you’re reading Ogden Nash for Poetry x 12. Maybe toward the end of January, we can all post something on our sites about our January selections.
It’s a nice way to start the year, I think.
Yes to follow-up posts.
Poetry x 12 sounds like such a fun idea. I’ll definitely check it out.