Thursday
Dec172009

More Wishes

Earlier this week I called on my favorite writers: What books, I asked, do you hope to find under the tree? The wish lists rushed in. Books for everyone!

Judyth Hill — author of six books of poetry, and author-in-residence at Simple Choice Farm in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico — is bursting with books, wishes and wants:
The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver (she and Hill are featured at the San Miguel Writers' Conference in February)
Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje
Leaping Poetry by Robert Bly ("for the 100th time," jokes Judyth)
Posthumous Diary by Eugenio Montale
And, she adds, "the usual James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Stephen King bonbons!"

Bill Siverly — author of several poetry collections including the recently released Clearwater Way, and editor of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place says he has "way too many books already" but he'll make have room for Raymond Carver's short stories. "I've never read Carver, whose role in Pacific Northwest writing is considerable." Keeping with the Northwest theme, Siverly recommends three books by Robert Bringhurst who "brings a deep understanding and appreciation of Native American literature and literature in general, especially ancient literatures. A joy to read":

Gail Waldstein, poet and author of To Quit This Calling: Firsthand Tales of a Pediatric Pathologist, offers her book list, along with a wish for more time to read:
Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

Ford County: Stories by John Grisham
• and "any new Carl Hiaasen books!"

Sage Cohen, author of Writing the Life Poetic: A Guide to Reading and Writing Poetry, is all business with her suggestions:
Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz

What's on your wish list? Anything to add, expand, highlight, rewrite or delight? Please share your comments, suggestions and reviews here.


Wednesday
Dec162009

Wish List of Books

In this season of giving, the air is filled with urgent ads: Make it a sparkle Christmas, they say. But I say skip the baubles and hand me the books!

I'm not alone. I grilled a few of my favorite writers to see what books they hope to find under the tree. The responses arrived fast and fevered:

Rick Campbell calls himself an "accidental reader." As a professor at Florida A&M University, the director of Anhinga Press, and the author of three poetry books including Dixmont, he's got a full life and a robust reading list. He's reading a dozen books now, including Land of Amnesia by poet Joseph Bathanti; Impetuous Sleeper by poet Donald Morrill; and Chronicles by Bob Dylan. "I've been reading these books for about two years," he says, "except for The Travels of William Bartram, which I've been reading for 30." Despite the ambitious pile, he has his eye on two more:
Stealing Fatima, a novel by poet/novelist Frank X. Gaspar
News of the World, Philip Levine's latest book of poems

Kate Maloy, author of Every Last Cuckoo, has holiday hopes pinned on:
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, a book about Henry VIII's consuming need for a male heir.
True Confections by Katharine Weber, though it won't be released until January.
"And," she adds, "if I didn't already have it, I would want Karen Armstrong's The Case for God, which traces wildly varying philosophies and theologies form prehistoric times, including the shifting relationships between science and religion. Erudite and dense with scholarship but mesmerizing."

Liz Nakazawa, whose book Deer Drink the Moon: Poems of Oregon was chosen as one of 150 best books for the Oregon Sesquicentennial, has a few 2009 favorites that would make great gifts:
Lit, a memoir by Mary Karr
The Adaptable Man, a novel by Janet Frame

Mark Thalman, author of Catching the Limit, hopes to find five poetry books under the tree:
In Search of Small Gods, by Jim Harrison
Another World Instead: The Early Poems of William Stafford, 1937-1947 by William Stafford, edited by Fred Marchant.
Queen of a Rainy Country: Poems, by Linda Pastan

With so many books, this list is just a start. Check back later this week for more wish lists from authors Sage Cohen, Bill Siverly, Rick Schultze, Gail Waldstein, and more.

Monday
Dec142009

Give me the words

I can't shake this song.


In a Manner of Speaking was originally written and recorded in the early 1980s by the experimental postpunk band Tuxedomoon. In 2004, Nouvelle Vague, a French band creating bossa nova covers of punk and new wave classics, reinterpreted the song with haunting vocals by Camille Dalmais.

Described as "moving poetry," the video is an artful blend of words, music and revision. You can also experience the original Tuxedomoon song here.


Thursday
Dec102009

Book haze, laze, craze

Am I alone in my shopping haze? As in laze. As in behind the curve and calendar. As in Christmas is 2 weeks away and I have not one gift in hand.

It's not enthusiasm I lack, or even ideas. While I was hovered over my coffee cup in a feeble reach for heat, I lost track of days and deadlines and decisions.

My favorite gifts to give and get are books but this year even that path has come up short. Over the years, I've given all my faves: Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott; Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams; Comfort me with Apples by Ruth Reichl; Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. (Forgive me, friends and family, for sending the same book to you again and again. My tracking has a faulty system — my memory). Last year, in a dreadful display of self-promotion, I even gifted my own book: Forecast: A Word-Art Collaboration.

I need new titles. Won't you help a harried shopper? What books are you giving this year? What books do you hope to receive?


Wednesday
Dec092009

More gifts

You know the saying: You can never be too rich, too thin . . . or have too many journals.


But it's gotta be one that fits just right. None of that precious, museum-quality leather for me. Or delicate pages that can't stand up to a rugged rant.

My favorite journals are the functional works of art found at Ex Libris Anonymous. For several years I've sung the praises of Jacob Deatherage and his knack for salvaging vintage toss-aways and turning them into blank books that inspire and amuse. He's got a brilliant blend of practicality and quirk. I can't get enough of these one-of-a-kind journals! (And mine take a beating, squeezed into luggage and exposed to weather, as you can see.)

These book journals make great gifts, and great keepers, too.