I took the English Lit GRE on April 20th, so my reading was severely limited because I really, truly studied my butt off. The way I count "books read" is by actual BOOKS read, so for instance the fact that I read all of Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" doesn't really get included on my record-keeping of books read. Additionally, books I "REREAD" no longer get counted here either. For the record, I reread The Great Gatsby and Ender's Game along with my Experiencing Literature class. I chose them for this spring semester because they're both coming out in film form 2013. Gatsby actually just came out this past weekend, and I hope Geoff & I get the chance to see it in theaters.
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY by Jane Austen
We read this for my book club. This is probably the last book I'll ever say this about since book club kind of dissipated when I took time off to study for the English Lit GREs. I was glad we read it, but mostly because it got me to read some more Austen. See below.
I WAS NOT EVEN BORN by Wendy Xu & Nick Sturm
I bought and read this while at AWP 2014, and I was extremely glad I did. I finished it on a particularly long T ride from Somerville into the great city of Boston and the only thing I could have asked from this book was MORE. Two of the poems in the book, the first two if I remember correctly, were some of my favorite poems that we published in Gigantic Sequins 3.2.
PRIDE & PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
There is a reason that this is the most loved book by Jane Austen, I think. I've only ever read two other of her novels, but this one captures your heart. You are rooting for the right characters, you disdain the right characters, and the pay off is worth the tension that she builds throughout the novel. Her ability to mock a society and still make her reader fall in love with products of it truly is brilliant.
TAKE IT by Joshua Beckman
I dog-eared a number of pages of this book, and after I finished reading it, I went back and reread all of the poems I had dog-eared. And then I wanted to read the whole book again. Something valuable about this poetry book different from others that I've enjoyed recently: I sometimes read the poem I had just read over again just because I wanted to, not because I didn't think I "got" it.
SHOTGUN TORSO by Brian Warfield
Shereen Adel, the Gigantic Sequins Production Editor, wrote a review of this book for me for Boog City. You can and should read this book online. It's exploration of the body is poetically grotesque. It's modern literature worth reading, but I feel like I say this about all of Warfield's work.
THE AENEID by Virgil
I read this because it was the only "epic" I had in poem form in my house. I have a prose version of the Odyssey, and I downloaded an eBook version of the Iliad, but reading a physical book was more appealing to me while I was studying. The eBook Iliad kept putting me to sleep--whereas, despite how long it took me to read Virgil's classic, I enjoyed most of it. Someone on Goodreads gave it a negative review and referred to it as "Homer fanfiction," which I thought was hilarious. At many points throughout the narrative I thought, "JUST FOUND ROME ALREADY, GOD." But in the end, I was glad I read it.
NOTES ON MELANCHOLIA by M.A. Vizsolyi
This is a beautiful and slim volume of poetry put out by Monk Books that I picked up at AWP and took along with me to read on various travels throughout the city. I don't want to call the poems in it "list" poems because they are more evocative than what that terminology has come to propose. Each line in these poems relates back to the title in a way that seems personal to the writer of the poem but also in a way that can be personal to the reader of the poem. The connection between the title and following lines, then, creates a series of distinct relationships, almost like each line in itself is a little poem, but much more powerful when connected. Additionally, throughout the book, the poems are connected to each other-- the coherence is insightful, beautiful, and at times even alarming, depending on the connections the reader draws, or assumes the poet is drawing. I really enjoyed this book, and it's one I feel I will come back to a few more times in the near future.
FALCONS ON THE FLOOR by Justin Sirois
I bought this book awhile ago and let it sit around for some reason without reading it, despite nearly picking it up various times. Had I even read the first two chapters any of those times I considered picking it up, I'm sure I would have been unable to put it down. Something about this novel for me was un-put-downable. I took it with me to the DMV and read over a hundred pages of it while there. They called my number, and rather than being thrilled, I thought, "BUT I JUST WANT TO FINISH THIS CHAPTER." This is an excellent novel that takes the modern war(s) in the Middle East and makes them realistic to a Western reader in a compelling manner. It was put out by Publishing Genius press that I'm extremely glad I read.
POETRY IS NOT DEAD by Dorothea Lasky
Mark Cugini was pretty alarmed that I hadn't read this yet when he started talking to me about it on gchat one day--or maybe he tweeted about it and then we talked about it on gchat? Either way, it's available to read for free online, so before he could continue to be alarmed, I found the link and read it. It made me feel really great bout the trouble I'm having turning the poems I've written into a collection. It made me feel good about poetry and writing in general and the "lit community" and art. You should read it, too.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Become a Friend of Gigantic Sequins!
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Books Read :: January-February 2013
I am doing another "year goal" this year, but I am not sure if I will meet it, as it is more books than I aimed for last year AND I haven't been reading as many books as usual. This is not for good reason: I am studying for the English Lit GREs and have been since the beginning of January. I take the test on April 20th, and after that I will be free to read as I please again. So, meanwhile, my accomplishments have been sparse in the reading department. I will share them with you below, though. Perhaps after the test, I will reinstate my previous method of entry with numbers and enthusiasm.
WHAT GHOSTS ARE HAUNTED BY by Brian Warfield
To help raise money for the great Turtleneck Press, Brian Warfield printed up this great little book of poems. He included, with my packages that came after my donation of "anything", an extra poem that hadn't been included in the book that I really liked. The poems in this short chapbook were oftentimes straight forward but odd. I liked the absurdity of them. They felt like they were written by a human. That might sound vague, so do let me clarify. Sometimes poems feel like they're written by writers or poets or seamstresses or scholars or presidents or professors. These poems felt like they were written by a human, and I appreciated that.
EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by A.S. King
We read this for book club. It was okay. The story was okay, the characters were okay. It was easy to read and intrigued me, but it was written, ah, how do I say, below my level. A teenager who is a good reader and appreciates narrative over style would probably appreciate this way more than I did. It was fine, it just didn't affect me much.
Yeah, really, that was it. Two books. See what I mean about studying for that test? I am doing a little better in March so far, reading up on some classics!
WHAT GHOSTS ARE HAUNTED BY by Brian Warfield
To help raise money for the great Turtleneck Press, Brian Warfield printed up this great little book of poems. He included, with my packages that came after my donation of "anything", an extra poem that hadn't been included in the book that I really liked. The poems in this short chapbook were oftentimes straight forward but odd. I liked the absurdity of them. They felt like they were written by a human. That might sound vague, so do let me clarify. Sometimes poems feel like they're written by writers or poets or seamstresses or scholars or presidents or professors. These poems felt like they were written by a human, and I appreciated that.
EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by A.S. King
We read this for book club. It was okay. The story was okay, the characters were okay. It was easy to read and intrigued me, but it was written, ah, how do I say, below my level. A teenager who is a good reader and appreciates narrative over style would probably appreciate this way more than I did. It was fine, it just didn't affect me much.
Yeah, really, that was it. Two books. See what I mean about studying for that test? I am doing a little better in March so far, reading up on some classics!
Friday, February 15, 2013
An Open Letter to the Post Office
Dear Post Office,
I mail a lot of things. I mail copies of Gigantic Sequins out personally to our subscriber base, contributors, and the other editors around the country. I mail packages to friends. I mail my bills in sometimes instead of paying electronically. I am getting married in June, and I have been sending things through the mail and will be sending more things through the mail regarding my impending marriage.
I wait in long post office lines joyously. That is not an understatement. I happily wait, always prepared with a book or music or something to occupy my time while I wait. When I worked at Strand Books, one of my favorite errands that my managers would send me on was to wait in line for them at the post office. Sometimes, I don't wait joyously. Sometimes, I am annoyed like everyone else in line, but usually this is because I am already annoyed that day, not because of you, post office.
I love getting mail. I do a recurring blogpost called "Exciting Things in the Mail" on this very blog. I love sending mail. I love stamps. I used to collect stamps. I buy extra forever stamps when they put out something interesting like 20th century poets or Miles Davis/Edith Piaf stamps. I buy old stamps that haven't been postmarked so that I can put 5 different stamps on one envelope to add up to the 46 cents it now costs to mail a regular envelope. I have 2 cent and 3 cent and 15 cent stamps. The only person that I think loves mail more than me is Darla Jackson. Maybe also Joey Kickstand. If nothing else, I probably spend more money sending mail than they do. I spent over $200, nearly $300 at the post office in the past two weeks. Seriously.
And I know my stuff. I know how to get my packages where I need them to go for the least amount of money. I know the rules for media mail, the rules for the difference between a large envelope and a package, the rules for shipping overseas. I fill out my customs forms before I even get in line. I'm not bragging, I am just proving to you that I am trying not to waste your time. I know my stuff, and I am willing to learn when you tell me, "well, actually this can't be send through as a large envelope, despite it fitting through, because it lacks flexibility." Okay, you win. Media it is.
But I digress. I recently moved. I have moved many times. My first favorite post office was the big stone building near Central Square in Cambridge, Mass. It was the first (and only) post office I'd ever known with an AFTER HOURS automated mailing machine. I loved that thing. It almost did it all. This was before I filled out my customs forms in advance. This was before I knew what media mail was. This was over five years ago.
When I moved to New York, I didn't use the Bed Stuy post office often. It felt impersonal, the post office workers behind that thick glass, the difficulty I had bending my packages through the tiny slot. One clerk there was once particularly nice, asking me about what I was mailing, requesting next time I come to mail out copies of Gigantic Sequins, I bring one unwrapped. She was interested in an oddly sized independently run literary arts journal. Mostly, though, I mailed things from the Cooper Union post office, near Union Square, one of the oldest post offices in the States. Its curved building has beautiful architecture and high ceilings. I liked this post office, with its "business-hours" automated mailer, so much that I looked up facts about it. Or maybe someone told me how it had been around so long that horses used to come inside of it to pick up mail. Maybe they had a plaque. Some of the clerks were cheerful, some were not. The line was always long.
I used the Castle Station post office when I first moved to Philly. They did not have an automated mailer. They also have some cheerful and some not cheerful clerks. The clerks, if nothing else, were at least always helpful, asking me questions, teaching me more about what I was mailing and the best way to mail it and when to buy stamps because stamps were going to go up and those forever stamps never go up except when you buy them after stamp prices have already gone up. I have entered a phase in my life where I am polite and cheerful and talkative with people whom I am doing business with. Did I mention also that I mail a lot of things?
I recently moved. Moving means getting a new local post office. Getting a new local post office means having to start all over again, learning which clerks are cheerful and which are not and learning when it's best to bring 30+ stuffed large envelopes of Gigantic Sequins 4.1 into your new local post office, and when that's not a good idea. The first time I went to my new post office, it was not a good idea. They have no automated mailer. The line wasn't long when I got there, but I wound up having to wait through the change of the shift. This meant over ten minutes of standing in line while no one was being helped, the line growing behind me. I was still cheerful. I was excited to send the latest issue out into the world. But soon I learned that wasn't going to happen. When it was my turn, the second clerk that was helping someone else told me that I was only allowed to mail 10 things at once.
"What about the rest of them? Do I have to come back another day?"
"You'll have to go to the end of the line."
"I've never heard that before."
Angrily, I counted out 10 large envelopes. I was very nice to the clerk. It wasn't her fault that this other clerk was a jerk or that her post office branch had weird rules. When she was finished, I stormed out. I didn't want to cause a scene, but I was getting off to a bad start with this new local post office. I didn't like that. And I still had 20+ packages to mail. So I called my new post office. If this was a local rule that they enforced, I wanted to know for sure so that I could find the next nearest branch, one without insane rules that made no sense. The woman on the other line said she had to check. She put me on hold.
I mean, let's pause here. Can you imagine going to a place of business and being told that you were only allowed to purchase ten things, and if you wanted to purchase any more you would have to wait in line all over again? Even when there was more than one clerk? Can you imagine being at Shop Rite with a cart full of food for you and your family, having them ring up a carton of eggs, three apples, two grapefruits, a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of chips, and a can of frozen orange juice and then having the clerk say, "Sir/Miss, you are going to have to go to the end of the line to ring up this jar of jelly, gallon of milk, three cans of soup, bunch of kale, box of cookies..." etc.? Because that's not how businesses work. Last time I checked the news, the post office wasn't doing so well in the business department. And I, like others, have been attuned to this. To help "save the post office", I sent letters nearly every business day last February. I don't use FedEx or UPS. I smile at my mailman. I am sad that they are ending Saturday mail. And like I said above-- I don't waste my post office workers' time--I know my stuff.
So if this was a new local rule, I was just going to have to take my business elsewhere. Sometimes, I go to post offices in New Jersey. There is one in Magnolia, one in Deptford, and another in Runnemede I use to mail things when I am working over the bridge. I have never been given trouble mailing more than ten packages there. And there's always Castle Rock in my old hood.
The woman on the other line told me, once she took me off of hold, that there was no limit to how many packages could be mailed at once. She asked if I had any other questions. I did. I wanted to know why I was just told by a worked at this post office that I was currently on the phone with that I could only mail 10 things at once and then had to retreat to the back of the line. She didn't have any real answer, told me she was sorry a few times, told me she would "speak with" this clerk. I was temporary relieved, but I drove mad all the way to tutoring. There was no way I was going back into that post office that same day, and the excitement of sending issue 4.1 out into the world had turned into a brand new feeling: rage at the post office.
I mailed the rest of the packages out at those other NJ-based post offices I mentioned. I knew I was too angry to go back in there and possibly face this guy. I didn't want to be snarky with him, and I knew it was best for me to wait. But today, over a week later, I decided I was ready to face my fear. I took 16 (more than 10, on purpose) recently packaged orders to the post office. When I got there there was no line. And one clerk. Him. The one who had told my clerk that I could only mail 10 packages. A healthy level of fear and anxiety gathered. Would he remember me? Would he be nasty with me?
I waited for almost 30 seconds before he called me up. I stacked my 16 packages on the counter. He took them around to his register. I smiled and said hello, and I began to tell him how I wanted them mailed when he said, "You can only mail 10 of these at a time."
"No, I called and asked. They said I could mail more than 10."
"Who'd you talk to?"
I said the name of the woman I had spoken to and was glad I had written it down and then memorized it. He took the first package and began to ring it up. As he slowly (and good lord, do I mean slowly!) stickered each of my packages, a line formed behind me. He called into the other room about four packages deep to someone saying, "get in here, there's a line," leading me to believe that he wasn't supposed to be the only clerk there. The line got longer. The other clerk came out. It must have taken the clerk in front of me 15 minutes at least to ring me up. I have had post office workers ring up more than that plus international packages in less time. But I was vindicated. I wondered, though, if he was going through them in such a slow fashion maliciously. Even if he was, though, I was cheerful. I was patient. I wasn't the one who had to deal with the un-cheerful, impatient people in the long line accumulating less than a half hour before the post office closed. He sold me postage for all 16 packages. When I left, I told him to have a nice day. I really meant it.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Ann Southwick
I mail a lot of things. I mail copies of Gigantic Sequins out personally to our subscriber base, contributors, and the other editors around the country. I mail packages to friends. I mail my bills in sometimes instead of paying electronically. I am getting married in June, and I have been sending things through the mail and will be sending more things through the mail regarding my impending marriage.
I wait in long post office lines joyously. That is not an understatement. I happily wait, always prepared with a book or music or something to occupy my time while I wait. When I worked at Strand Books, one of my favorite errands that my managers would send me on was to wait in line for them at the post office. Sometimes, I don't wait joyously. Sometimes, I am annoyed like everyone else in line, but usually this is because I am already annoyed that day, not because of you, post office.
I love getting mail. I do a recurring blogpost called "Exciting Things in the Mail" on this very blog. I love sending mail. I love stamps. I used to collect stamps. I buy extra forever stamps when they put out something interesting like 20th century poets or Miles Davis/Edith Piaf stamps. I buy old stamps that haven't been postmarked so that I can put 5 different stamps on one envelope to add up to the 46 cents it now costs to mail a regular envelope. I have 2 cent and 3 cent and 15 cent stamps. The only person that I think loves mail more than me is Darla Jackson. Maybe also Joey Kickstand. If nothing else, I probably spend more money sending mail than they do. I spent over $200, nearly $300 at the post office in the past two weeks. Seriously.
 |
| 20th Century Poet Stamps! |
And I know my stuff. I know how to get my packages where I need them to go for the least amount of money. I know the rules for media mail, the rules for the difference between a large envelope and a package, the rules for shipping overseas. I fill out my customs forms before I even get in line. I'm not bragging, I am just proving to you that I am trying not to waste your time. I know my stuff, and I am willing to learn when you tell me, "well, actually this can't be send through as a large envelope, despite it fitting through, because it lacks flexibility." Okay, you win. Media it is.
But I digress. I recently moved. I have moved many times. My first favorite post office was the big stone building near Central Square in Cambridge, Mass. It was the first (and only) post office I'd ever known with an AFTER HOURS automated mailing machine. I loved that thing. It almost did it all. This was before I filled out my customs forms in advance. This was before I knew what media mail was. This was over five years ago.
When I moved to New York, I didn't use the Bed Stuy post office often. It felt impersonal, the post office workers behind that thick glass, the difficulty I had bending my packages through the tiny slot. One clerk there was once particularly nice, asking me about what I was mailing, requesting next time I come to mail out copies of Gigantic Sequins, I bring one unwrapped. She was interested in an oddly sized independently run literary arts journal. Mostly, though, I mailed things from the Cooper Union post office, near Union Square, one of the oldest post offices in the States. Its curved building has beautiful architecture and high ceilings. I liked this post office, with its "business-hours" automated mailer, so much that I looked up facts about it. Or maybe someone told me how it had been around so long that horses used to come inside of it to pick up mail. Maybe they had a plaque. Some of the clerks were cheerful, some were not. The line was always long.
 |
| The beautiful Cooper Union post office |
I used the Castle Station post office when I first moved to Philly. They did not have an automated mailer. They also have some cheerful and some not cheerful clerks. The clerks, if nothing else, were at least always helpful, asking me questions, teaching me more about what I was mailing and the best way to mail it and when to buy stamps because stamps were going to go up and those forever stamps never go up except when you buy them after stamp prices have already gone up. I have entered a phase in my life where I am polite and cheerful and talkative with people whom I am doing business with. Did I mention also that I mail a lot of things?
I recently moved. Moving means getting a new local post office. Getting a new local post office means having to start all over again, learning which clerks are cheerful and which are not and learning when it's best to bring 30+ stuffed large envelopes of Gigantic Sequins 4.1 into your new local post office, and when that's not a good idea. The first time I went to my new post office, it was not a good idea. They have no automated mailer. The line wasn't long when I got there, but I wound up having to wait through the change of the shift. This meant over ten minutes of standing in line while no one was being helped, the line growing behind me. I was still cheerful. I was excited to send the latest issue out into the world. But soon I learned that wasn't going to happen. When it was my turn, the second clerk that was helping someone else told me that I was only allowed to mail 10 things at once.
"What about the rest of them? Do I have to come back another day?"
"You'll have to go to the end of the line."
"I've never heard that before."
Angrily, I counted out 10 large envelopes. I was very nice to the clerk. It wasn't her fault that this other clerk was a jerk or that her post office branch had weird rules. When she was finished, I stormed out. I didn't want to cause a scene, but I was getting off to a bad start with this new local post office. I didn't like that. And I still had 20+ packages to mail. So I called my new post office. If this was a local rule that they enforced, I wanted to know for sure so that I could find the next nearest branch, one without insane rules that made no sense. The woman on the other line said she had to check. She put me on hold.
I mean, let's pause here. Can you imagine going to a place of business and being told that you were only allowed to purchase ten things, and if you wanted to purchase any more you would have to wait in line all over again? Even when there was more than one clerk? Can you imagine being at Shop Rite with a cart full of food for you and your family, having them ring up a carton of eggs, three apples, two grapefruits, a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of chips, and a can of frozen orange juice and then having the clerk say, "Sir/Miss, you are going to have to go to the end of the line to ring up this jar of jelly, gallon of milk, three cans of soup, bunch of kale, box of cookies..." etc.? Because that's not how businesses work. Last time I checked the news, the post office wasn't doing so well in the business department. And I, like others, have been attuned to this. To help "save the post office", I sent letters nearly every business day last February. I don't use FedEx or UPS. I smile at my mailman. I am sad that they are ending Saturday mail. And like I said above-- I don't waste my post office workers' time--I know my stuff.
So if this was a new local rule, I was just going to have to take my business elsewhere. Sometimes, I go to post offices in New Jersey. There is one in Magnolia, one in Deptford, and another in Runnemede I use to mail things when I am working over the bridge. I have never been given trouble mailing more than ten packages there. And there's always Castle Rock in my old hood.
The woman on the other line told me, once she took me off of hold, that there was no limit to how many packages could be mailed at once. She asked if I had any other questions. I did. I wanted to know why I was just told by a worked at this post office that I was currently on the phone with that I could only mail 10 things at once and then had to retreat to the back of the line. She didn't have any real answer, told me she was sorry a few times, told me she would "speak with" this clerk. I was temporary relieved, but I drove mad all the way to tutoring. There was no way I was going back into that post office that same day, and the excitement of sending issue 4.1 out into the world had turned into a brand new feeling: rage at the post office.
I mailed the rest of the packages out at those other NJ-based post offices I mentioned. I knew I was too angry to go back in there and possibly face this guy. I didn't want to be snarky with him, and I knew it was best for me to wait. But today, over a week later, I decided I was ready to face my fear. I took 16 (more than 10, on purpose) recently packaged orders to the post office. When I got there there was no line. And one clerk. Him. The one who had told my clerk that I could only mail 10 packages. A healthy level of fear and anxiety gathered. Would he remember me? Would he be nasty with me?
I waited for almost 30 seconds before he called me up. I stacked my 16 packages on the counter. He took them around to his register. I smiled and said hello, and I began to tell him how I wanted them mailed when he said, "You can only mail 10 of these at a time."
"No, I called and asked. They said I could mail more than 10."
"Who'd you talk to?"
I said the name of the woman I had spoken to and was glad I had written it down and then memorized it. He took the first package and began to ring it up. As he slowly (and good lord, do I mean slowly!) stickered each of my packages, a line formed behind me. He called into the other room about four packages deep to someone saying, "get in here, there's a line," leading me to believe that he wasn't supposed to be the only clerk there. The line got longer. The other clerk came out. It must have taken the clerk in front of me 15 minutes at least to ring me up. I have had post office workers ring up more than that plus international packages in less time. But I was vindicated. I wondered, though, if he was going through them in such a slow fashion maliciously. Even if he was, though, I was cheerful. I was patient. I wasn't the one who had to deal with the un-cheerful, impatient people in the long line accumulating less than a half hour before the post office closed. He sold me postage for all 16 packages. When I left, I told him to have a nice day. I really meant it.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Ann Southwick
Saturday, February 2, 2013
You Don't Want To Miss
The holidays mean spending time like money depending on whether or not you like to spend money, but then it's January and you are recovering from all of this time AND money spent, so you are a hermit, mostly. I unhermitted last Saturday to see Eileen Myles & CAConrad read for the Chapter & Verse series and even though the room was small and packed and first too cold and then too warm the reading was excellent and I was glad every second I was there. It wasn't like when I go to see a movie, and I like the movie, but I want it to be over so that I can tell everyone how much I liked it. It was the opposite. It was warm, and there was a reading, and I was listening and grateful, and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to tell everyone how much I was liking it in any real way, so the inverse of that would be just wanting it not to end, except I had to pee, so I knew it had to end or it was going to end with me peeing myself.
I just ordered Eileen's Book from Wave Books because I didn't have enough cash dollars to buy it from her directly AND because Wave is doing a special three books for $30 including Eileen's book. I don't know why I feel compelled to call her by her first name. When I talk about poets and writers I usually refer to people by their entire full names. The "Cold Pack" discount only lasts through today.
Moving on, today CAConrad is reading at Penn Book Center at 2pm. There is quite a calendar of Philly lit events coming up that I want to attend, and I am reading twice in the upcoming months. Here is what you don't want to miss:
2/13 Barrelhouse 11 Launch Party @ Raven Lounge 7pm // PHILLY
2/17 I am reading at the In Your Ear Reading Series @ DC Arts Center 3pm // DC
2/18 Gigantic Sequins 4.1 Release Party! @ Philadelphia Sculpture Gym 7pm // PHILLY
2/23 TireFire Reading Series/Sarah Rose Etter's 30th @ Tattooed Mom 7pm // PHILLY
3/6-3/9 *AWP* CONFERENCE Gigantic Sequins will be @ the bookfair at table B6 each day // BOSTON
3/8 The Offending Sequins! GS Reading for AWP @ Johnny D's 7pm // BOSTON
3/23 I am reading @ the Penn Book Center with Amelia Bentley and Jacob Bennett 2pm // PHILLY
So, as you can see, it's going to be a whirlwind. I am a twister. I am particularly excited for everything, so maybe the word "particularly" is not relevant.
I just ordered Eileen's Book from Wave Books because I didn't have enough cash dollars to buy it from her directly AND because Wave is doing a special three books for $30 including Eileen's book. I don't know why I feel compelled to call her by her first name. When I talk about poets and writers I usually refer to people by their entire full names. The "Cold Pack" discount only lasts through today.
Moving on, today CAConrad is reading at Penn Book Center at 2pm. There is quite a calendar of Philly lit events coming up that I want to attend, and I am reading twice in the upcoming months. Here is what you don't want to miss:
2/13 Barrelhouse 11 Launch Party @ Raven Lounge 7pm // PHILLY
2/17 I am reading at the In Your Ear Reading Series @ DC Arts Center 3pm // DC
2/18 Gigantic Sequins 4.1 Release Party! @ Philadelphia Sculpture Gym 7pm // PHILLY
2/23 TireFire Reading Series/Sarah Rose Etter's 30th @ Tattooed Mom 7pm // PHILLY
3/6-3/9 *AWP* CONFERENCE Gigantic Sequins will be @ the bookfair at table B6 each day // BOSTON
3/8 The Offending Sequins! GS Reading for AWP @ Johnny D's 7pm // BOSTON
3/23 I am reading @ the Penn Book Center with Amelia Bentley and Jacob Bennett 2pm // PHILLY
So, as you can see, it's going to be a whirlwind. I am a twister. I am particularly excited for everything, so maybe the word "particularly" is not relevant.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Books Read :: December
I accomplished my goal, and I amped it up for 2013 :: I am going to go for 75 books. I didn't read as much as I wanted to in December because it was a crazy month (holidays, grades due, getting together Gigantic Sequins 4.1, etc.), but I did get a Kindle for Christmas. Using it has changed my reading experience slightly-- I don't have to worry about packing multiple books when I am about to finish one, for one. For two, I can download my bookclub books and begin reading them ASAP rather than waiting for them to come in the mail. And finally, a lot of classic lit past its copyright is available for free. The day I got the e-reader, I downloaded The Complete Sherlock Holmes, and that's what I've basically been reading since Christmas!
Mission: to read 52 books in 2012
Books Read in 2012 thus far: 59
# of Books Read, November: 2
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Notes on Books Read:
58) How Not to Read by Dan Wilbur
I met Dan Wilbur when I had the misfortune of being matched against him at Literary Death Match Philadelphia. When they read the bios of the people competing, I sat at my table, finishing off my french fries, praying to someone: DEAR GOD, PUT ME AGAINST ANYONE BUT DAN WILBUR! Wilbur founded and runs the fantastically funny blog Better Book Titles, from which my book club friends and I are constantly "reblogging" via our tumblr account. I knew I was toast if they paired me with him. I was right; Dan won. But we forged a small friendship over this event, and I went home and ordered his book soon after. I read it just as my holiday shopping began, and I laughed out loud on a commuter rail train a few times when I'd first picked it up. Getting me to laugh out loud on public transit is sign one that I really think something is hilarious. The only other book I remember being embarassed to have laughed out loud in public by was Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, where the gangster kid with turrets who narrated the novel had me LOLing on an airplane. As I was trying to think of gifts for everyone for the holidays, this book always seemed to come up. It seemed appropriate for my Dad/brother, who never read; for some of my cousins, who used to love to read; for my lit students, who could now appreciate humor about As You Like It, 1984, Allen Ginsberg, and Gertrude Stein; and for my vast collection of literary friends, who would get pretty much every joke layered within it. That being said, I guess I kind of recommend this book to anyone.
Justin L. Daugherty, who has a story being published in Gigantic Sequins 4.1, asked on facebook for books/films about the process of love-- this book came to mind. I have had this book on my shelves since 2006/7, I think, when it first came out in paperback. I bought it at Barnes and Noble when I worked there for a discounted price, and never quite felt I was ready for it. Now that I am looking forward to getting married in June, I decided I could handle whatever it had so say. Mostly, to my relief, it was a book about the brain. I think there is nothing more I like in any science-drive non-fiction narrative than to read about the brain. At some points, I even wondered what the relevance of LOVE was to the book because the authors seemed to discuss brain activity in general more than how it relates to love, though they did, after much set up, "get to the point". What the authors did do, which kept the integrity of the mystery of love, was consistently quote poetry/refer to novels, as though when describing love, science is not enough. Both brains, right and left, are needed to truly comprehend it.
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