Every year I buy books that I don’t read. Often they are $1.99 Kindle deals, impulse buys from visits to indie bookstores, titles mentioned in blogs or on social media of interest, and books written by my poetry teachers or by poets I hear read at conferences or poetry readings.
The problem is getting to them. Whatever inspired me to make the purchase usually fades by the time I have an opening in my reading schedule. I wonder if I buy books compulsively. Is my book-buying an addiction or a kind of hoarding? I hope not, but as a twenty-first-century American, why should I be exempt from consumer too-muchness?
I made a plan that will allow me to make peace with my better angels, those who say that books are not decorations or emotional pacifiers, but mind-feeders, knowledge-sharers, life-enlargers. A selected group of recently purchased books are now gathered in a pile next to my reading chair. I will read them in 2025 one or two or three at a time. The list below seals my intention to seek out and enjoy each book. Friend me on Good Reads to follow my progress.
Group Reads
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay (finished 1/19/25) in “For the Joy & the Sorrow” in Jeannine Ouellette’s Writing in the Dark. Library copy.
The Odyssey, tr. by Emily Wilson (begins 2/6/25) in APS Together with Stefania Heim. Ordered from LaDeDa Books in Manitowoc.
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan (begins 1/30/25, the author’s birthday) in the Richard Brautigan Facebook Group Chat. Kindle version.
Poetry and Poets
Be With by Forrest Gander. I took the C.D. Wright Short Course from Gander online at the Community of Writers. Book found at Yardstick Books in Algoma.
Cipota Under the Moon by Claudia Castro Luna. I took On Trees from Luna online at Hugo House. Book found at Yardstick Books in Algoma.
Collected Poems of Lenore Kandel. Referenced in Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur.
Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, ed. Rigoberto González (now reading). I regularly peruse the Library of America’s new publications list.
Lorine Niedecker: A Poet’s Life by Margot Peters. Purchased at library book sale to enhance my understanding of Wisconsin poet Niedecker.
Other Influences: An Untold History of Feminist Avant-Garde Poetry, ed. By Marcella Durand and Jennifer Firestone. Referenced in emails from the Woodberry Poetry Room
Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, tr. by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. Used in a workshop taken from Tiferet Journal.
Spirituality/Depth Psychology
Hauntings by James Hollis. Listening to the Your Jungian Life podcast interview with the author whetted my appetite for more from him. (began reading 1/19/25)
Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation by Elaine Pagels. Kindle version. Interested in this scholar’s take on this difficult book of the Bible.
Futurism
The Gold Coast: Three Californias (Three Californias Triptych series Book 2) by Kim Stanley Robinson. Kindle version. I love Robinson’s futurist novels; the triptych is an earlier take on the theme.
Me Tomorrow: Indigenous Views on the Future, compiled and edited by Drew Hayden Taylor. Purchased at an indie bookstore in Harbor Springs, Michigan.
Other
Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe by Carl Safina. Recommended by Cindy Lupin. Library copy.
Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs. Kindle version. I’ve been fascinated by whales since reading books by Eva Saulitis.
The Salt Path: A Memoir by Raynor Winn. Kindle version. Referenced in a PBS program: Britain by the Book: Literary Dorset. Combines two of my favorite themes: long-distance hiking and marriage.