Meg Johnson's Blog, page 2
January 10, 2024
Books I Want to Read (January 2024)
These are some of the books I want to read...
Zero-Sum: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates
Future Feeling by Joss Lake
Outrage Machine: How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts Democracy—And What We Can Do About It by Tobias Rose-Stockwell
Excavations by Hannah Michell
The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Brannen
Search History by Eugene Lim
This Exquisite Loneliness: What Loners, Outcasts, and the Misunderstood Can Teach Us about Creativity by Richard Deming
The Heartbreak Years: A Memoir by Minda Honey
The Upstate by Lindsay Turner
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto
Rogue by Mona Awad
Cities of the Red Night by William S. Burroughs
The Guild of Saint Cooper by Shya Scanlon
I Didn’t See It Coming by William E. Jones
Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art by Lauren Elkin
Vengeance Is Mine by Marie NDiaye
The Young Man by Annie Ernaux
No Crying in Baseball: The Inside Story of A League of Their Own: Big Stars, Dugout Drama, and a Home Run for Hollywood by Erin Carlson
Nox by Anne Carson
A Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife by Kendall Kulper
A Matter of Appearance: A Memoir by Emily Wells
Shy by Max Porter
Abortion: A Personal Story, A Political Choice by Pauline Harmange
What’s Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety by Cole Kazdin
The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life (10th Anniversary Edition) by Dani Shapiro
Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns
Up with the Sun by Thomas Mallon
Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages by Carmela Ciuraru
Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society by Arline T. Geronimus
Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother by Peggy O’Donnell Heffington
Exalted by Anna Dorn
Pleasure and Efficacy: Of Pen Names, Cover Versions, and Other Trans Techniques by Grace E. Lavery
Lessons from an American Stoic: How Emerson Can Change Your Life by Mark Matousek
A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot Toward What Matters by Steven C. Hayes
literally show me a healthy person by Darcie Wilder
The Novelist by Jordan Castro
I hope everyone had a happy holiday season. I posted some pictures of me with my nephews from Thanksgiving Day (11/23/2023) here.
Looking forward to the long weekend!
P.S. I definitely recommend this essay which you can read here. It was published in 2019, but for some reason, I didn't come across it until sometime in 2023. After reading it, I made a note that it is a must-read.
October 23, 2023
Fall 2023
I have recently and somewhat recently been posting about books I like on instagram. I also posted some photos from September and October (last month and this month).
I'm sorry to only post some links here and then dash. I'm having a busy month. I will post more about books on this blog when I have time. Hopefully soon.
May 22, 2023
March 25, 2023
March 7, 2023
January 18, 2023
1/18/2023
It’s 2023!
These are the books I’m currently reading. I meant to read these months ago, but I’m catching up now.
If There Are Any Heavens by Nicholas Montemarano
The Vibrant Years by Sonali DevThese are the books I want to read next. (In random order.)
Aura: A Memoir by Hillary Leftwich
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Enjoy Me Among My Ruins by Juniper Fitzgerald
Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
I’ve Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton by Lynn Melnick
Late Summer Ode by Olena Kalytiak Davis
Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freeland
Healing by Gayl Jones
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
Foster by Claire Keegan
Assia by Sandra Simonds
Offended Sensibilities by Alisa Ganieva
The Emily Dickinson Reader by Paul Legault
The Long Answer by Anna Hogeland
Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom
A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
Writers Under Surveillance: The FBI Files
Doom Scroll by Matthew Guenette
The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer
Bad Thoughts by Nada Alic
When the Sun Comes Out After Three Days of Rain by Leah Browning
Sugar Street by Jonathan Dee
Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
I’m Never Fine: Scenes and Spasms on Loss by Joseph Lezza
Judy Garland is Not a Sunrise by E.F. Schraeder
Eve Bites Back: An Alternative History of English Literature by Anna Beer
I really appreciate people sending me books and I really appreciate people emailing me about new and forthcoming books. I can’t respond to all the emails, but it is so nice of people to reach out and I do read every email.
So... Some people have asked me about new poems... I am working on a couple manuscripts right now. One is definitely not poetry. The other one is...also not poetry... I think the most important thing is that I’m writing, but I guess I do feel a bit anxious and guilty to say I’m not working on any poems at the moment.
Since I don’t have any new poems right now (sorry), I thought I would post some throwback poems/book excerpts. These photos are of my reading copies which are getting pretty worn. Especially my reading copy of Inappropriate Sleepover which has been bathed in beer over the years.
A poem from Inappropriate Sleepover (The National Poetry Review Press, 2014). (Throwing it pretty far back with this poem...)
I’m actually going to post three poems from The Crimes of Clara Turlington (Vine Leaves Press, 2015) because it is the middle child book. Years later, I’m still excited that Stephanie Burt tweeted about one of these poems.
A poem from Without: Body, Name, Country (Vine Leaves Press, 2020).
I thought I would have an okay selfie from this past weekend, but I don’t. Instead, I have four selfies from Saturday that look like they were taken with an aughts flip phone. I guess I was in horrible lighting or squirming around too much or something. That’s alright though. I made it to 2023 all in one piece.
Stay warm!
March 14, 2022
Books I Want to Read (3/14/2022)
I recently read two wonderful poetry collections which I posted about here.
These are the books I want to read next...
Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay GreshamSocial Creature by Tara Isabella Burton
The Loop by Jacob Ward
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman
Mindwandering by Moshe Bar
New Animal by Ella Baxter
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett
I received my Covid vaccine booster shot on February 4th. Because I'm immunocompromised, I've now had three full strength Moderna shots plus the half-dose booster. I have managed to stay healthy throughout the pandemic so far, and I'm still being really careful. I'm not going to AWP this year, but if I wasn't immunocompromised, I would probably go this year.
January 20, 2022
Poetry in Storm Cellar
The new issue of Storm Cellar is out now. Thank you to the editors. The issue is available in print and as an ebook.
I posted a sneak peek of the issue here.
December 22, 2021
New Piece Out, Books I'm Excited to Read, & Recent Photos
I have a new piece out, published by Little Old Lady Comedy, which you can read here. The title of the piece is "Love Interests in Literary Fiction."
There are so many books I want to read in 2022, especially these eight books...Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin
SylviaLeonard Michaels
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Wittgenstein's MistressDavid Markson
PassingNella Larsen
Work Hard, Not SmartAlexis Paige
Department of ElegyMary Biddinger
Paradise CloseLisa Russ Spaar
A few people mentioned to me that I hadn't posted any recent photos of myself online lately, and that they felt like they hadn't seen me in a long time because of the pandemic and lack of recent photos. I guess that's kind of true because my posts on instagram this fall were all throwback photos. I added some photos of me from last month and this month to the end of this online album. Proof of survival.
Here are two photos from last weekend...
Happy Holidays!
November 2, 2021
Pushcart Prize Nomination
Thank you to the editors of Rabid Oak for nominating my poem "Reluctant Sex Symbol" for a Pushcart Prize.
Receiving a nomination is always very flattering. I really appreciate it.
