The Book Challenge discussion
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sempervirens 2008 reading resolutions
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Selection one is a recommendation made to me. The book is a history that reads like fiction: 'Devil in the White City.' I am about 200 pages in. The book is okay so far, but it will not be one of the discussion/essay books.
http://www.thelumberyardjournal.com/m...Includes three young Native writers:
Jennifer Foerster, Travis Hedge Coke, and Orlando White. All three are current MFA candidates.
The show aires tomorrow at 5:00pm but may be accessible now.
Thu, 10 January 2008
Volume III Episode 4
The Lumberyard: A Radio Magazine of Poetry, Prose, and Music
Volume 3, Episode #4 Contents:
This week The Lumberyard presents poets and writers recorded at The Soul Mountain Retreat in East Haddam, CT. Founded and directed by poet Marilyn Nelson, Soul Mountain encourages and supports emerging and established poets, especially those belonging to traditionally underrepresented racial or cultural groups, by offering brief guest residences. This episode of The Lumberyard is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
MARILYN NELSON: "The Sacrament of Poverty"
PATRICIA SMITH: "Siblings"
CAROLYN BEARD WHITLOW: "Pickpocket"
ORLANDO WHITE: "Lowercase i and j"
AMY UYEMATSU: "Looking"
DANTE MICHEAUX: "Apples"
TRAVIS HEDGE COKE: "December: Echo"
HARRYETTE MULLEN: "We Are Not Responsible"
BAKAR WILSON: "In Christ, Drowning"
JENNIFER FOERSTER: "California"
Musical features:
THE SHAKY HANDS: "Soul"
THE OWLS: "All Those in Favor"
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Direct download: Volume_3_Episode_4.mp3
Category: podcasts -- posted at: 1:19 PM
I feel the same way ... in the rush to reach the goal of 50 books a year I sometimes can't remember the title of the book I just finished!
"I feel the same way ... in the rush to reach the goal of 50 books a year I sometimes can't remember the title of the book I just finished!"That's part of the reason for the essays. I want to keep what I initially get out of the good books of the year.
For especially good books, I will seek out discussions, or start them, and then save the best of the posts from those discussions.
That sort of material is fun, and sometimes useful, to read at the end of the year.
Fred, what are you reading now?I am just about done with "Devil in the White City." I've enjoyed it a good deal.
Next up for me is either "Atonement" or "Neon Wilderness" by Nelson Algren.
I'm an urban planner so the parts of "Devil in the White City" focused on Daniel Burnham were very interesting. He also did a (largely) unrealized plan for San Francisco (where I work). 'Reading 3 books right now. "Suite Francaise", "Setting Free the Bears", an early John Irving book and "The Custom of the Country" by Edith Wharton. The Wharton is an ebook on my Palm TX, so I'm never without a book!
I am still on track. I finished Atonement today. That's two for the month with some headstart time toward the February goal. I am sixty pages into Neon Wilderness by Nelson Algren and I am enjoying it as much as the other two, so far.After that, I think I will shift over to some Borges.
Couldn't resist and couldn't wait. I've shelved Neon Wilderness for the next few days and started reading The Garden of Forking Paths. Should be done by Friday or maybe Saturday.The other half of my 2/month reading resolution is to write to short essays per month. I finished that yesterday, writing a short piece on Atonement and one on The Return of the Native.
I lowered the reading limit in 2007 to 12, but found my reading discipline slackened.
In 2008, my goal is to read 24 books, to find a place to discuss those of the 24 that intrigue me, and then to discuss them until I feel I have wrung from them what I can.
This resolution includes a goal of writing 24 short essays. While not technically reading, and while the essays will not necessarily focus on what I am reading at the time (though they may), the writing will likely help to focus my future selections and may well have other reading related benefits.