books Category

Reading Recap

In: Brian Andrews, art, books, poetry

Yesterday, Brian and I cohosted, along with our friend Erik Noonan, the first of what we hope will be many outdoor pairings of poetry and visual art.

Poetry Thursday: Rupert Brooke

In: books, poetry, writing

Menelaus and Helen
IHot through Troy’s ruin Menelaus broke To Priam’s palace, sword in hand, to sate On that adulterous [...]

So there’s this urban legend I heard once, about this woman who’s in an ice cream shop when she notices Jack Nicholson is standing next to her. She plays it cool, completes the ice-cream-for-money exchange, and heads outside — only to discover that she no longer has her ice cream with her. As she’s standing [...]

1. Storyteller, by Kate Wilhelm: to my right, near my elbow. I’m wishing I’d reread it before submitting my application to Clarion. I’m worried I didn’t make it absolutely clear how much I need me some writing instruction right now — I’m all atmosphere and no plot these days.
2. Getting Started as a Freelance Writer, [...]

More towards the top ten

In: Tom Clark, books, poetry, top ten

5. Light and Shade: New and Selected Poetry, by Tom Clark
Vagabondage
Summer nightklang of stars
inner acoustic
water diamonds aroundthe oars

Towards a Top Ten, Take Two

In: books, top ten

3. The Ladies of Grace Adieu, and other stories, by Suzanna Clarke
There were horned heads, antlered heads, heads carapiced like insects’ heads, heads as puckered and soft as a mouldy orange; there were mouths pulled wide by tusks, mouths stretched out into trumpets, mouths that grinned, mouths that gaped, mouths that dribbled; there were bats’ [...]

Towards a Top Ten

In: books, top ten

So the year is drawing to a close, and, never one to pass up the opportunity to reccommend books, I thought I’d list my ten favorites. In the interest of imposing rules (so as not to range all over as I am wont to do), I limited myself to books published in the last year.
I [...]

Actually, I’m rather enjoying the rain. But, gah! has it rained a lot the past few days, that chill-bone, tree-stripping rain particular to November. Today was just so chilly and wet, which made the poem we read for Keats class seem as if it were written for an entirely different season (and to be fair, [...]

And now, a bookshelf interlude

In: Nablopomo, books

One of the first things I do when I find myself at someone’s house is start poking through their bookshelves. Partly it’s curiousity about the bookshelf-owner — do they like Jane Austen? Do they own a copy of The Story of O? And part of it is that I’m just plain addicted to reading. I [...]

About this blog

I'm a freelance writer and perpetual graduate student living in San Francisco. Special skills include dog charming, brochure writing, slapdash cooking and long-winded nattering. I also enjoy watching the sunset reflected in the tall buildings downtown.

For a while there, I taught classes on Classical literature, philosophy, and the history of religion at New College of California. I have an MA and an MFA in Writing, and started library school in the fall of 2009.