“The book is the same every time, but I am different, so what it offers me is different.” That’s a quote from a piece by Jessie Gaynor on “Rereading The Corrections While Navigating Her Mother’s Parkinson’s.” I have been rereading and listening to audio versions of books I read years ago, especially books I haven’tContinue reading “Rereading”
Category Archives: Reading
A Cure for the Common Cold: Audiobooks
Over the holiday break from teaching, I got sick. Not COVID, RSV, or the flu, just a very bad cold. No magic medicine, said the doctor. So, it was soup and tea and lots of tissues and the humidifier. I had headaches the first few days so I didn’t want to write or read. (ThoughContinue reading “A Cure for the Common Cold: Audiobooks”
Best Of’s
December and January are the months when the “Best of” lists and lots of awards are given out for the previous year. I’m not a fan of rankings, but I might look at something like https://lithub.com/the-10-most-popular-lit-hub-stories-of-the-year/ rather than the many best book and best movie lists that appear. How about the 50 of the GreatestContinue reading “Best Of’s”
In Search of Lost Memories
There is a novel that begins:“For a long time, I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say to myself, ‘I’m falling asleep.’ And half an hour later the thought that it was time toContinue reading “In Search of Lost Memories”
Reading By the River
A picnic lunch by the river, reading Thoreau…
Writing the Elegy
On being asked to write an elegy – and not being able to…
#poetry #elegy
How Poets Work
What is the writing process for a poet? Different than that for other writers? Some observations by and about poet Billy Collins.
Valentine
“I could love you violently, if I let myself.” – Sylvia Plath quoting an acquaintance in The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath What I am listening to on my Valentine’s Day afternoon walk.
Subjective Time
A few thoughts after reading A SENSE OF AN ENDING by Julian Barnes.
Cheever’s Triumph Over Chaos
Rereading stories by John Cheever and thinking about his desire to “triumph over chaos”