1. Hello from wavy Long Island Sound. I'm on the Port Jefferson Ferry (the P.T. Barnum), on my way to the Fairfield MFA residency on Enders Island, near Mystic. No rest for the weary--or the wicked--or whatever it is. But I am looking forward to teaching new work, thinking about some writers I've never taught before. On tomorrow’s worksheet: Anne Carson, Joe Wenderoth, Nancy Mairs.
2. It’s the time of year--or decade--for best of/worst of lists. I can’t quite resist them, even though they usually leave me slightly stirred up and confused. Is it because the eye inevitably goes to what's been left off? Or because they're often more about fence-building than they are about achievement? (Then there’s that strange obsession with the number 10.) Still, the truth is I've come to any number of books, songs, bands, films through lists, so here goes a list of my own. Not a best of list, but a "Books-I-Read-in- 2009” list, the format of which comes from the Twittersphere.
(Okay, wonder to be found below. Read these books.)
--Please, Jericho Brown
--The Ticking is the Bomb, Nick Flynn
--Don't Cry, Mary Gaitskill
--The End, Salvatore Scibona
--Lark and Termite, Jayne Anne Phillips
--Bluets, Maggie Nelson
--Reality Hunger, David Shields
--Museum of Accidents, Rachel Zucker
--Big Machine, Victor LaValle
--One D.O.A., One on the Way, Mary Robison
--Selected Poems, Dara Weir
--Breakfast with Thom Gunn, Randall Mann
--The End of the West, Michael Dickman
--The End of the World Book, Alistair McCartney
--The Two Kinds of Decay, Sarah Manguso
--Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
--Apocalyptic Swing, Gabrielle Calvocoressi
--The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
--The Suicide Index, Joan Wickersham
--Cheever: A Life, Blake Bailey
--Tinkers, Paul Harding
--As a Friend, Forrest Gander
--Evening’s Empire, Zachary Lazar
--Blood Dazzler, Patricia Smith
--The Book of Right and Wrong, Matt Debenham
--Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
--Shoplifting from American Apparel, Tao Lin
--The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
--The Story of a Marriage, Andrew Sean Greer
Ah, home: a view of my studio at dusk yesterday.
8 comments:
ah, paul. from your blog to my goodreads list. however, no mary gaitskill, no lorrie moore?
i think vestal mcintyre's novel was towards the top of my 2009 book list. what a novel.
What is it about year's end that brings on the lists, the obsessions and all the other tidying up talk in blogland?
I sort of already know the answer I think, but thought I'd pose it anyhow. It's so striking.
Jayme--Mary Gaitskill! I'm sure I've forgotten so many others.
Believe it or not, I've only read the Gate at the Stairs excerpt in the New Yorker--which I loved, of course. I'm going to get to it next week, once the residency is over.
paul, i'm sure you'll blog about it, but i want to know what you think of 'gate at the stairs' when you're through.
ps-the advance copies of 2010 books that you read this year were an awful tease.
pps-off to le grainne today. your recommendation that keeps on giving.
Hi Paul,
I read this blog all the time and never say anything. Here's a year-end thanks for all the great poems/pictures/thoughts you've posted throughout the year. Thanks!
-Shauna
(I met you briefly at the Juniper workshop in Amherst)
In my early 20s your book Lawnboy came out and I read about it in OUT or Advocate or one of those great gay mags and so I ordered it and loved reading it. Usually I recycle my books, but I've kept it. Just a little story for you for the decade. Cheers, Paul. Great photographs, btw.
Thank you for checking in, Shauna. And for your very kind note. That's very sweet of you. (Are you coming back to Juniper this year?)
Montgomery--thanks very much. Your note makes my day! Happy New Year--and cheers.
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