Reading Themes and Goals for 2024.

My primary reading goal for 2024 is to read 100 books. But I have a lot of ideas about what kinds of books I want to read. Here are most of the themes, authors, and topics on which I want to focus.

• Journals and Diaries.
• Books on Journaling.
• Poets' Memoirs and Biographies.
• Books on Reading/Books/Bookselling.
• Books on French Lifestyles/Travels to France.
• Books on Food, Especially Poetry.
• Books on Writing Poetry.
• Books by Helen Oyeyemi.
• Books in Seasonal Genres (Winter: Children's Literature; Spring: Young Adult Literature; Summer: Short Story Collections; Fall: Nonfiction).
• 30 Books of Poetry in April,
• 31 Books of Poetry in October.
• Books by Alexandra Stoddard.
• Books by Jill Bialosky.
• Books by Joseph Bathanti.
• Books by Kay Redfield Jamison.
• Memoirs and Essays on Motherhood. 

October Poetry Month: Week 4

Day 1: I've finally gotten back to the poetry work! Today's book was White Pine by Mary Oliver. I love the quiet meditation of her poems, and as I said a couple of weeks ago, hers is the only nature poetry I tend to like. I've now read nine of her poetry collecitons, and I have more to read. I wrote a poem for her called "The Owl Queen."

Day 2: Today, I read two poetry books: Green by Melissa Fite Johnson and A Plumber's Guide to Light by Jesse Bertron, a chapbook. I wrote a poem called "No One Ever," responding to a poem in Green. I don't know if I can respond to A Plumber's, but it was good, worth reading again. I'm still not feeling well, but I managed a good three hours of reading in the evening. I'm now a little more caught up. I've now read eighteen books of poetry this month, so I'm still about five books behind--gracious.  I've written only sixteen poems, so I'm behind by seven. Strep really laid me out last week. This challenge may have to spill into November, but I'll get it done. The good news is that I'm currently nine books ahead (90 books) on my annual reading goal! I only have 10 books to go, so I hope to surpass my goal by a good bit. Several weeks are left! I continue to read two or more poems from Fairy Poems, the Everyman's Library Pocket Poet book Josh gave me. I hope to finish it before or soon after the end of the month. I'm almost halfway through. So, 

Day 3: I read Anson County: Poems by Bathanti today. I decided not to spread poets out; I have another by Bathanti and two more by AMP. I'll try to read them all before the end of the month. I wrote an as-yet-untitled poem after Bathanti. I'll let it sit tonight and try to untangle it and name it in the morning. At the moment, I'm four poetry books behind and six poems behind. I found a few more chapbooks, which will help me catch up. I have one week left. 

Day 4: Today, I read two books. Triumph of Achilles is Louise Gluck's fourth book of poetry. I thought Id read a ton of her books, but I have so many more to read! I hadn't realized she won the NOBEL PRIZE. I guess even her tenure as US Poet Laureate and her Pulitzer Prize pale compared to that! I definitely need to read the rest of her books.  The second book was Spinning the Vast Fantastic, a chapbook by Britton Shurley. That one got three stars. I didn't write a poem today...I may not reach the poetry-writing goal this month. Vertigo kept me down a bit today. I don't know what's causing it.

Day 5: I read two more books of poetry today: Those Days When Love Doesn't Work by Nancy Tripp King (I had to add it to StoryGraph) and AMP's Days Like Prose. I thought I'd read so much more of AMP's poetry, but I'm catching up now. Both books got four stars. I'm amazed I accomplished that much because my vertigo was severe, especially in the morning.

Day 6: I spent this morning in the hospital with extreme vertigo, so I did not read or write any poems. I have eight books left to read and only four days to do it!

Day 7: Vertigo was bad again this morning, the worst it's been. Dang. So reading was difficult at best. I went on Libby and searched "Poetry audio." I borrowed Feel Your Way Through, a book of poetry by Kelsea Ballerini. I've never listened to her music. I wouldn't call the book literary poetry, but the rhythm and rhymes were soothing. I bought another audio book for under $3: Be With, poems by Forrest Gander. It's a Pulitzer-Prize winner! So that helps me with my 40 before 40 goal to read ten Pulitzers during this decade of my life. And finally, as my vertigo stayed away in the evening, I visually read Louise Gluck's Meadowlands. I'm now at 98 total books for the year, 16 books ahead on my goal! If I can finish my poetry month reading goal, I'll get there! Since I've been so sick, I may be listening to a lot of poetry over the next few days. Only five books to go! I also wrote a new poem called "Watching True Crime Shows in the ER."

October Poetry Month: Week 3...Largely a Bust.

This week, I didn't read or write much. I spent a lot of time at the hospital, trying to figure out what has me sick. On Friday night, I finally found out that I have strep. I've spent a lot of time in bed this week and haven't felt up to much. I keep wanting to read or write, but I hardly feel able. 

On Sunday, I wrote a poem called "When the Moment Comes," which takes the title and first line from Daniel Halpern's "Nature Lover's Lament" and images from his "Daughter & Chair."

On Tuesday, I did read The Dark between Stars by Atticus. It's not what I'd call literary poetry, but the photos are interesting, and I liked a couple of the itty bitty poems.  On Friday, I finished Bringing the Shovel Down by Ross Gay, my first book by him. I have a couple of his nonfiction books, which I'd like to read soon. One is called Inciting Joy. His poetry was not very joyful, so I'll be interested to see the difference in tone. The book did have some redemption, though. 

So I've read 15 books of poetry and written 14 poems. I have a long way to go! This challenge may dribble into November, but I still plan to go for 31 of each. 

Writing Conference Prompts: Desired Outcomes.

 Desired Outcomes as a Reader

• Read 100 books this year
• Fill time with reading
• Read 31 books of poetry in October
• Read visually 2+ hours daily
• Read poems every day
• Read a story every day
• Read art
• Listen to books at every opportunity
• Read within my passions and curiosities
• Read outside my tendencies
• Read with Josh
• Read with Bruce
• Read some of Josh's books
• Read anthologies, especially Best American
• Approach books with curiosity

What am I doing well?

• The desire is there.
• I read deeply.
• I reflect on what I read.
• I read to help myself write.

What could I do better?

• Focus
• Put in the time
• Read widely
• Read daily
• Listen to books more

How can I do better?

• Keep headphones charged
• Listen during chores and meals
• Read The Plague
• Read a chapter of Creative Recovery each week
• Read poetry collections all at once in a day or two
• Finish a book most days
• Time my reading
• Use chart
• Update GoodReads and StoryGraph

October Poetry Month: Week One.

This month, I challenged myself to read 31 books of poetry. I plan on repeating this challenge every April and October. This time, I have some library books and plenty of slim (and not-so-slim) volumes on my unread-poetry shelves. It's not exactly a poetry fast (which I've done before) as I'm reading and listening to other genres to a lesser degree. A side quest has been to write 31 poems as well, most of them in response to the poets, books, or poems I've read. I did pretty well my first week.

Day 1: I read The Woman Who Fell from the Sky by Joy Harjo. I wrote a poem called "Misread," in response to Harjo's poem "Northern Lights." It's mostly about how I misread crows in her poem as cows. Ha! It made for a funny image. I also pondered addiction and privelege in the poem. 

Day 2: I read Kim Addonizio's Lucifer at the Starlight. This was a book that Josh bought me as a gift this month. I plan to read a lot more of her work. Josh bought me another of her books, so I'll probably read that this month too! I wrote a poem called Myth for Addonizio, after her book. 

Day 3: In an unintentional connection (I'd already planned my first few books), I read Subterranean by Jill Bialosky, who happened to be Addonizio's editor! I've seen a few links like that this month. I wrote a poem called "My Heart," after Kim Addonizio's poem of the same title. I sent it to Josh and Bruce as I usually do, and I also sent it to my mom. I also wrote a poem called "Overdue," which wasn't a response to what I'd read...just a poem about all my overdue library books! 

Day 4: This was a busy day, so I went for a chapbook: Shopping after the Apocalypse by Jessie Carty. Jessie and I were in our MFA program together sixteen years ago, and we've stayed in touch. I wrote a poem called "The Rings" after Jill Bialosky's "The Circles, the Rings." Her poem has several stanzas that all begin with the line "I don't think it was snowing," so I wrote my poem with the same pattern. It ended up being about living in Boone, about my meeting Josh, and about our ill-advised romance, which pretty much worked out against all odds. Out of a kind of misplaced loyalty to my family, I think, I haven't written much about that. It's time to put aside all misplaced loyalty!

Day 5: My book of the day was Falling Awake by Alice Oswald, an overdue library book. It wasn't a favorite. I'd never read Oswald. This book was mostly nature poems. I usually don't care much for those apart from Mary Oliver's. I wrote a poem for Jessie, responding to the first poem in her Shopping after the Apocalypse with my "Shopping for the Journey," which was a tribute to some things I deem essential and to my friendship with Jessie. 

Day 6: Since I'd read a book by a fellow Queens University alumna, I decided to read The Ladder by Alan Michael Parker, my thesis advisor. This was another overdue library book (I made a purchase request for it), but I think I'll buy a copy eventually because I gave it five stars! I've read most of AMP's poetry books, and this, competing with Elephants and Butterflies, may be my favorite. I didn't write a poem on this day, but I had one planned.

Day 7: This day, I read Love and F*ck Poems by Koraly Dimitriadis. It popped up in Amazon recommendations when, I think, I was looking for Denise Levertov books. It, along with Dimitriadis's other book Just Give Me the Pills, was on sale for about $5, so I ordered both. The poems were graphic, passionate, disconsolate, and sometimes manic. I knew I'd have a hard time responding to that! I had already written down the title a poem the day before, so I wrote "To the Jewish Sir Ben Kingsley," a poem for Alan, responding to The Ladder. It's true; he looks just like Ben Kingsley, and I laughed out loud when I saw that line in his poem. 

So that's seven books of poetry and seven poems in my first week!