The TBR Stack
February 24, 2023
I'm so looking forward to jumping into this TBR stack from the library, but first have to finish Mary Gabriel's Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art. It's long, fascinating, and completely absorbing. I'm almost done.
The stack:
Milkweed Smithereens, by Bernadettte Mayer. At Chicago Review of Books, Mandana Chaffa writes, "I cannot overstate how much Bernadette Mayer’s work, and the poetic ethos and play she championed, means to me and to the poetry community at large. She celebrated the ordinary as extraordinary, equal parts funny and revolutionary[...]"
We Are Mermaids, by Stephanie Burt. I'm a big Stephanie Burt fan; an academic who writes in an accessible way, she's so dang smart, and her interests and subjects are wide-ranging. (Readers looking to learn more about contemporary poetry can start with Burt's The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them.) We Are Mermaids is a collection of poems; I heard about it on Han VanderHart's Of Poetry podcast, and knew I wanted to read it.
Space Struck, by Paige Lewis. I've read it before and look forward to reading it again. "Over and over again, the characters in Space Struck seek the natural world but encounter institutions, which in the collection (and, one gets the uncanny sense, in our actual lives) are rapidly becoming one of the last ways to experience nature," says Emily DeMaioNewton at Ploughshares.
Soul Culture: Black Poets, Books, and Questions That Grew Me Up, by Remica Bingham-Risher. I heard the author on the VS podcast, made a note of the book (a collection of essays and poems), and happily bumped into it at the library. Bingham-Risher, "mines the experiences of Black writers in this jovial mix of memoir, essay, and homage to her literary 'guiding voices,'" according to Publishers Weekly.
Poems Are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres, by Amy VanDerwater. The author (and Poetry Friday regular) mentioned this book just last week on her blog, and the library had it! I know it will help with ideas for reading and talking to my first and second grade friends about poetry. (I'm a volunteer reader in a several public-school classrooms.)
*****
The Poetry Friday roundup is at Tabatha Yeatts' blog today.
Thanks for sharing your TBR stack with us! I am on my way to buy one now...
Posted by: Tabatha | February 24, 2023 at 11:39 AM
Yay! If only I could speed read…
Posted by: Susan T. | February 24, 2023 at 12:01 PM
Ha! This post about your TBR stack made me laugh. I'll have to look for that last book by Amy, sounds like it's up my alley! The reason your post made me laugh is that I'm expecting a box of books to be delivered today from Amazon. I also need to visit the public library to get a bunch of bat books to help me build a resource list for a presentation to first graders that I am working on for April. Soon I'll have more own TBR stack!
Posted by: Carol J. Labuzzetta | February 24, 2023 at 04:56 PM
Ha, Carol, then you know! Another book is always waiting.
I bet the first graders will love hearing & learning about bats.
Posted by: Susan T. | February 24, 2023 at 05:01 PM
Milkweed Smithereens sounds like something that is JUST so fun!
Posted by: tanita | February 24, 2023 at 05:19 PM
Tanita, I LOVE Bernadette Mayer's work. She just passed away recently.
Posted by: Susan T. | February 24, 2023 at 05:23 PM
What a gorgeous stack of books. I have a nice cool and crisp day here--I'm attacking my stack too! Happy reading.
Posted by: Linda Mitchell | February 25, 2023 at 06:22 AM
Linda, the best sort of day for reading! Enjoy.
Posted by: Susan T. | February 25, 2023 at 10:53 AM
I've read & used Amy's book when I taught, Susan, and noted the others. They all sound so good! Yikes, I have too many books in the stack! Thanks!
Posted by: Linda Baie | February 25, 2023 at 12:13 PM
That's a nice recommendation for Amy's book, Linda.
Always too many books in the stack, right?
Posted by: Susan T. | February 25, 2023 at 01:41 PM
With stacks like yours, I would be in poetry heaven. It's too bad my time is so limited. Thank you for providing little teasers of all, Susan.
Posted by: Carol Varsalona | February 26, 2023 at 07:56 AM
What a stack! I'm sure you've probably read it, but if not, add Marilyn Nelson's AUGUSTA SAVAGE to your next stack. It is a biography in verse, but the poetry is strong enough for each one to stand alone.
Posted by: Mary Lee | February 26, 2023 at 08:29 AM
Yay for sharing your TBR stack, Susan! I'm bookmarking this post to get ideas for books to put on my US library hold list. ( I use my daughter's library account in California to read books written in English on my kindle here in Switzerland. Not too many English books in my local library...)
Thank you! :)
Posted by: Bridget Magee | February 26, 2023 at 09:52 AM
What a lovely stack! I adore Amy's Poems Are Teachers. I refer to it frequently for ideas for different approaches and mentor texts in my own writing :>D
Posted by: Laura Purdie Salas | February 26, 2023 at 02:37 PM
That looks like a fabulous stack of books. Enjoy!
Posted by: Kay McGriff | February 26, 2023 at 03:31 PM
Mary Lee, thank you! I just requested AUGUSTA SAVAGE from the library.
Bridget, that's a smart workaround for getting books. I have Hoopla & Libby accounts, too, at a couple of libraries.
Laura, yay, I knew it looked good!
Thank you, Kay. This weekend I finished up the long book and have happily started whittling away at the stack.
Posted by: Susan T. | February 26, 2023 at 04:27 PM
So many great books! Happy reading!
Posted by: Linda | February 26, 2023 at 05:10 PM
Thank you, Linda! I love going to the library & finding treasures.
Posted by: Susan T. | February 26, 2023 at 07:12 PM
Susan, thanks for sharing your sweet stack of books. I went to my library app after I read your post to check to see if Amy's book was there. No, but there were two other poetry books by her, so I checked them out. I'll have to buy Amy's Poems Are Teachers because it is not the first time I've wanted to read it. And you've given us so many more options, too!
Posted by: Denise Krebs | February 27, 2023 at 12:04 AM
Denise, nice! I'm glad other books of Amy's popped up.
Posted by: Susan T. | February 27, 2023 at 10:00 AM
I'm feeling a bit sheepish that my own TBR pile currently is 100% children's picture books... but it is currently where my poetic inspiration comes from, so gotta follow the muse!
Posted by: PATRICIA J FRANZ | February 27, 2023 at 03:32 PM
I ❤️ picture books! I need to spend a morning at the library's kids' section finding more to share with my elementary school friends.
Posted by: Susan T. | February 27, 2023 at 04:06 PM
What an inviting, tempting TBR stack! I'm with you on the wish for speed reading. :D
Posted by: Karen Edmisten | March 01, 2023 at 09:11 AM
I've jumped in, Karen, and am enjoying Soul Culture, We Are Mermaids, and Poems as Teachers. Yes, three going at one time!
Posted by: Susan T. | March 02, 2023 at 03:58 PM