Back to December
Currently reading:
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962–1972 by Alejandra Pizarnik [ongoing]
Books finished this week: 3
★★★☆☆
Where this book came from: Ordered from Barnes & Noble in May 2023, along with books for my first grad school workshop. I didn’t count this as a Library addition, because it’s about writing, but I’m counting it as a book I read, because I make the rules.
Why this book: I loved Anders’ All the Birds in the Sky and one of my favorite pastimes is collecting books about the craft of writing.
Thoughts: Three stars because, admittedly, I didn’t learn as much as I’d hoped from this book. Yes, I still took a highlighter to it and, yes, my mother did ask me if I was reading it for homework while I was home for Thanksgiving. There was plenty of cheerleading and encouragement here, which I appreciated, especially as it felt like my own mental health was circling the drain while reading this book. But I was hoping for a bit more guidance that I didn’t get. Also, even though I am myself a cringe millennial, some of the phrasing and references just really turned me off. (For example, I didn’t expect to see Jared Padalecki name-checked quite so much . . . )
★★★☆☆
Where this book came from: Books Are Magic on Montague Street (counted here as part of the Library)
Why this book: I think I came across this book while looking for comp titles for the manuscript I’m working on. The premise sounded incredibly fun and like it might make perfect inspiration reading.
Thoughts: Excellent cover and artwork throughout! I did get some great ideas from this——a magical girl union??——and the story had a lot of potential. But the presentation felt more like a slightly more put-together outline, rather than a full novel. The last ten or so pages finally introduced something super interesting that it would’ve been great to see the main character grapple with for the entire book. Overall, character development was lacking and sometimes things just seemed to . . . happen. A fun and quick read if magical girls are your thing, but nothing groundbreaking.
★★★★★
Where this book came from: Books Are Magic——the Smith St. location this time
Why this book: I found the missive where I wrote about this, and apparently I felt inspired to dig into Oliver’s work via, of all things, an Instagram reel.
Thoughts: After eight months, my self-care book is done. And I feel a little sad about it. I made “read at least one poem” a daily goal for myself on Finch (discussed here) pretty soon after I downloaded the app and I feel like it’s really made a difference in both my mental health and my understanding/enjoyment of poetry. Not every poem here resonated with me, but I did find beautiful imagery and inspiring language on every page, and for that, I am thankful.
Library updates:
How is it already December?? I don’t know how many times I’ve asked myself and others that in this last week, but I do know that it inspired the title of this missive. Somehow, someway, we’re back to December . . . again.
It was a hell of a week to finish my emotional support poetry book, I’ll tell you that much.
I had half-intended to put together an update last week, despite the holiday, but then my life kind of exploded more than I expected and things got really, really hard. Work has been very busy, as usual, and I also had assorted school-related tasks and projects to finish. Also, long and emotionally draining story short, Moneypenny ended up having to have surgery this past Monday. She’s recovering well and so far, so good, but there has been so much stress and fear and uncertainty associated with that. When I looked at myself in the mirror everyday this week, I just saw exhaustion.
So. Poetry!
As mentioned above, I finally finished Devotions and I feel a little lost with Mary Oliver waiting for me whenever I need her. I have plenty of other poetry to read, though——the Pizarnik collection is now my go-to, though her stuff isn’t quite as easy to digest or as soothing as Oliver’s could be; I also have Joy Harjo and Emily Dickinson in the wings——and I’m going to keep up the poem-a-day habit. When life gets overwhelming, I’ve found it incredibly helpful to just step away long enough to read a poem or two.
On a related note, you may have noticed that I’ve removed Beloved from my list of books I’m currently reading. When I first picked it up, it felt like the right time to do so. But I haven’t reached for the book in some time, and it definitely isn’t what my brain needs——or, frankly, can handle——right now. So, I’ll return to Toni Morrison another day, when I can do her justice, and after I finish Craft, I think it’s time for my annual “read-a-PD-James-novel-because-British-mysteries-feel-cozy-to-me-for-some-reason”-a-thon.
Closing thoughts:
A poem a day keeps the mental illness at bay! (Working theory.)
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 116
(Total books added to the Moratorium Library: 222)
Popped into Neverending Story in my hometown over Thanksgiving weekend and obviously had to buy a book to support the best endeavor to come to Main Street in a long time.
