The Books That Are Not on the Shelves

All the Books That Are Not in Their Usual Place, and Why

a whole bunch of books on the book shelf

This post is originally from my old blog "Bridget Eileen's Commonplace Book."

I have mega-piles of books not in their usual spot on the book shelves. Here's the list and here's why they're out:

  • Charles Baudelaire - The Flowers of Evil - Oxford World Classics: for school
  • Women in Love - D H Lawrence: recently purchased
  • my vocabulary did this to me - Jack Spicer: came in the mail today
  • A History of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts, Part II - Prof. Robert Bucholz: to go with the Great Courses DVD I've borrowed, which complements my favorite TV series, The Tudors on Showtime
  • How to Make Books - Esther K. Smith: from the library, because I'm interested in making books
  • Healing Ourselves - Naboru Muramoto: I'm interested in holistic ways to get these trolls to calm the hell down; the trolls in my guts, that is
  • The Art Book - Phaidon: I pulled this out last night after writing the entry about mixing avantgardewords with narrativelines in my writing. I was searching out hybrid avant-abstract-yet-representational stuff and considering it in regards to What I Am Doing
  • Ezra Pound: An Introduction to the Poetry - Sister Bernetta Quinn: I've borrowed this from my work library for months now. I keep going back and forth to it. It's a good book, very engaging. I am eventually going to purchase my own copy, actually.
  • Black Magic: Poetry 1961-1967 - LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka: recently purchased. All I had by Baraka before this was a signed Boptrees from 1997, the first time I saw him at UMaine.
  • Curious Conduct - Jeanne Marie Beaumont: one of my favorite faculty members from Stonecoast. I purchased it at the last residency but only perused. I read about half last week and hope to finish the rest soon.
  • Hotels - Andrew Mister: that silly New Sincerity entry on Wikipedia grouped Andrew Mister into New Sincerity. NS is a bunch of crap, though, a hoax, I take it. So, Wikipedia's showing its fallibility there. Anyway, it made me pull out my copy as a result. Oh, it's real real good, too.
  • Paul Verliane: Selected Poems - Oxford World Classics: for school
  • Necco Face - Aaron Tieger, Mick Carr & Jess Mynes: recently arrived in the mail. Read some in draftand have only picked through the finished product so far. Will read later. I'm sure it's fuckin' great and all.
  • Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara - Joe LeSueur: I borrowed this on Election Day. Now Obama's already had his first 100 days and I still haven't finished this book. No worries. I thoroughly enjoy it even if I'm taking forever to read it.
  • The Surface of Last Scattering - Gray Jacobik: I had a day when I pulled out a bunch of SC fac books from my shelves to look through. Though, I got caught up in Jeannie's and never made it to Gray's or to the next one...
  • The Far Mosque - Kazim Ali: see above
  • Emily Dickinson: Selected Poems - Dover Thrift Editions: for school
  • 100 Selected Poems - e. e. cummings: In the Ezra Pound biography I was reading about their friendship and admiration, which made me revisit this wonderful "gateway" poet. (I'm thinking particularly of "may i feel..."). Also had it out for school.
  • Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken and Other Poems: same exact two reasons as outlined above with e. e. cummings.
  • The Bird Catcher - Marie Ponsot: for school
  • If and When - Jess Mynes: I was listening to the band Ida and I thought I remembered that there's one in here that's "After Ida" in italics and I was right, a poem called "conditional". I'm not sure if it's that Ida but I'll let you know if I find out.
  • The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff: because I'm so fricken stressed these days, I feel like I'm losing sight of the Big Picture. I was thinking about this today. I've been having all this weird, bad luck and just trudging through the days. Living to cure the latest concern instead of living to be happy. So, I've gone back to this sweet little gem that I first read freshman year of college to help me get a little perspective.
  • Lunch Poems - Frank O'Hara: because the f*ck hasn't read these poems that's a creative writing major. It was almost me.
  • Twelve Sacred Traditions of Magnificent Mothers-in-Law - Haywood Smith: eye-roll-inducing corny self-help book. Poorly executed and poorly written to be a cheeky gift book at bridal showers and whatnot. I've got a review copy. I'm not going to give it a good review.
  • Sappho - trans. Mary Barnard: for school
  • The Opening of the Field - Robert Duncan: for school. Also because it's v. g.
  • The Writer's Chronicle - May/Summer 2008: because of Reginals Shepherd's (RIP) fantastic article on difficulty in poetry. So sad that he's gone, because this article was so helpful to me.
  • Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties - Rainer Maria Rilke: for school
  • The Flexible Lyric - Ellen Bryant Voigt: for school. I like this book of essays, even if I'm not jazzed by EBV's poetry.
  • Rimbaud: Complete Works, Selected Letters - trans Wallace Fowlie: because it is one of my all time favorites. And for school.
  • Stop in the Name of Pants (confessions of Georgia Nicholson) - Louise Rennison: because nothing relieves the stress of life like alovely, funny YA novel.
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - trans Simon Armitage: My plan is to read some classic epics now that I'm all done with school. This modern version is better than other because it has contemporary non-sequitors.
  • Love That Dog - Sharon Creech: My friend Tigh's friend's dog died, so I pulled that off the YA shelf. It's a series of poems about poetry and about a deceased beloved dog from the point of view of a 5th grade boy. I love this book, which discusses William Carlos Williams, Wlater Dean Myers and William Blake, among others.
  • The Writer's Chronicle - May/Summer 2009: because it still gets sent to Mom's and I haven't completely empited my bag from there. TWC is waaaay better than PW, btw.
  • A slew of gossip mags - for a friend, who just had a baby.
  • A book of PROPHECIES - John Wieners: because he is my Dead Gay Poet Husband & I love him.
  • Roseland - Dana Ward: recently purchased after the reading in Cambridge. Dana's a freakin' great reader, too, BTW.
  • The Diary of Anais Nin: Now, I thought I was bad about the LeSueur book, but I started reading this when I moved back to Massachusetts in 2006. I like it very much & the reason why I've never finished is because you can pick it up and re-read and learn new things from the last time, so I go and start from the beginning again.
  • Henry VIII: the King and His Court - Alison Weir: this, too, goes along with my love of the "Tudor" Series on Showtime.
  • Play - Mathias Svalina: prose poems from the Cupboard. Somrthing about the weirdness of this edition reminds me of "Salad Fingers". This is a good/bad thing. We all need a little darkness in our books.
  • Fictive Certainties - Robert Duncan: because it's, like, totally awesome. Also, for school. I haven't read all the essays in here, though. I should go back and look now that I have the time.
  • Literary Essays - Ezra Pound: essential reading is why. Had it out for school. Again, haven't read all the essays in here, either. Should go on back and read some more. Definitely.
  • Freely Espousing - Jame Schuyler: my this book is lovely. Really. Just lovely. I love it. I really mean it. I really do. A book I picked up and never put down once I finally had the time to sit with it. took along time for that, but once I did. =sigh= So much love.
  • Cultural Affairs in Boston: Poetry & Prose 1956-1985 - John Wieners: page 58. Titter titter titter.
  • A Bernadette Mayer Reader: trying to get back to where I once was. Re-reading it right now, in fact. Now that I've gone through this intense study, I want to go back to what I loved before and see what I think of it.
  • State of Denial: Bush at War Part III - Bob Woodward: it's my break from poetry. I'm early into it and already I'm riveted. I know it's old news and all, what with the new administration, but it's still important to learn the details of the disaster. Bob starts from the beginning when it comes to W's foreign policy - or lack thereof. Chapter 1 is all about Prince bandar, bff to Bush the First, and the advice he gives to W about running for prez: keep your friends close and your enemies closer type deal. Donald "Rummy" Rumsfeld and HW totally hate each other's guts. So, naturally, W picked Rummy to run the Defense Department [into the ground].