November
128. "Sex at Noon Taxes"-Sally Van Doren. It's a palindrome, see? Ha ha. Like the title, these poems often favor cleverness over any kind of resonance or clarity, but there are a few that struck me. Recommended to me by Jehanne Dubrow for some reason, I don't know.
129. "Time and Materials" -Robert Hass. Finished the same day. A poet I admire a lot gave me his copy of this for free because he hated it so much. Weird, because I really liked it. Hass is not afraid to get his Adrienne Rich on and be loud and gauche about political engagement, which I sort of admire. Plus, nobody works food into poems like Hass.
130. "The Land of Green Plums" -Herta Muller. I guess I'm the only person alive who gave a shit at all about our latest Nobel Laureate. This was a strange read, lyric and fluid in terms of language but brutal and ugly in terms of subject matter. Reads like a kind of forced dream. I'd read more of hers.
131. "The Catcher in the Rye" -J.D. Salinger. I've always been a little embarrassed that I never read this. I read all of his other stuff, sure, but by that time I felt like I was a bit old to catch up with Holden Caulfield. I'm glad I did, he's a great character and anyone who can't remember why people love him in high-school isn't being honest with themselves about what being in high-school was like.
132. "Incognegro"- Mat Johnson. Nice little period piece about an undercover reporter in 1930's... South Carolina? Slighter than I expected going off of the subject matter, but decent.
133. "Laika"- Nick Abadzis. A book where the dog dies...
134. "A Month in the Country" -J.L. Carr. If I see an NYRB I haven't heard of, and its cheap, I usually grab it and give it a shot. This was another very quick read, and it felt like it was written a couple of decades before it actually was. There are several passages about a medieval wall painting that are really haunting and memorable, and Carr evokes a feeling of regretful nostalgia masterfully.
135. "The Berliner Ensemble Thanks You All" -Marcel Dzama. A nice sketch-book/scrapbook thing by the acclaimed (I guess?) water-colorist. I'm not sure if I "get it" but I liked it.
136. "Asterios Poly"- David Mazzuchelli. Brilliant, one of the best investigations of the processes of art and criticism I've read this year. Smart, witty, heartbreaking, blah blah, go buy it.
137. "Sweeney Astray"- Seamus Heaney. I remembered the legend of Mad Sweeney from "At Swim Two-Birds," so it was nice to see Heaney's take on the source material.
138. "Ulysses"- James Joyce. Always enjoy reading Ulysses, every time I come away with a different favorite part. This time I really fell in love with the whole cab shelter sequence.
139. "This Will Kill You"- H.P. Newquist. One of my exes gave me a book about all the different ways there are to die, which is maybe not the most fond and tender kind of gift. Pretty funny, definitely very light.
140. "A Very Bad Wizard" -Tamler Sommers. A terrific collection of interviews, many of them conducted for The Believer, about the neuroscience of ethics and other such topics. Really, really thought-provoking. Read a lot of this on Thanksgiving with some decent scotch. The amazing cover probably balances out the mediocre title.
141. "More Information Than You Require" -John Hodgman. Some people think John Hodgman is funny, some people don't, and I don't know how to convince the latter that he is. You probably already know if you'd enjoy this book or not.
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