Category Archives: Today’s Poem

The flood of poetry that was The Sealey Challenge 2023

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The Sealey Challenge describes itself as “a community challenge to read one book of poetry a day for the month of august”. The community is one of readers, writers/poets, publishers, booksellers and the poetry-curious. Since its inception in 2017, championed by US poet Nicole Sealey, it was always an online entity, since it was built not just on reader participation, but on boosting the challenge with the hashtag #TheSealeyChallenge. As such, that social media foundation means that it is inherently an international – albeit perhaps somewhat rarified – phenomenon.

I’ve been a steadfast reader of poetry long before then, but I joined the challenge in 2020 … why? To be honest, I don’t fully recall in what would have been the first six months of the pandemic, right? It might have been filling some time-related and other voids at a time when those of us who read a lot thought reading more more more would be a twisted upside to the many pandemic downsides … and then discovered “reading just [didnt’] feel the same or offer the same solace and escape as it did before the world changed as it did.” Whatever the reason, I did it, found it indeed challenging and a unique reading experience of the kind of works I read but seemed to read differently when it wasn’t compressed into 31 days.

I’ve risen to The Sealey Challenge every year since, so 2023 was my fourth year. Here is not all but most of what made up this year’s breathtaking poetry rush …

Poetry books (approximately 25-30) laid out in a tiled fashion on a wooden floor - including works by Kim Fahner, Ronna Bloom, Margaret Atwood/Charles Pachter, Amanda Earl and many more

(Some books are not part of the group photo because, for the first time this year, I included audiobooks on my reading list.)

On the eve of this year’s challenge, I tweeted (yes, like many, I still tweet, not x/post/whatever) that I was feeling exhilarated, a bit full and a touch weary – but oh, the poetry had challenged and delighted me again this year! I remarked that I’d read some great collections that I will be happily revisiting.

Anything you read for the first time during The Sealey Challenge that sparks your interest, you’re likely going to need to revisit to give it your full attention and assessment. (Well, if something is patently off-putting in one way or another, maybe not …) All four years I’ve done the challenge, I kept up but found the pace of 31 works in 31 days to be demanding. Even if your reading strategy includes pacing yourself with some shorter works – chapbooks and selections from literary journals spliced in between full poetry collections that could range from an average of 60 to over 100 pages – and even if you’re a regular and experienced poetry reader, that’s a rich and full plate to consume in a comparatively short period of time. The words, the text formats and layouts, the subject matter, the layers of reference and meaning, the richness of how things are structured and textured and formally constructed (or not) and orchestrated – it’s all going to demand a lot of you. If you averaged it out as, say, 70 pages per day for 31 days: that’s 2,170 pages of what could be wonderful, possibly unpleasant or bewildering at times, regularly emotionally taxing, intoxicating and cumulatively overloading stuff.

Under these conditions, I didn’t think it was fair or really possible to attempt to review any of these works – although I admire those challenge participants who did, in mini or even full reviews. I do think it would be fair to say I derived something from every single work I read, though – from snippets of startling wordplay or imagery to overall themes, concepts or subject matter that were arresting.

I note that I’ve been pretty consistent in several respects over the four years I’ve completed The Sealey Challenge:

  • Full collections vs chapbooks/journals/smaller works – 23/8 this year, compared to the same in 2022, 24/7 in 2021 and 25/6 in 2020.
  • Canadian works – 24/31 this year, compared to the same in 2022, 25/31 in 2021 and 22/31 in 2020.
  • Rereads – 9 this year, compared to 8 in 2022, 5 in 2021 and 6 in 2020.
  • Audiobooks – This is the first year I included audiobooks in the mix. I enjoyed four, three of which were read by the poets and one by a narrator/voice actor.

And with that, here is my 2023 reading list from the Sealey Challenge, including links to more information, images from some of the social media posts (posted completely to Twitter, Mastodon and Bluesky, partially to Spoutible and periodically to Instagram), and links to the full posts on Twitter, which included poetry excerpts.

1/31: Trouble by Amanda Earl (2022 Hem Press) (2022 Hem Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Trouble by Amanda Earl, held up amidst pink echinacea

2/31: Local Interest by Emily Hasler (2023 Pavilion Poetry / Liverpool University Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Local Interest by Emily Hasler, held up in the dark with a small reading light

3/31: The Built Environment by Emily Hasler (2018 Pavilion Poetry / Liverpool University Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Built Environment by Emily Hasler, on a table with a notebook with an ornate green cover

4/31: Cosmic Horror by James Knight (2022 Hem Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Cosmic Horror by James Knight

5/31: Xanax Cowboy by Hannah Green (2023 House of Anansi Press) Read the full post here.

Xanax Cowboy by Hannah Green, with bright yellow cover, held up amidst equally bright blackeyed susans

6/31: Boat by Lisa Robertson (2022 Coach House Books) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Boat by Lisa Robertson, held up near a red brick pillar and some white rose of sharon blossoms

7/31: Selections from Cincinnati Review (Spring 2023), including Allison Adair, Brittany Cavallaro, Dean Rader, Jiewan Yang + more Read the full post here.

Literary journal Cincinnati Review, with colourful cover, sits in my lap as Airedales Mavis and Tilly look on

8/31: An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo (2019 WW Norton) Read the full post here.

9/31: There’s More by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike (2023 University of Alberta Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work There's More by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike sits on a table with a notebook with an ornate green cover, a black pen and a small piece of red brick

10/31: Emptying the Ocean by Kim Fahner (2022 Frontenac House) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Emptying the Ocean by Kim Fahner, held above a mossy, rocky bank looking down toward water, with my bare feet visible, echoing bare feet on the book cover

11/31: Quarrels by Eve Joseph (2018 Anvil Press) Read the full post here.

12/31: Who is Your Mercy Contact? by Ronna Bloom (2022 espresso/paperplates books) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Who is Your Mercy Contact? by Ronna Bloom, with a bright green cover, on a bright green counter top with a notebook with an ornate green cover, with my feet in green sandals visible

13/31: Purge Fluid by Ivy Allsop (2022 Hem Press) Read the full post here.

14/31: Beasts of the Sea by Kate Sutherland (2018 knife fork book) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Beasts of the Sea by Kate Sutherland, with a bright blue cover, next to a blue drinking glass filled with water

15/31: Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong (2022 Penguin Audio) Read the full post here.

16/31: Selvage by Kate Siklosi (2023 Invisible Publishing) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Selvage by Kate Siklosi open to a page with an interesting illustration, with trees in the background and a lake with a small island visible further away

17/31: Dreams and Journeys by Frederick McDonald (2022 Harbour Publishing) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Dreams and Journeys by Frederick McDonald, with colourful painting of Indigenous patriarch on cover

18/31: The Pet Radish, Shrunken by Pearl Pirie (2015 Bookhug Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Pet Radish, Shrunken by Pearl Pirie, sitting on a patterned blue plate

19/31: Monitoring Station by Sonja Ruth Greckol (2023 University of Alberta Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Monitoring Station by Sonja Ruth Greckol, held up against a car dashboard as trees and a cell tower are visible through the car window

20/31: Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa (2019 McClelland & Stewart) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa sits on a desk in front of a pile of other poetry works

21/31: Some States by Tom Snarsky (2023 Ghost City Press) Read the full post here.

22/31: Indie Rock by Joe Bishop (2023 University of Alberta Press) Read the full post here.

Handwritten selection from poetry work Indie Rock by Joe Bishop

23/31: Shadow Blight by Annick MacAskill (2022 Gaspereau Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Shadow Blight by Annick MacAskill with notebook with an ornate green cover

24/31: Among the Untamed by dee Hobsbawn-Smith (2023 Frontenac House) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Among the Untamed by dee Hobsbawn-Smith sits on a blue table next to a plant with multicoloured leaves

25/31: Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson (1998 / 2016 McClelland & Stewart) Read the full post here.

26/31: The Art of Plumbing by Brecken Hancock (2013 above/ground press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Art of Plumbing by Brecken Hancock, perched amidst some old pipes

27/31: Ossuaries by Dionne Brand (2010 McClelland & Stewart) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Ossuaries by Dionne Brand, book and audiobook

28/31: Lime Kiln Quay Road by Ben Ladouceur (2014 above/ground press) Read the full post here.

Handwritten transcription from poetry work Lime Kiln Quay Road by Ben Ladouceur

29/31: The Broken Ark – A Book of Beasts poems chosen by Michael Ondaatje, drawings by Tony Urquhart (1971 Oberon Press) Read the full post here.

Selection from poetry work The Broken Ark - A Book of Beasts poems chosen by Michael Ondaatje, drawings by Tony Urquhart, held open near a green vegetable garden

30/31: Good People by Gwendolyn Guth (2010 above/ground press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Good People by Gwendolyn Guth, sitting on colourful crocheted swath

31/31: The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood & Charles Pachter (1997 Macfarlane Walter & Ross) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood & Charles Pachter, open to colourful poetry selection

Am I already planning my 2024 reading for The Sealey Challenge? Of course I am!

A year in reading to redeem the year that was

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Coming round to another January, it occurs to me that the pandemic has turned entire years into Groundhog’s Day. I’m doing my usual ponder of my year in reading, taking a look at the reflections of other readers and the books and reading that filled their year … and it’s all feeling like, well, we’ve been here before, in almost exactly these same circumstances.

That’s not entirely a bad thing. As I remarked this time last year, reflecting on 2020, our reading then was a source of diversion, comfort, inspiration and more, and it was again – as it needed to be – again in 2021.

Early in 2021, I was delighted to team up with writer and blogger Liza Achilles to tackle the subject of how to maintain one’s enthusiasm and focus for reading (essentially, to keep the reading mojo workin’) during the pandemic. We exchanged blog posts, with Liza’s piece appearing here and my piece appearing on Liza’s blog – and what a revealing and energizing exercise that was.

Again in 2021, most of the events and gatherings normally enjoyed live and in-person were online. The silent book club groups in which I take part all moved online during the first wave of pandemic closures and lockdowns, and largely continued on as such this past year. Once again, the attendees of our silent book club gatherings collectively helped each other through struggles with our reading – intermittent concentration, flagging attention span, lessened energy, emotions triggered and so on – and I chronicled some of that in our reports. As I mentioned last year, I was determined to keep up our groups’ reports and not only did that throughout this year, but got many of our group members to write the introductions, all lively and interesting in their own fashions.

Respecting local guidelines and restrictions, our silent book club members still managed to meet for brief, physically distanced, but still heart lifting gatherings in the park … even as the weather grew colder again.

Silent book club in the park in fall

Silent book club in the park in winter

Along with silent book club meetings, most of the book launches and poetry readings I would normally enjoy in person were largely online again in 2021. Virtual gatherings are getting more sophisticated and are smoothing out the technical challenges (although some of the zoom oopsies occasionally add welcome whimsy to the occasion) … but still, nothing can compare to live events. How uplifting that the indefatigable poetry force knife | fork | book was able to present live readings in a singular setting in east end Toronto, as part of the launch of kfb’s retail presence at Great Escape Bookstore. I rhapsodized about it all on Twitter.

knife fork book poetry reading at the Great Escape bookstore

Again this year, I took up the somewhat intimidating but rewarding Sealey Challenge for reading yet more poetry. Started in 2017 by American poet and educator Nicole Sealey, and steered through social media with the hashtag #thesealeychallenge, the idea is to commit and do your best to read 31 works of poetry over the course of 31 days in August. I managed to do it again this year. I always have had a poetry collection on the go, but reading at this pace turns it into a whole new, mind-expanding experience – at times overwhelming but always exhilarating. Again, it was such a boost. Yes, I will aim to do it again. This past challenge, I roughly planned out a reading sequence of full works, chapbooks and a mix of new, new to me and rereads, and am already mapping out my August, 2022 poetry playlist.

I continued my commitment in 2021 to a daily devotion to at least one poem … and usually more, as friends on Twitter continued to generously share their poem choices and reflections via the #todayspoem hashtag. I have now completed 10 years of uninterrupted daily poetry tweets and am barrelling on into year 11.

Another practice that continues to enhance my weekly reading joy as I navigate through books is that of #sundaysentence, championed by author David Abrams. As I’ve observed before, seeking a beautifully or uniqued crafted sentence each week sharpens my attention when I’m reading. I also love discovering new works through the #sundaysentence choices of other readers.

In years past when I’ve looked back on my reading, I’ve reminisced about where I was when I was reading this or that, or I’ve linked to longer notes and reviews here on this blog, on Goodreads, etc. As I refrained in 2020, I’m not going to do that again this year. Somehow, in spite of it all, I had a bountiful year of reading by just ploughing ahead – with, of course, a little help from my bookish friends. I’m going to keep doing that again this upcoming year in reading, and wish the same for everyone.

Here are the books I read, reread and read aloud in 2021.
(For each book on this year’s list, I’ve sought out links to reviews – not my own, but ones with which I concur – author interviews and/or publisher information. Hope this is helpful if you want to learn more about any of these titles.)

My 2021 year in reading, with selected books by Ken Babstock, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, Elaine Feeney, Christy Ann Conlin and brandy ryan & Kerry Manders

January 2021

1. Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman
2. One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks
3. Dearly by Margaret Atwood
4. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
5. Swivelmount by Ken Babstock
6. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
7. Word Problems by Ian Williams

February 2021

8. Book of Wings by Tawhida Tanya Evanson
9. The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
10. Beasts of the Sea by Kate Sutherland
11. As You Were by Elaine Feeney
12. Me Then You Then Me Then by Kathryn Mockler and Gary Barwin
13. silence, then by R. Kolewe
14. Ask About Language As If It Forgets by Hoa Nguyen
15. After Pulse by brandy ryan and Kerry Manders

March 2021

16. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
17. Phillis by Alison Clarke
18. Their Queer Tenderness by Neil Surkan
19. The Speed of Mercy by Christy Ann Conlin
20. OBIT by Victoria Chang
21. The Devil by John Nyman

My 2021 year in reading, with selected books by Ani Gjika, Michelle Butler Hallett, Yaa Gyasi, Dallas Hunt and Doireann Ni Ghriofa

April 2021

22. Strangers by Rob Taylor
23. Villa Negativa by Sharon McCartney
24. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
25. A Short History of the Blockade by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
26. Rabbit Foot Bill by Helen Humphreys
27. the debt by Andreae Callanan
28. Against Amazon – Seven Arguments / One Manifesto by Jorge Carrion, translated by Peter Bush

May 2021

29. Magnetic Field – The Marsden Poems by Simon Armitage
30. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
31. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
32. The Ouroboros by Jim Johnstone
33. Creeland by Dallas Hunt
34. Constant Nobody by Michelle Butler Hallett
35. The Clothing of Books by Jhumpa Lahiri

June 2021

36. Little Housewolf by Medrie Purdham
37. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
38. Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin
39. Crow – From the Life and Songs of the Crow by Ted Hughes
40. The Beguiling by Zsuzsi Gartner

July 2021

41. The Family Way by Christopher DiRaddo
42. A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa
43. Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

My 2021 year in reading, with selected books by T.S. Eliot, Chad Campbell, Cory Lavender, Selina Boan, Elizabeth Brewster and Joseph Dandurand

August 2021

… including #thesealeychallenge (reading 31 works of poetry in 31 days)

44. Poisonous If Eaten Raw by Alyda Faber
45. Bread on Running Waters by Ani Gjika
46. Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
47. Imitation Crab by Hamish Ballantyne
48. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
49. The East Side of It All by Joseph Dandurand
50. The Pit by Tara Borin
51. Nectarine by Chad Campbell
52. Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
53. guys named Bill by Leslie Greentree
54. Walt by Shane Neilson
55. The Essential Elizabeth Brewster, selected by Ingrid Ruthig
56. This Is How It Is by Sharon King-Campbell
57. Me by Elton John
58. Deriving by Jennifer Bowering Delisle
59. DBL by Andy Verboom
60. Audio Obscura by Lavinia Greenlaw
61. Too Much Love by Gianna Patriarca
62. Undoing Hours by Selina Boan
63. The Bad Wife by Micheline Maylor
64. Ballad of Bernie “Bear” Roy by Cory Lavender
65. Smithereens by Terence Young
66. The Sacramento of Desire by Julia Bloch
67. Country by Michael Cavuto
68. All the People Are Pregnant by Andrew DuBois
69. Methodist Hatchet by Ken Babstock
70. The Wild Fox by R. Kolewe
71. 1996 by Sara Peters
72. I Am Still Your Negro: An Homage to James Baldwin by Valerie Mason-John
73. The Good Dark by Ryan Van Winkle
74. Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood
75. Gospel Drunk by Aidan Chafe
76. Yes, I Am a Corpse Flower by Travis Sharp

My 2021 year in reading, with selected books by Margaret Atwood, Lucy Ellmann, Dana Spiotta, Jaspreet Singh and David OMeara

September 2021

77. Rain and Other Stories by Mia Couto, translated by Eric M.B. Becker
78. Wayward by Dana Spiotta
79. The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
80. Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann

October 2021

81. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
82. The Tradition by Jericho Brown
83. Masses on Radar by David O’Meara
84. My Mother, My Translator by Jaspreet Singh
85. goodbye, already by Ryanne Kap
86. On the Proper Use of Stars by Dominique Fortier, translated by Sheila Fischman

November 2021

87. Unreconciled by Jesse Wente
88. The Tinder Sonnets by Jennifer LoveGrove
89. Poetry is Queer by Kirby
90. How to Be Happy Though Human by Kate Camp
91. Ghosthawk by Matt Rader
92. To Star the Dark by Doireann Ni Ghriofa
93. Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
94. Myself a Paperclip by Triny Finlay

My 2021 year in reading, with selected books by Salena Godden, Triny Finlay, Silmy Abdullah, Patrick Radden Keefe and Victoria Kennefick

December 2021

95. Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden
96. Best Canadian Poetry 2021, edited by Souvankham Thammavongsa
97. Home of the Floating Lily by Silmy Abdullah
98. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
99. Dante’s Indiana by Randy Boyagoda
100. The Historians by Eavan Boland
101. Disorientation – Being Black in the World by Ian Williams
102. Eat or We Both Starve by Victoria Kennefick

In 2021, I read a total of 102 works. That broke out as:

  • 27 works of fiction (novels and short story collections)
  • 63 poetry collections and
  • 12 works of non-fiction.

I reread 5 books. I read 5 works in translation, read one graphic work and read 64 works by Canadian authors. My husband and I read 2 books aloud to each other this year – A Promised Land by Barack Obama and Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe – both absorbing works that felt like long but very worthy journeys.

I also kept track again this year of the publication dates of the books I read. In 2021, the oldest book I read was published in 1925 (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos), but only read four books before 2000, kind of backtracking on my intention in recent years to read more older books. More than half of the books I read this year were published in 2020 or 2021.

So far in 2022, I’ve read or have in progress:

  • Hell Light Flesh by Klara du Plessis
  • Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
  • Undersong by Kathleen Winter
  • The Storyteller by Dave Grohl (read aloud)

To wrap it up in consistently Groundhog Day-ish fashion, here are my observations from a year ago, which are still very applicable again this year:

For yet another year, I’m looking back with quiet satisfaction (and with gratitude to the practices and people who helped and inspired) on my reading during an extraordinarily difficult year, and looking forward with quiet optimism to where my reading this new year will take me. I’m grateful to the writers, publishers, reviewers and fellow readers who have spurred on and broadened my reading. I’m thankful as always for the bounty of beautiful words that came to me via so many conduits, evoking such an array of ideas, trains of thought, memories and associations, providing so much off the page, too.

I’ll simply conclude …

It’s not how many books or works you read (in whatever form) that counts. It’s that you read that counts – and it counts so very much.

How our reading saved us and how we saved the joys of reading in 2020

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As I reflected just last year (it feels like a very strange eternity ago), early January is my usual time to contemplate my year past in reading and to absorb and appreciate the musings of fellow readers as they share their own reflections. I’m doing that again, of course, but admittedly with more pondering (some of it bewildered), some trepidation and even some weariness, even as there is much to celebrate. This particular exercise of looking back is through a lens uniquely fogged and scratched and battered, about which enough has been said. This exercise also tussles with the conundrum of how reading can comfort, can distract, can bolster our spirits – but even that very practice was affected by the perils of this trying year.

As did so many events and gatherings this past year, the silent book club groups in which I take part all moved online during the first wave of pandemic closures and lockdowns. Again and still, the attendees of our silent book club gatherings collectively helped each other through struggles with our reading – intermittent concentration, flagging attention span, lessened energy, emotions triggered and so on – and I chronicled some of that in our reports, which I was determined to keep up throughout.

(Glenn Sumi of Now Magazine also offered excellent insights into the science behind why it’s been so hard to read a book during this rollercoaster ride of a year. I was happy to commiserate with Glenn about this reading affliction as he was researching the article.)

Respecting local guidelines and restrictions, our silent book club still managed to meet for brief, physically distanced, but still heart lifting gatherings in the park … even as the weather grew colder again.

Silent book club in the park in October

Silent book club in the park in December

This year, I decided to take up the daunting but wonderful Sealey Challenge for reading yet more poetry. Started in 2017 by American poet and educator Nicole Sealey, and steered through social media with the hashtag #thesealeychallenge, the idea is to commit and do your best to read 31 works of poetry over the course of 31 days in August. Before this challenge, I always have had a poetry collection on the go, but reading at this pace turned it into a whole new, mind-expanding experience – at times overwhelming but always exhilarating. What a boost, in many, many ways … ironically, I can’t seem to express my gratitude very poetically.

I continued my commitment in 2020 to a daily devotion to at least one poem … and usually more, as friends on Twitter continued to generously share their poem choices and reflections via the #todayspoem hashtag. I’m now heading into my 10th uninterrupted year of poetry tweets.

Another practice that continues to heighten my weekly reading joy as I navigate through books is that of #sundaysentence, championed and curated by author David Abrams. As I’ve observed before, seeking a beautifully or uniqued crafted sentence each week sharpens my attention when I’m reading, and I love discovering new works through the #sundaysentence choices of other readers.

In years past when I’ve looked back on my reading, I’ve reminisced about where I was when I was reading this or that, or I’ve linked to longer notes and reviews here on this blog, on Goodreads, etc. I’m not going to do that this year. In all honesty, I wandered around online a lot this year, trying to keep or regain my readerly grounding. That might sound counter-intuitive, since where but online were we being significantly enraged, upset and distracted? But in fact, I found lots of conversations on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, as well as vital zoom gatherings and events (many authors and literary festivals did an inspiring and commendable job of moving readings online, for example) that kept me going as a reader.

Here are the books I read, reread and read aloud in 2020.

January, 2020

1. Grand Union by Zadie Smith
2. I’ll Take You There – Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers and the March Up Freedom’s Highway by Greg Kot (read aloud)
3. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman
4. The Topeka School by Ben Lerner
5. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
6. Field Notes for the Self by Randy Lundy

February, 2020

7. behind the scenes at the museum by Kate Atkinson
8. Dominoes at the Crossroads by Kaie Kellough
9. Our Dogs, Ourselves by Alexandra Horowitz (read aloud)

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

March, 2020

10. Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
11. Arias by Sharon Olds
12. Music For Tigers by Michelle Kadarusman
13. Actress by Anne Enright
14. The Only Story by Julian Barnes

April, 2020

15. My Antonia by Willa Cather (reread)
16. Unlock by Bei Dao, translated by Eliot Weinberger and Iona Man-Cheong
17. For It Is a Pleasure and a Surprise to Breathe: new and selected poems by Gary Barwin, edited by Alessandro Porco
18. Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson (reread)
19. The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald (reread)

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

May, 2020

20. The Progress of Love by Alice Munro (reread)
21. The Baudelaire Fractal by Lisa Robertson

June, 2020

22. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
23. The Swan Suit by Katherine Fawcett
24. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
25. Early Stages by John Gielgud (read aloud)
26. In Another Place, Not Here by Dionne Brand

July, 2020

27. Good Citizens Need Not Fear by Maria Reva
28. Motherhood by Sheila Heti
29. Circe by Madeline Miller
30. Nanaimo Girl by Prudence Emery
31. Mr Salary by Sally Rooney

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

August, 2020

start of #thesealeychallenge (reading 31 works of poetry in 31 days)

32. The Outer Wards by Sadiqa de Meijer
33. Quantum Typography by Gary Barwin (reread)
34. Time by Etel Adnan, translated by Sarah Riggs
35. Rat Jelly by Michael Ondaatje
36. Evidence by Andrea Thompson, illustrations by Catherine Tammaro
37. The Witch of the Inner Wood by M. Travis Lane, edited by Shane Neilson
38. How She Read by Chantal Gibson
39. Silverchest by Carl Phillips
40. Vice Versa by Elyse Friedman, illustrated by Shannon Moynagh

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

41. Dart by Alice Oswald
42. Murmurations by Annick MacAskill
43. England by Nia Davies (reread)
44. Grain by John Glenday (reread)
45. Forge by Jan Zwicky
46. On the Menu by Jacqueline Valencia, illustrated by Jennifer Chin
47. The Mobius Strip Club of Grief by Bianca Stone (reread)
48. Crow by Amy Spurway
49. Cloud Physics by Karen Enns
50. Fields of Light and Stone by Angeline Schellenberg
51. Stranger by Nyla Matuk
52. Ornament by Anna Lena Phillips Bell

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

53. Everyone at This Party by Tanja Bartel
54. The Dzygraphxst by Canisia Lubrin
55. Juliet (I) by Sarah Certa
56. What We Carry by Susan Glickman
57. Belated Bris of the Brainsick by Lucas Crawford
58. behindlings by Nicola Barker
59. I Am on a River and Cannot Answer by Amy Miller
60. Riven by Catherine Owen
61. Magnetic Equator by Kaie Kellough
62. Short Talks by Anne Carson (reread)
63. Body Count by Kyla Jamieson
64. go-go dancing for Elvis by Leslie Greentree (reread)

end of #thesealeychallenge (reading 31 works of poetry in 31 days)

65. No Authority by Anne Enright

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

September, 2020

66. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
67. Antigonick (Sophokles) translated by Anne Carson, illustrated by Bianca Stone
68. Blaze Island by Catherine Bush
69. Modern Times by Cathy Sweeney

October, 2020

70. No Grave for This Place by Judy Quinn, translated by Donald Winkler
71. Dinosaurs on Other Planets by Danielle McLaughlin
72. Northern Light by Roy MacGregor (read aloud)
73. Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
74. Jack by Marilynne Robinson

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

November, 2020

75. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
76. the fool by Jessie Jones
77. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

December, 2020

78. Waiting for a Star to Fall by Kerry Clare
79. Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith
80. The End of Me by John Gould
81. Sister Language by Christina Baillie and Martha Baillie
82. Lost Family – A Memoir by John Barton
83. Up Jumped the Devil – The Real Life of Robert Johnson by Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow (read aloud)
84. The Night Piece by Andre Alexis
85. How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

86. The Gifts of Reading by Robert MacFarlane

My 2020 reading - book journal and selected books

In 2020, I read a total of 86 works, not only a giant leap from previous years and a new personal record … but rather astonishing, in light of, well, everything. That broke out as:

  • 37 works of fiction (novels and short story collections) – the exact same as my 2018 total
  • 39 poetry collections and
  • 10 works of non-fiction.

I reread 10 books, more than usual and another way that I got through some stretches where my reading mojo was decidedly fading. I read 5 works in translation, read one graphic work and read 46 works by Canadian authors. My husband and I read 5 books aloud to each other this year and have another one in progress as we greet the new year.

I also kept track again this year of the publication dates of the books I read. In 2020, the oldest book I read was published in 1918 (My Antonia by Willa Cather, which was a vital and comforting reread), and I also read nine books published between 1954 through the 1990s, further fulfilling my now yearly intention to read or reread some more older books. More than half of the books I read this year were published in 2019 or 2020.

So far in 2021, I’ve read or have in progress:

  • Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman
  • One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks
  • Dearly by Margaret Atwood
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  • Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart
  • Swivelmount by Ken Babstock
  • A Promised Land by Barack Obama (read aloud)

For yet another year, I’m looking back with quiet satisfaction (and with gratitude to the practices and people who helped and inspired) on my reading during an extraordinarily difficult year, and looking forward with quiet optimism to where my reading this new year will take me. I’m grateful to the writers, publishers, reviewers and fellow readers who have spurred on and broadened my reading. I’m thankful as always for the bounty of beautiful words that came to me via so many conduits, evoking such an array of ideas, trains of thought, memories and associations, providing so much off the page, too.

I’ll simply conclude …

It’s not how many you read that counts. It’s that you read that counts – and it counts so very much.

Celebrating what, where and how I read in 2019

1 Reply

Early January, in that sweet cushion of time between post-holiday festivities and pre-back to work, has become a time I relish for contemplating my year past in reading and for absorbing and appreciating the musings of fellow readers as they share their own reflections. Interestingly, I find myself leaping/flipping/scrolling past the “best of” lists and instead gravitating more and more to the reflections about reading as exploration, revelation, often deliciously meandering journey, shared experience, opportunity to bust out of staid categories and forge new ones … and more.

Those who read steadily and think about reading inspire me, including Shawna Lemay, Kerry Clare, Tanis MacDonald (who, if you’re fortunate to be connected to her on Facebook, has done some mighty category-busting this year). Those who gather to share with delight and fervor their varied reading experiences, such as the generous attendees at two different silent book club gatherings I attended regularly this year, bring my reading enthusiasm and devotion to new levels every month.

Reading is not a competitive sport, but that doesn’t stop me from challenging myself (and, I hope not intimidatingly, others at times) … and this turned out to be a banner year, particularly after the struggles with which I contended in 2018. I read the most books ever in a year since I’ve been keeping track – 65 – and I came this close to considering posting a “10 best” list this year because some of the reading was that good. But I reminded myself that sometimes the setting and circumstances and company and more around each particular read often elevated what I was reading, and it’s those experiences I want to celebrate and strive to have more of in future.

In addition to my year’s reading list, I continued my commitment in 2019 to a daily devotion to at least one poem … and usually more, as friends on Twitter continued to generously share their poem choices and reflections via the #todayspoem hashtag. I’m now heading into my ninth uninterrupted year (that’s right, I have not missed a single day) of poetry tweets.

Another practice that heightens my weekly reading joy as I navigate through books is that of #sundaysentence, tirelessly championed and curated by author David Abrams. As I observed last year, seeking a weekly gem seems to sharpen my attention when I’m reading, and I love discovering new works through the #sundaysentence choices of other readers.

Last year, my husband arranged for my then 35-year-old book of books (in which I’ve recorded my reading since I graduated from university in 1983) to be beautifully rebound, by bookbinder Don Taylor. Now 36 years old, it is still the place I go to first to record my continued adventures in reading.

Here are the books I read and read aloud in 2019, with a few recollections of where I was when I was reading them.

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  1. Milkman
    Anna Burns
    2018

    2. “Knowledge didn’t guarantee power, safety and relief and often for some it meant the opposite of power, safety and relief – leaving no outlet for dispersal either, of all the heightened stimuli that had been built by being up on in the first place. Purposely not wanting to know therefore, was exactly what my reading-while-walking was about.”

    I so enjoyed getting lost in the feisty and singular voice of reading-while-walking maybe-girlfriend middle sister in Anna Burns’ Milkman. This book was a steady companion for the first couple of weeks of the year, at home, on transit and at silent book club.

  2. Years, Months, and Days
    Amanda Jernigan
    2018

  3. Voodoo Hypothesis
    Canisia Lubrin
    2017

  4. Machine Without Horses
    Helen Humphreys
    2018

    5. I remember reading this at home in a fairly swift and gorgeous swoosh. Helen Humphreys is consistently masterful at creating lush prose around sometimes unlikely subjects, this time the imagined life and thoughts of real life salmon-fly dresser, Megan Boyd, a craftswoman who worked for sixty years out of a bare-bones cottage in a small village in the north of Scotland. That remote cottage was visited by Prince Charles, an avid user of her uniquely crafted flies who made the trip there to present her with the British Empire Medal.

  5. OBITS.
    tess liem
    2018

  6. The Emissary
    Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani
    2018
  7. The Long Take
    Robin Robertson
    2018

    8. “He walks. That is his name and nature. / Rows of buildings, all alike, / doors and windows, people going in, looking out; / inside – halls and stairs, halls and stairs, / and more doors, opening and closing.”

    Robin Robertson’s The Long Take is a singular and hypnotic blend of poetry and prose, sometimes starting as one and ending as the other in one paragraph, sentence or phrase.

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  8. City Poems
    Joe Fiorito
    2018
  9. Reproduction
    Ian Williams
    2019

    10. From the very, very cold January night when Ian Williams launched his debut novel to a very cold night in November at the end of the Canadian literature awards season, it was a pleasure to cheer on Reproduction. The book is challenging in its experimental approach to how language on the page can evolve – clearly drawing on the poetry foundation of Williams’ oeuvre – and its cast of characters is thorny, but diligent readers are rewarded for giving this book full and concentrated attention.

  10. Wuthering Heights
    Emily Bronte
    1847
    (read aloud)

    11. Yes, dear readers, we read Wuthering Heights aloud … and its tempestuous plot and characters and often exquisitely overwrought prose made it a surprisingly entertaining experience from beginning to end. As the likes of Meghan Cox Gurdon contend – and my husband and I have known and appreciated for years – “Storytime isn’t just for young children”.

  11. Indecency
    Justin Phillip Reed
    2018
  12. Can You Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger
    Lee Israel
    2008

    13. In rapid succession, I read the book and then we saw the movie, where Lee Israel is portrayed unforgettably by Melissa McCarthy. Book and movie are an unusually well-matched pair of interpretations of an intriguing bookish tale and singular character.

  13. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
    Kathleen Rooney
    2017

    14. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk made the rounds as a popular choice of our silent book club.

  14. Nirliit
    Juliana Leveille-Trudel, translated by Anita Anand
    2018
  15. Human Hours
    Catherine Barnett
    2018

    16. This collection of sometimes rueful but always very grounded poems about everyday human frailties and foibles was one of my favourite poetry reads of the past year.

  16. Living Up To a Legend
    Diana Bishop
    2017
    (read aloud)
  17. The Quaker
    Liam McIlvanney
    2018
  18. The Organist – Fugues, Fatherhood and a Fragile Mind
    Mark Abley
    2019

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  19. Wonderland
    Matthew Dickman
    2018
  20. Gingerbread
    Helen Oyeyemi
    2019
  21. These are not the potatoes of my youth
    Matthew Walsh
    2019

    22. “I get so worried when I see space news. I heard astronauts
    incinerate their underwear and the ash falls to Earth.”
    Couch potato by Matthew Walsh from These are not the potatoes of my youth

    Indisputably my favourite title of the year, this was also one of my favourite poetry reads of 2019.

  22. Quarrels
    Eve Joseph
    2018

    23. This haunting prose poetry collection won the 2019 Griffin Poetry Prize.

  23. Belonging – A German Reckons with History and Home
    Nora Krug
    2018

    24. This book presents an intriguing approach to a non-fiction/memoir piece tackling troubling subject matter. Nora Krug uses a beautifully realized illustrated / graphic novel format to confront her family’s wartime past in Nazi Germany. I came to this book by way of a trusted recommendation from a silent book club friend.

  24. No Bones
    Anna Burns
    2001

    25. This early Anna Burns novel was also recommended to me by the silent book club friend from whom I learned about Nora Krug’s Belonging – A German Reckons with History and Home. It was interesting to see Anna Burns building her craft to what culminates so exquisitely in Milkman.

  25. The Perseverance
    Raymond Antrobus
    2018

    26. The Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus – moving, fierce, unforgettable – garnered awards and attention galore in 2019, particularly astonishing and gratifying for a debut collection. How wonderful that the work was shortlisted for the 2019 Griffin Poetry Prize, which means we got to see and capture a powerful presentation of his poems:

  26. Women Talking
    Miriam Toews
    2018
  27. Girl of the Southern Sea
    Michelle Kadarusman
    2019

    28. “You’ll know when the Queen of the Sea is here because she calms the waters and the clouds gather overhead.”

    I enjoyed Michelle Kadarusman’s gorgeous middle grade novel Girl of the Southern Sea myself before giving it to a young friend. The book was a highly deserving finalist for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Awards in the category of Young People’s Literature.

  28. Watching You Without Me
    Lynn Coady
    2019

    29. This book is astoundingly well-crafted, a perfect balance of contemporary family drama, intriguing and cautionary character study and flat-out pageturner suspense thriller. Lynn Coady has created something singular, giving us food for thought about how we care for each other and how life evolves and sometimes changes abruptly and demands that we cope – all while mining our deepest fears yet never losing sight of the value of human compassion and resilience.

  29. Normal People
    Sally Rooney
    2018
  30. The Art of Dying
    Sarah Tolmie
    2018

    31. “This is of course why love exists.
    Love, that coping mechanism
    That lets you live while something isn’t

    Wholly satisfactory.”
    56 by Sarah Tolmie from The Art of Dying

    These sly, feisty, sometimes disarmingly vulnerable poems are packaged within my favourite bookcover of the year.

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  31. There Are Not Enough Sad Songs
    Marita Dachsel
    2019

    32. “Tell me, as we take in this splendour,
    have we run out of firsts – the ones that glow,
    that bring joy? Old friend, please say no.”
    now is the season of open windows by Marita Dachsel from There Are Not Enough Sad Songs

  32. Most of What Follows is True
    Michael Crummey
    2019
  33. On Looking – Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes
    Alexandra Horowitz
    2013
    (read aloud)

    34. Anything by Alexandra Horowitz is read-aloud friendly, in our experience.

  34. Heave
    Christy Ann Conlin
    2002
  35. Into That Fire
    MJ Cates
    2019
  36. The Teardown
    by David Homel
    2019
  37. Watermark
    Christy Ann Conlin
    2019

    38. Having just read Heave (again, another spot-on recommendation from a silent book club friend), it was a particular treat to then get an advance copy of Christy Ann Conlin’s riveting short story collection Watermark, in which one of the stories is a variation on the startling opening sequence of Heave (which, by the way, was written 17 years earlier).

    Our annual cottage weekend with friends includes an evening of readings, for which I selected the Flannery O’Connor-esque story “Full Bleed” – whoa.

  38. Casting Deep Shade
    C.D. Wright
    2019

    39. “For healing, esp asthma in a child: core out a hole in trunk, put lock of asthmatic’s hair in hole. Plug hole. When child has reached height of hole, asthma will be all gone.”
    from Casting Deep Shade by C.D. Wright

    At its very simplest a meditation on the power and presence of trees, C.D. Wright’s posthumously published Casting Deep Shade is a treasure with which to spend concentrated and devoted time as it runs the emotional and intellectual gamut and takes you through poetry, prose, folklore, technical and scientific discourse, history and much more.

  39. The Flamethrowers
    Rachel Kushner
    2013
  40. Broke City
    Wendy McGrath
    2019
  41. The Nickel Boys
    Colson Whitehead
    2019
  42. The Mars Room
    Rachel Kushner
    2018

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  43. House Divided – How the Missing Middle Will Solve Toronto’s Affordability Crisis
    edited by John Lorinc, Alex Bozikovic, Cheryll Case and Annabel Vaughan
    2019
  44. Late Breaking
    K.D. Miller
    2018

    45. The stories in this collection gain additional resonance as each one is associated with an Alex Colville painting.

  45. The Caiplie Caves
    Karen Solie
    2019

    46. “it’s no crime to resemble discarded inventory
    not a crime to regard others
    with what appears to be only basic species recognition”
    An Unexpected Encounter with He Who Has Been Left Alone to His Perils by Karen Solie from The Caiplie Caves

  46. Mister Sandman
    Barbara Gowdy
    1996
  47. The Innocents
    Michael Crummey
    2019
  48. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
    Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
    2018

    49. Spirited Janina is one of my favourite characters tromping determinedly out of the pages of another one of this year’s reading highlights. And again, it seems it was a great year for titles, too … this one stirs my blood!

  49. A Choosing – Selected Poems
    Liz Lochhead
    2011

    50. This collection was a thoughtful gift from a silent book club friend.

  50. Hologram
    P.K. Page
    1994

    51. So thrilled to find this treasure in a used bookstore …

  51. Deaf Republic
    Ilya Kaminsky
    2019

    52. “Air empties, but for the squeak of strings and the tap tap of wooden fists against the walls.”
    And Yet, on Some Nights by Ilya Kaminsky from Deaf Republic

    Unnerving, astounding, incredibly moving …

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  52. In My Own Moccasins – A Memoir of Resilience
    Helen Knott
    2019
  53. Say Nothing – A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
    Patrick Radden Keefe
    2019
    (read aloud)

    54. Patrick Radden Keefe has crafted an absorbing and compelling combination detective story and oral history out of one of the most heartrending of the unsolved murders during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This was absolutely amazing to read aloud, too.

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    While he makes delicious things, I read aloud.

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  54. Ducks, Newburyport
    Lucy Ellmann
    2019

    55. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann was not only the reading experience of the year for me, but it will remain as one of the most indelible of my life as a reader, I predict. The 1,000-page one-sentence tome capturing the rambling thoughts of a nervous pie-making mother and homemaker in contemporary Ohio could be dismissed and avoided on so many grounds, perhaps, but it is not to be missed. As she runs the gamut from recipes and grocery lists to concerns for her four children, love for her second husband, memories of her mother and other family members, anger and fear at the state of her home and nation under the odious shadow of Trump … and more … and more … and more … her voice doesn’t just remain in your head, it sinks into you at a cellular level. How her life seemingly inexplicably intertwines with that of a mountain lion tirelessly seeking the children that have been taken away from her turns the last pages of the book into a suspenseful ride that is almost unbearable … but by then, you simultaneously do not want it to end.

    Even with its heft and awkwardness, I couldn’t help taking it everywhere with me … which means I’ll associate it with reading on the subway, in bed, at the cottage, at the blood donor clinic … and being utterly absorbed and entranced, no matter where I was.

  55. Mobile
    Tanis MacDonald
    2019

    56. “By the Don, beneath the bridge, gargoyles brought to earth, scale-model dragons and angels of revisionist history, beasts of Bay Street brought low and eye to eye with ideology and staghorn sumac …” Jane and the Monsters for Beauty, Permanence, and Individuality by Tanis MacDonald from Mobile

    Who better than a poet to orchestrate uncommon magic on a gray Saturday morning in the heart of noisy #Toronto? Read the whole story here.

  56. I Am Sovereign
    Nicola Barker
    2019

    57. A new Nicola Barker is always cause for celebration, at least by this reader. This novella is signature Barker brilliance, and another step in her experimentation with breaking down the walls between characters, reader and writer. Utterly fascinating!

    This captures, by the way, one of my favourite places and times of the day to read – breakfast on a working weekday, after I’ve done my initial check-in for email and work-related social media updates and have my working day mapped out.

  57. The Man Who Saw Everything
    Deborah Levy
    2019

    58. Deborah Levy’s interview with Eleanor Wachtel in November at Revival Bar was peculiar and strangely recalcitrant, but Wachtel’s team ably edited it for broadcast. I love Levy’s work, so I tried to block out the odd interview behaviour as I read The Man Who Saw Everything and enjoyed it immensely. It’s the sort of book that I suspect I will go back to and glean different gems of insight with each reread.

  58. Renaissance Normcore
    Adele Barclay
    2019
  59. My Father, Fortune-tellers & Me
    Eufemia Fantetti
    2019
  60. Night Boat to Tangier
    Kevin Barry
    2019

    61. Kevin Barry offered a lively reading and generous insights to interviewer Charles Foran at the Toronto Public Library in September, still fresh in my mind when I read and was utterly enthralled with the book in November.

  61. Good to a Fault
    Marina Endicott
    2008

    62. One of three rereads this year, Marina Endicott’s Good to a Fault has been calling to me for a while, and I’m so glad I heeded the call. This was a wonderful, affecting revisit.

  62. Crow Gulch
    Douglas Walbourne-Gough
    2019

    63. “All this hard living just to stay alive.
    Nice to escape, though. This feather bed.
    Dream up whatever life you want.”
    Escape by Douglas Walbourne-Gough from Crow Gulch

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  63. Something to Write Home About
    Seamus Heaney
    1998

    64. Such a lovely Christmas present …

  64. Alias Grace
    Margaret Atwood
    1996

    65. Another of three rereads this year, a final silent book club meeting during the holiday season helped me to finish this hefty but absorbing read. I was inspired to reread it after binge watching the superbly realized mini-series of the book. The first time I read this book (the book was published in 1996 and I first read it in 2003), Margaret Atwood’s voice was the narrator in my head. This time, Sarah Gadon as Grace was the voice.

  65. Worry
    Jessica Westhead
    2019

In 2019, I read a total of 65 works, a considerable leap from my challenging 2018 reading year:

  • 33 works of fiction (novels and short story collections) – the exact same as my 2018 total
  • 21 poetry collections and
  • 11 works of non-fiction.

I reread 3 books, read 3 works in translation, read one graphic work (interestingly, not a novel but non-fiction) and read 36 works by Canadian authors (again, surprisingly, the exact same as my 2018 total). My husband and I read 3 books aloud to each other this year and have another one in progress as we greet the new year.

I also kept track again this year of the publication dates of the books I read. In 2019, the oldest book I read was published in 1847 (Wuthering Heights, which was also a read-aloud book and, oh my, quite the rereading experience), and I also read a number of books published in the 1990s, further fulfilling last year’s intention to read or reread some more older books (a yearly practice I intend to keep up). More than half of the books I read this year were published in 2018 or 2019.

Currently in progress, heading into 2020:

  • Grand Union
    by Zadie Smith

  • Arias
    by Sharon Olds

  • I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the March up Freedom’s Highway
    by Greg Kot
    (reading aloud, with gusto!)

For yet another year, I’m looking back fondly and with great satisfaction on my 2019 reading and looking forward eagerly to where my 2020 reading will take me. I’m grateful to the writers, publishers, reviewers and fellow readers who have spurred on and broadened my reading. I’m thankful for the bounty of beautiful words that came to me via so many conduits, evoking such an array of ideas, trains of thought, memories and associations, providing so much off the page, too, from solace and companionship to challenges and even healthy discontent.

I’ll simply conclude (as I always do) …

It’s not how many you read that counts. It’s that you read that counts.

What, where and how I read in 2018

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As I confessed recently, 2018 was a challenging reading year for me. I read some great books and attended some memorable readings and book events, but how I read (mostly books, sometimes on screen) and my normal reading tempo was impeded by vision problems. My vision deteriorated in an alarmingly short period of time due to the swift and severe onset of cataracts. (I didn’t mind being told I was too young to be experiencing this problem so acutely, but that was the only meagre comfort at the time.)

For a time, I didn’t know if these vision problems would be protracted or even permanent. If it was, I knew I had to accept changing how I read and would have to adapt accordingly. Other readers read in other ways, and I could too if I had to. As it turns out, surgery and support from excellent professionals means I’ll be able to continue casting my gaze on the printed page, my preferred way of reading. I’m grateful I have that option, and have heightened respect for those who come to the written word with patience and resourcefulness in other ways.

Because I was tussling just to read, I didn’t write about my reading much this year – except, as you may have noticed, about our beloved silent book club. Still, I did my best to share a few thoughts on my reading as I went along, and managed to put up some snippets on Goodreads, Twitter and even Instagram. Sometimes those wee comments sparked a bit of conversation with fellow readers, which was nice and some continued reassurance that not all of social media is a relentless dumpster fire.

I continued my commitment in 2018 to a daily devotion to at least one poem … and usually more, as friends on Twitter continued to generously share their poem choices and reflections via the #todayspoem hashtag. I’m now heading into my eighth uninterrupted year of poetry tweets. In 2017, I gathered up all my tweets here. I’ll try to do something similar with my 2018 #todayspoem tweets in the near future.

Another reading practice that sparks joy (ahem) as I navigate through books is that of #sundaysentence, tirelessly championed and curated by author David Abrams. Seeking a weekly gem seems to sharpen my attention when I’m reading, and I love discovering new works through the #sundaysentence choices of other readers.

An important milestone this reading year just past is that my treasured but admittedly battered, over 35-year-old book of books got a much needed restoration.

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My husband arranged for the book (in which I’ve recorded my reading since I graduated from university in 1983) to be beautifully rebound, by bookbinder Don Taylor. If you need something that further sparks reading joy, get yourself a gorgeous book in which to record your reading – you won’t regret it.

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Here are the books I read and read aloud in 2018, with a few recollections of where I was when I was reading them.

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  1. Stranger, by David Bergen
  2. The Left-Handed Dinner Party and Other Stories, by Myrl Coulter
  3. Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood … here too

    4. This was the only book I reread this year, but it was a splendid one to revisit. As I remarked at the time, it’s a moving, intimate and instructive look at how women can be each other’s best allies and worst enemies.

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  4. Scarborough, by Catherine Hernandez
  5. The Finest Supermarket in Kabul, by Ele Pawelski

    6. This book was good company during my subway travels.

  6. Quantum Typography, by Gary Barwin
  7. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
  8. Still Life, by Louise Penny

    9. I very much enjoyed this introduction to Louise Penny and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache thanks to enthusiastic recommendations from my silent book club friends.

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    Still Life … with beagle-basset …

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  9. Loop of Jade, by Sarah Howe
  10. Wisdom in Nonsense – Invaluable Lessons from My Father, by Heather O’Neill
  11. Studio Saint-Ex, by Ania Szado
  12. Seven Fallen Feathers, by Tanya Talaga
  13. Sun of a Distant Land, by David Bouchet, translated by Claire Holden Rothman

    14.  

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  14. This is How You Lose Her, by Junot Diaz
  15. Antigone Undone, by Will Aitken

    16. Not only was the book captivating, but it was great to hear about it firsthand from Aitken and Anne Carson (gasp!) about a month later at the Toronto Reference Library.

  16. Winter’s Bone, by Daniel Woodrell

    17. This stunning book was a Little Library find!

  17. Magenta Soul Whip, by Lisa Robertson
  18. French Exit, by Patrick deWitt
  19. I have to live. by Aisha Sasha John
  20. This Wound Is a World, by Billy-Ray Belcourt
  21. A Death in the Family, by Karl Ove Knausgaard
  22. Kudos, by Rachel Cusk
  23. The Built Environment, by Emily Hasler

    24. I enjoyed both Kudos and The Built Environment at silent book club.

  24. The Bleeds, by Dimitri Nasrallah
  25. Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje
  26. Dreampad, by Jeff Latosik

    27.  

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  27. Collected Tarts & Other Indelicacies, by Tabatha Southey

    28. My husband and I read this book aloud. Much, much laughter …!

  28. Ties, by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri
  29. Muskoka Holiday, by Joyce Boyle

    30. My husband and I read this book aloud at the cottage. I remember quite vividly that this was when my vision was just about at its worst, about a month before the first of two eye surgeries. I was pleased to be able to read this book, though, because of its large print.

  30. On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood, by Richard Harrison
  31. Chicken, by Lynn Crosbie
  32. Deer Life – A Fairy Tale, by Ron Sexsmith
  33. The Deserters, by Pamela Mulloy

    34. If you’ve read them both, you might not think Lynn Crosbie’s Chicken and Pamela Mulloy’s The Deserters have much in common. I gathered notes for, but my weary eyes never allowed me to complete a review comparing the two books on the theme of troubled relationships.

  34. Wade in the Water, by Tracy K. Smith
  35. The Outlaw Album, by Daniel Woodrell
  36. Heartbreaker, by Claudia Dey
  37. Beartown, by Fredrik Backman, translated by Neil Smith

    38.  

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  38. Transcription, by Kate Atkinson

    39. As I remarked when I finished it, Transcription‘s Juliet is an endlessly fascinating creature – who, of course, we still don’t entirely know in the end – and her adventures and dilemmas are absorbing and, at times, horrifying. This incredible book was a favourite amongst the readers in our silent book club, and a bunch of us went to here her read from it and converse with Rachel Giese at the lovely Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto.

  39. The Blue Clerk, by Dionne Brand

    40. Both a stunning book and a gorgeous book object, this was one of the most pleasurable reading experiences of my year.

  40. Split Tooth, by Tanya Tagaq
  41. God of Shadows, by Lorna Crozier
  42. Sugar and Other Stories, by A.S. Byatt
  43. If They Come For Us, by Fatimah Asghar
  44. Zolitude, by Paige Cooper
  45. The Game, by A.S. Byatt
  46. The Mobius Strip Club of Grief, by Bianca Stone
  47. Stereoblind, by Emma Healey
  48. Dear Evelyn, by Kathy Page
  49. Theory, by Dionne Brand

    50.  

    2018-bookofbooks6-600

  50. My Private Property, by Mary Ruefle
  51. Virgin, by Analicia Sotelo
  52. No Good Asking, by Fran Kimmel
  53. Liminal, by Jordan Tannahill
  54. The Library Book, by Susan Orlean

    55. We read this aloud – voraciously and with immense delight – and finished it on New Year’s Eve, which felt rather perfect.

In 2018, I read a total of 54 works: 33 works of fiction (novels and short story collections), 16 poetry collections and 5 works of non-fiction. I reread one book, read 4 works in translation, and read 36 works by Canadian authors. My husband and I read three books aloud to each other this year and have another one in progress as we greet the new year.

I also kept track this year of the publication dates of the books I read. In 2018, the oldest book I read was published in 1953, and I also read books published in 1967, 1987 and 1988, fulfilling last year’s intention to read some more older books. Exactly half of the books I read in 2018 were published in 20 18.

Currently in progress, heading into 2019:

  • Milkman
    by Anna Burns

  • Voodoo Hypothesis
    by Canisia Lubrin

  • Wuthering Heights
    by Emily Brontë
    (reread and … read aloud!)

For yet another year, I’m looking back fondly on my 2018 reading, looking forward eagerly, with anticipation and even some curiosity to my 2019 reading, I’ll simply conclude (as I always do) …

It’s not how many you read that counts. It’s that you read that counts.

2017 #todayspoem tweets – poetry every single day

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For now six years running, I have not missed a day during which I’ve selected and read a poem (discovered in many different ways, which I should perhaps write about separately one day), chosen an excerpt and tweeted it, including the #todayspoem hashtag. When I click the hashtag every day, I’m thrilled to see other poetry lovers, including poets and poetry publishers, sharing poems they love, that have spoken to them, that have helped them mark a day or occasion. The shared poetry comes from around the world, so it surfaces at all hours of the day and night. #todayspoem is always there, providing insight, enchantment, solace, amusement and much more.

I gathered up all my 2017 #todayspoem tweets in month-by-month Twitter moments, then I threaded them all together in a series of tweets, starting here:

Here is what the individual months look like. Twitter Moments are particularly fun to page through on mobile, where you can swipe your way through each slideshow.













Not as studiously compiled is a running Pinterest collection of #todayspoem pins.

I’m going to do my best to keep it up again in 2018. I’m excited and intrigued to see who will join me and what they will share.

Celebrating the beautiful book object – Dart, by Alice Oswald

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Most recent of poet Alice Oswald’s many accolades is the 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize, for her 2016 collection Falling Awake. While the words on the page are glorious unto themselves without further enhancement, it is even more enchanting and satisfying when an accomplished poet’s beautiful words are showcased with rich and gorgeous packaging. Such is the case with Oswald’s early work, Dart, produced in a special edition by publisher Faber & Faber.

Dart, by Alice Oswald

Dart, by Alice Oswald

Dart, by Alice Oswald

Artist Jonathan Gibbs’ design feels very attuned to how Oswald approached the extended poem’s subject matter, as she describes it:

“This poem is made from the language of people who live and work on the Dart. Over the past two years I’ve been recording conversations with people who know the river. I’ve used these records as life-models from which to sketch out a series of characters – linking their voices into a sound-map of the river, a songline from the source to the sea. There are indications in the margin where one voice changes into another. These do not refer to real people or even fixed fictions. All voices should be read as the river’s mutterings.”

I don’t know what Gibbs’ creative brief might have been for this lovely assignment, but the phrase “river’s mutterings” seems captured perfectly by the lush tumblings of leaves and strands and colours on the cover.

Dart, by Alice Oswald

Dart, by Alice Oswald

This inviting book has already inspired me to share its contents:

Dart, by Alice Oswald (Faber & Faber, 2002, 2016)

What I read in 2016

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When I graduated from university, I started to keep track of my books read in this wee diary that was a gift from my roommate.

bookdiary1

I started the books diary in 1983. It’s coming apart at the seams a bit. Over the years, I’ve backed up my list in databases, spreadsheets, Goodreads and other book apps du jour … but I’ve always updated this little diary as part of my reading routine. Yes, this book and this part of my reading ritual is getting on 34 years …

bookdiary2

Here are the books I read in 2016 – once again, diligently recorded in my book diary, along with a backup spreadsheet and Goodreads – with links to reviews where I have them. By the way, this is an exhaustive, “all of” list, not a “best of” list.

I continued my commitment in 2016 to a daily devotion to at least one poem … and usually more, as friends on Twitter continued to generously share their poem choices and reflections via the #todayspoem hashtag. Now five years in, I still haven’t missed a day, both contributing and enjoying selections from others in this edifying, often spirit-lifting and vital communal experience. I’ve now pondered the works of close to 1,000 unique poets, writers, translators, songsmiths and wordsmiths I’ve revisited or unearthed myself, and countless more via others wielding that often revelatory hashtag. On into its sixth year, I’m continuing with my #todayspoem habit every day heading into 2017. I hope many contributors will continue or join anew.

I welcomed some wonderful and insightful guest reviewers and correspondents to this blog in 2016. I’m so grateful for the time and thought they spent on their pieces, from which I learned a lot and hope you did, too. Let’s revisit them again:

Here are the books I read, reread and read aloud in 2016. Wherever I go, I try to carry a book with me, so for each book, I’m also going to try to recall where I was when I was reading it.

  1. Hope Makes Love
    by Trevor Cole

    I vividly recall reading this book at the cottage during the wintry first days of the new year.

  2. The Beauty of the Husband
    by Anne Carson

    I was reading this amazing book while waiting for a friend who was arriving by GO Train at Toronto’s Union Station. We were meeting another friend to go to a poetry reading – how perfect is that?

  3. Fates and Furies
    by Lauren Groff

    I distinctly recall reading this engrossing book snuggled in bed.

  4. A Little Life
    by Hanya Yanagihara

    I went through a protracted period of insomnia last winter and if, after trying to relax and consciously breathe myself back to sleep, I was still wide-eyed in the dark, I would turn on my little book-light and read. This book actually didn’t help get me back to sleep – quite the contrary – but it was stunningly memorable company during those sleepless hours. What an unforgettable wallop of a reading experience.

  5. The Mark and the Void
    by Paul Murray

    I read this two-volume paperback (a very interesting packaging of the story) mostly at our dining room table. It was February, when this household observes a month of abstinence from alcohol, so the accompanying beverages were likely tea and coffee.

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  6. Between You & Me
    by Mary Norris

    I took this entertaining book with me on more than a few subway rides.

  7. When Words Deny the World
    by Stephen Henighan

    This book kept me company on streetcar rides to physiotherapy appointments.

  8. The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl
    by Sue Goyette

    I read this gorgeous book (also a gorgeous book object) at home.

  9. Just Watch Me – The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1968-2000)
    by John English
    (read aloud)

    A lot of our reading aloud takes place in the kitchen, with my talented husband cooking and me singing for my supper. We actually read a lot of this book during the interminable 2015 Canadian federal election and it was a great reminder that there were dedicated, thoughtful and honorable politicians of all political stripes as recently as just a generation or two ago.

  10. M Train
    by Patti Smith

    I read this sweet, luminous book at home.

  11. All the Gold Hurts My Mouth
    by Katherine Leyton

    This poetry collection was company on several subway rides.

  12. Birdie
    by Tracey Lindberg

    This book was warm and fascinating company on streetcar rides to physiotherapy appointments.

  13. Innocents and Others
    by Dana Spiotta

    Among his many talents, my husband is a great seeker and finder of first editions of books. When I fell in love with author Dana Spiotta on the basis of this intriguing New York Times Magazine interview, he made it his mission to find all of her novels for me. And then I read them all this year. To a book, they were amazing. I already can’t wait for what she’ll do next.

  14. Don’t Be Interesting
    by Jacob McArthur Mooney

    I read this collection (which had me at the John Darnielle references) at home and on public transit.

  15. Model Disciple
    by Michael Prior

    This collection was fine company during the continued streetcar rides to physio appointments.

  16. Tell: poems for a girlhood
    by Soraya Peerbaye

    You know what? I was so wrapped up in the entrancing, often horrifying but also heartwrenchingly beautiful world of this collection that I in fact don’t recall a specific place or moment when I was reading it. What does that say?

  17. Lightning Field
    by Dana Spiotta

    I read this book at home, probably mostly at my desk and the dining room table.

  18. Providence
    by Anita Brookner
    (reread)

    I read this tiny, battered, much loved paperback on the subway, where a fellow passenger remarked that it was her favourite Brookner.

  19. Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments
    by Ulrikka S. Gernes, translated by Per Brask and Patrick Friesen

    This poetry collection accompanied me on more than one road trip.

  20. Who Needs Books? Reading in the Digital Age
    by Lynn Coady

    I pretty much read this in one sitting … with lunch.

    21. Sustenance … lunch with Lynn Coady's nourishing Who Needs Books? @clcualberta #canlit #books #bookstagram

    A photo posted by Vicki Ziegler (@vzbookgaga) on

  21. Caribou Run
    by Richard Kelly Kemick

    I read this very fine collection at home, on public transit and I recall packing it along to the cottage, too.

  22. The Mercy Journals
    by Claudia Casper

    I remember reading this haunting novel late at night at the cottage.

  23. Zero K
    by Don DeLillo

    I vividly recall reading most of this book in an incredible, absorbing whoosh while driving home from the cottage. (No, I wasn’t driving.)

  24. Saints, Unexpected
    by Brent van Staalduinen

    I remember reading this fine and amiable book while relaxing on the back porch.

  25. All That Sang
    by Lydia Perovic

    I pretty much had this captivating book read in a couple of subway rides and a sit on the front porch.

  26. Stone Arabia
    by Dana Spiotta

    I remember being absorbed in this book while sitting on the cottage dock with a refreshing beverage or two.

  27. The Quotations of Bone
    by Norman Dubie

    Subway reading, I do believe …

  28. Independent People
    by Halldor Laxness

    This one took a while to read – which was fine, as it was a read to savour and get immersed in – so I had it with me everywhere. It’s another book that a fellow subway rider remarked on, most enthusiastically.

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  29. I’m thinking of ending things
    by Iain Reid

    I had the good sense to only read this book during daylight hours.

  30. The Hatred of Poetry
    by Ben Lerner

    Some subway rides went quickly with this wise book for company.

  31. Thirteen Shells
    by Nadia Bozak

    I was reading and enjoying this book during a weekend visit with friends at our cottage.

  32. Yiddish for Pirates
    by Gary Barwin

    This book was thoroughly delightful company during a week’s vacation at the cottage.

  33. History’s People
    by Margaret MacMillan
    (read aloud)

    We read this book aloud – and learned a lot about greater and lesser known historical figures – during cozy reading sessions at home and at the cottage.

  34. The Cauliflower
    by Nicola Barker

    Not my favourite Barker, although Barker remains one of my favourite writers … I read this book while on my own for a working week at the cottage.

  35. The Dancehall Years
    by Joan Haggerty

    Remembering this book reminds me of our shade-dappled dock at the cottage.

  36. The Clay Girl
    by Heather Tucker

    I will remember The Clay Girl and the next book on this list, Still Mine, side by side and as my constant companions everywhere (home, out and about, cottage) for two or three weeks. I had the honour in 2016 of moderating a couple of special book club events for the Toronto Word on the Street Festival. Selected contest winners qualified for small, private book club meetings with authors Heather Tucker and Amy Stuart, and it was my job to introduce them to their book fans and keep the conversations going with pertinent questions about their respective books. I prepared exhaustively with questions and observations … but then didn’t need a lot of those preps because those book fans showed up excited, motivated and brimming with their own wide-ranging queries and reflections. It was really rewarding to see such warm and dynamic meetings of readers and writers – truly wonderful!

  37. Still Mine
    Amy Stuart

    See my comments about The Clay Girl … I also recall enjoying Still Mine on a coffee shop patio on a sunny Saturday morning while waiting for my husband.

  38. English is Not a Magic Language
    by Jacques Poulin, translated by Sheila Fischman

    This charming novella was good subway company.

  39. 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
    by Mona Awad

    I read this book at home and out and about.

  40. The Best Kind of People
    by Zoe Whittall

    I read this book at home and out and about.

  41. The Last White House at the End of the Row of White Houses
    by Michael e. Casteels

    I recall being wrapped up in this enchanting little collection while waiting for my husband to join me for dinner out.

  42. The Tobacconist
    by Robert Seethaler, translated by Charlotte Collins

    I read this fascinating and rather prophetic book at my desk in my home office, as I prepared the readers’ guide / book club questions for this book, offered by House of Anansi Press.

  43. The Emily Valentine Poems
    by Zoe Whittall

    A squirrel jumped up next to me on the park bench I was sitting on as I read this while waiting for a friend in a parkette outside her office in downtown Toronto.

  44. Wenjack
    by Joseph Boyden

    I read this small, moving book in one sitting at home.

  45. Thrillows & Despairos
    by Chris Chambers

    I discovered this collection when I heard Chris Chambers read from it at the 2016 International Festival of Authors, and I ran to the book table and purchased it right after the reading. Immersive indeed!

  46. Do Not Say We Have Nothing
    by Madeleine Thien

    This beautiful book was constant, contemplative company at home throughout the fall.

  47. The Goddess of Fireflies
    by Genevieve Pettersen, translated by Neil Smith

    I remember standing on subway platforms with this book in my hand.

  48. Where’d You Go, Bernadette
    by Maria Semple

    I remember carrying and reading this sweet book on transit and waiting for friends at restaurants and before musical events in late November.

  49. Eat the Document
    by Dana Spiotta

    I read this intriguing book, the final in my year-long Dana Spiotta-fest, at home.

  50. Based on Actual Events
    by Robert Moore

    Devoured in just a few subway rides, I believe …

  51. The Break
    by Katherena Vermette

    I had this absorbing book with me at home, out and about and even on a wintry trip to the cottage.

    52. bookdiary5

  52. Life On Mars
    by Tracy K. Smith

    I stayed up late reading this gift on Christmas night.

    53. #Poetry break after all the holiday excitement … #airedalesofinstagram

    A photo posted by Vicki Ziegler (@vzbookgaga) on

  53. Pond
    by Claire-Louise Bennett

    I treasure this quirky read, a spontaneous gift from a lovely colleague.

  54. The Albertine Workout
    by Anne Carson

    Another Christmas gift, I read this poetry pamphlet pretty much in one gulp while sitting at my home office desk.

    55. bookdiary6

In 2016, I read a total of 54 works: 32 works of fiction (novels and short story collections), 15 poetry collections and 7 works of non-fiction. I re-read one book, read 4 works in translation, and read 35 works by Canadian authors. My husband and I read two books aloud to each other this year and have a third in progress as we greet the new year.

Currently in progress, heading into 2017:

Looking back fondly on my 2016 reading, looking forward eagerly and with anticipation to my 2017 reading, I’ll simply conclude (as I’ve done in previous years) …

It’s not how many you read that counts. It’s that you read that counts.

Postscript (added January 11, 2017)

I love the discussion this post has sparked, both here and on social media, including some debate about whether or not such list-keeping is usual or kind of nutty/anal-retentive. Obviously, keeping these lists every year is part of enjoying my reading. I’ve added a bit more to my scrutiny of what I’ve read every year, not so much with a view to altering the flow of what I decide to pick up and read every year as to just be aware if there was more or different directions in which I should explore. So, for example, I’ve looked in recent years at how much fiction vs non-fiction vs poetry I read, and how many works in translation, how much Canadian versus international literature, how many rereads, read-alouds, etc, etc, etc. Because the lists are easy to scan, I can quickly figure out the author gender mix every year … just to see how I’m doing, usually not to be corrective in my reading habits.

One thing I’ve decided to add to my record-keeping in 2017 is the publication year of each book read, to gauge how much current/hot-off-the-press vs back catalogue/older stuff I’m reading. I love that everyone who has joined this conversation loves their reading, loves to examine it to some extent and loves to share it. We all learn and benefit from that.

Another postscript (added March 17, 2017)

emsley-book-journal2Sarah Emsley has segued a career teaching writing at Harvard University to her beautiful blog, where she writes about Jane Austen, Jane Austen for kids, Edith Wharton, Lucy Maud Montgomery and other writers, and about places she loves (especially Nova Scotia and Alberta). I am thrilled that she has taken a cue from this blog post to restart her own handwritten “books read” journal … and oh my, her journal and mine are twins!

700 poets … and me

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weddynge-breakfaste-punch


A little postscript …

A little over a year ago, my lively poetry-inspired virtual table welcomed 500 poets and translators. Now, 200 more poets and translators have joined a festive gathering that now verges on … well, the possibilities (revelations, touching civility, mayhem …) are breathtaking. As you scan through the list below, you’ll see pairings of poet guests that are poetry unto themselves.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been tweeting a #todayspoem tweet every day since December 26, 2011, inspired by this. In addition to revisiting and going deeper in my own poetry collection, #todayspoem has compelled me to go further afield in print and online, and my daily tweets have reflected both my own explorations and those sparked by other generous and eclectic #todayspoem contributors. While I continue to imagine what this 700 poets and translators I’ve tweeted would have to say to each other if I sat them at a table … again, I’m fantasizing about the new guests who will be joining them in the days, weeks and months to come.

The following are links to more information about each of the unique poets, lyricists, writers who stray into the poetic and translators from whose work I’ve tweeted in just over three years. I’ve highlighted new additions in bold, but in fact, I’ve done my best to check every link in this post to ensure that each provides something interesting, useful – or in the case of a few souls that have managed to elude the all-seeing eye of the interwebs, at least something identifying – timely, whimsical and so on. The links include personal and professional web sites, blogs, journals, articles, interviews, reviews, essays, biographies, obituaries, appreciations and bibliographies.

I kind of hope that these might be starting points for others to explore these artists, too. The excerpts from their work that I incorporated into #todayspoem tweets are also saved as part of the Today’s Poem Pinterest board.

Image from Project Gutenberg’s Manners & Cvftoms of ye Englyfhe, by Richard Doyle

The collective effect of all the todayspoem contributors is warm, powerful, inspiring, too. steviehowl, I love what others share every day.

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Spending time most gloriously with 500 poets and poetry translators

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Gathered at another table

A year ago, the table welcomed 300 poets and translators. A year later, 200 more poets and translators have joined the festive gathering, making for some interesting shuffling in the seating arrangements, to say the least. Are Helen Adam and Fleur Adcock having a surprising meeting of minds? How about ee cummings and Nancy Jo Cullen … or Edna St Vincent Millay and Joe Strummer? Anselm Berrigan is now next to his father, Ted, and his mother Alice Notley is further down on the other side, engrossed in conversation with Idra Novey. We trust Helen Guri and Jason Guriel will have no mishaps with wine glasses or cutlery …

I’ve been tweeting a #todayspoem tweet every day since December 26, 2011, inspired by this. In addition to revisiting and going deeper in my own poetry collection, #todayspoem has compelled me to go further afield in print and online, and my daily tweets have reflected both my own explorations and those sparked by other generous and eclectic #todayspoem contributors. While I continue to imagine what this 500 poets and translators I’ve tweeted would have to say to each other if I sat them at a table … again, I’m fantasizing about the new guests who will be joining them in the days, weeks and months to come.

The following are links to more information about each of the unique poets and translators from whose work I’ve tweeted in a little over two years – personal web sites, articles, interviews, essays, biographies and bibliographies. I kind of hope that these might be starting points for others to explore these artists, too. The excerpts from their work that I incorporated into #todayspoem tweets are saved as part of the Today’s Poem Pinterest board.

Tea table image from chestofbooks.com