Poetry's okay I guess

.

Twenty-seven of the thirty-five books finished this year are poetry and comics which explains how the numbers are already half of last year's. Of course, all those books added together don't match the word count of the pages read in Don Quixote last year.

Which I still haven't finished....






035) Under Brushstrokes by Hedy Habra, finished February 24

Two observations on this book.

1. Having such a large percentage of a book be ekphrastic ain't great, frankly. Just a list of paintings at the end (the end!) is way too much work for me, the casual reader. This should have been a coffeetabler....

2. Anyone looking for evidence of poetry in prose poems should check this book out. Lots of examples of high overall quality.

five days






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034) Rapture by Sjohnna McCray, finished February 20

The speaker of this book is the son of a black man from what our current president would call the inner cities and a Korean woman---an erstwhile prostitute met during the Vietnam war. His childhood involves the tension in this relationship and hints of other tensions---siblings by other mothers, inner-city crime, relatives, etc. The other primary angle the book takes is the speaker's adult love/sex life with other men. Hints of his homosexuality in childhood are too deeply buried for me to find. The closest thing to sex for himself is peeping on a naked woman with his cousins.

The final poem in the collection is multipart and eponymous and helps take the speaker from childhood to adult. We see him explore sex and the gay scene etc etc and find his own grounding as a man in meaningful relationships with other men.

My favorite part of the book comes in the final section of this final poem. Specifically, the underlined parts:

This captures something true about sex that I've never articulated to myself before, and I appreciate the insight.

two days



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033) The Destroyer in the Glass by Noah Warren, finished February 19

The foreword suggests this poet is great because hey, check out this poem, the first stanza makes sense and the rest of the poem makes no sense at all QED. I did not finish reading the foreword. I did, however, read all the poems, though I don't completely disagree with the foreword's assessment.

The best poems came in two types: long meandering personal histories, poems about specific and unexpected objects.

The best of the latter was probably "Automatic Pool Cleaner." This poem brilliantly and evocatively explores the cleaner and lets it become a metaphor on its own terms. And then it feels the need to explain it by getting obscure. It's a cheap trick and not an easy one to do well. Warren, I'm afraid, doesn't do it so well.

But he's young and although the collection has few very good poems, very good lines are scattered througout.

three days

Previously in 2017

29 – 32

032) Old Boy, Vol. 8 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 18
031) Ms. Marvel Vol. 6: Civil War II by G. Willow Wilson et al, finished February 18
030) White Sand by Brandon Sanderson & Rik Hoskin & Julius Gopez, finished February 18
029) Honest Engine by Kyle Dargan, finished February 17

24 – 28

028) Best American Comics 2016 edited by Roz Chast, finished February 16
027) Old Boy, Vol. 7 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 16
026) Old Boy, Vol. 6 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 12
025) Old Boy, Vol. 5 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 11
024) Old Boy, Vol. 4 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 10

19 – 23

023) Ms. Marvel Vol. 5: Super Famous by G. Willow Wilson & Takeshi Miyazawa, finished February 9
022) Ms. Marvel Vol. 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona, finished February 7
021) Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson & Takeshi Miyazawa & Elmo Bondoc, finished February 7
020) Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson & Jacob Wyatt & Adrian Alphona, finished February 6
019) Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona, finished February 5

14 – 18

018) Curses by Kevin Huizenga, finished February 4
017) Precious Rascals by Anthony Holden, finished January 31
015 & 016) Anthem by Ayn Rand, finished January 31
014) Old Boy, Vol. 3 by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished January 30

9 – 13

013) On Jupiter Place by Nicholas Christopher, finished January 30
012) Old Boy, Vol. 2 by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished January 29
011) Old Boy, Vol. 1 by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished January 28
010) Summerlost by Ally Condie, finished January 27
009) Heat Wake by Jason Zuzga, finished January 24

4 – 8

008) How the End Begins by Cynthia Cruz, finished January 19
007) Delinquent Palaces by Danielle Chapman, finished January 19
006) Pilot by pd mallamo, finished January 19
005) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, finished January 16
004) I Hate Fairyland Volume 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young et al, finished January 14

1 – 3

003) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, finished January 12
002) F in Exams: The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers by Richard Benson, finished January 10
001) States of Deseret by William Morris, finished January 10

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