Happy New Year everyone!
For twelve of the thirteen years since I started this blog, I have made a short post about the books (and sometimes music) I received as gifts for Christmas. (And in this case, also the used books I found in my post-Christmas shopping.) In addition to being fun, it also serves as a teaser for the reviews to be written in the upcoming year. As usual, I try to link the reviews to these posts as I write them.
Here are the past editions:
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This year, we stayed home for the holidays, so I didn’t end up succumbing to the temptation to buy way too many used books. This means this year wasn’t as epic as last year, or 2021. Not that I am lacking books to read - check back on those prior years to see what I still have left from priors.
As usual, I am looking forward to another year of reading, and hope my blog readers enjoy following along.
1. Voice From the Street by Philip K. Dick
Our book club hosts often give out random books at our Christmas gathering. This time, I got this book. This one, Dick’s first book, looked interesting. It is an early book by the author - and not science fiction. It remained unpublished until 2007.
2. The Selected Works of Audre Lorde
I already own Lorde’s complete poetry - you can read my post about Coal here - but her prose is a bit harder to find, at least by itself. My brother-in-law and his wife got me this. If you read back through the years, you can see many excellent books that they got me, including some I was not aware of previously.
3. Ralph the Heir by Anthony Trollope
Wait, what? A Trollope I didn’t already own? Who knew? Well, regular readers of this blog know I am a big Anthony Trollope fan, and own most of his books already. My wife found one I didn’t own. Stay tuned because I am planning to read Rachel Ray with some friends, as soon as their copies arrive.
4. Mojave Ghost by Forrest Gander
One of my kids is studying geology in college, so we have been able to share our enjoyment of a number of nerdy books. This one is an interesting crossover. Gander’s degree was in geology, but he has ended up writing poetry and doing translation. So go figure. This is his latest collection, and is the latest in offbeat poetry collections my wife has found for me. So far, I have very much enjoyed them, so looking forward to this one as well.
5. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
I have been a fan of Butler ever since my late cousin-in-law introduced me to Kindred. Later, during Covid, our book club read Parable of the Sower, which is the first book in this two-part series. Now, my wife got me the companion volume (in the same attractive hardback edition), and I look forward to reading it as well. Butler, perhaps because she was queer and black, anticipated our current toxic political and religious situation all too well.
6. A Book of Luminous Things
I haven’t looked through this one much yet, but it is an anthology of poetry - mostly modern - from around the world. I still want to get a good edition of Milosz’ own poems, but this anthology is well regarded, and will probably serve as a jumping off point for poets from outside the English-speaking world. My wife got this for me.
7. Complete Plays by Henry James
Well, Henry James, what can I say? I haven’t read his drama, but, as readers of this blog know, I am a big fan boy of both Henry and his brother William. My wife got this one for me as well.
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