Plenty to read

but not too much to recommend. My list of books read this year is in the right sidebar. 19 books read so far but only 7 reviews. You can be sure that the titles I review are heartily recommended. I'm ready for another great read now.

I'm currently reading Paula Green's new anthology of New Zealand poetry Dear heart - a lovely book, beautifully designed and a perfect gift for a book/poetry lover. It sits very happily beside My heart goes swimming compiled by Jenny Bornholdt in 1996 and complements it nicely.

The reading year

I read 57 books in 2011, mostly fiction, but surprisingly I increased my non-fiction reading to 6 titles. I also read a lot of poetry but since I dipped into many books to find just the right poems I did not record the titles. I'm sure that the poems I read would add up to 2 books full so that I can claim consistency with my 2010 reading total of 59 books.

An assessment of various reading blogs shows that most include a list of titles read even though titles reviewed are fewer - look out for a new addition to this blog page this year.

Some of the poems I have really appreciated recently come from the following books:

Fiere by Jackie Kay
How to survive the morning: new poems by Kevin Ireland
Mirabile dictu by Michele Leggott

The book that lead me into more poetry reading this past year is by Paula Green and Harry Ricketts and is well worth dipping into; I haven't yet managed all the suggested 99 ways into New Zealand poetry

stream of consciousness

In Slip stream Paula Green is conscious of herself and her condition and has composed a series of poems about her movement through a period of illness. Written in the third person, these short poems are immediate and personal but they are also very well crafted. As one says:

"she doesn't try to make poetry

out of her experience but keeps a diary

like a scrap basket, just in case."

I'm pleased she did; it means the poems are understated but full of implication. And I love the references to cryptic crossword clues. Very clever.

Here is a full review from Beattie's blog

Muddy metaphors

Michele Roberts is an articulate, feminist writer; how is it that I have only previously read one of her books? I met her last month at the Beverley Literature Festival and learnt about her interests in poetry, Jane Austen and French culture. All of these appear in her recent book of short stories called Mud and subtitled stories of sex and love.

Mud, the title story explores a squidgy, sensual relationship but the idea of mud is used as a metaphor in many of the other stories in various ways including how aspects of writing can be compared to mixing earth and water to make mud.
Michele Roberts writes a story in 3 weeks but takes 3 years to produce a novel. Just out is her memoir of the 70s Paper houses that has taken 30 years to think about. A metaphor she used to talk about organising her memories and creating the book is that of ironing and putting all the neatly ironed garments into a tidy cupboard.
I'll let you know if the book really is like that.

Mesostic poems

Found some wonderful poems in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park today. Arranged in a greenhouse were plant pots with labels that were poems forming the names of plants.

A mesostic poem is a vertical phrase which is
intersected by lines of horizontal text. These mesostics by Alec Finlay are composed of a name-stem and word-branches and the poems reveal something of the plant's character. The words used were very apt and described the plants charmingly. In this interview, the poet and propogator explains his approach to the project.

A unique way of bringing visual and written art together.

Poetry

National Poetry Day, this year on Friday 30 July, aims to involve as many people as possible in celebrating poetry, poets and poems. There are events all over the country and also newspaper and radio items and interviews. The New Zealand Post Poetry Award for 2010 will be announced in August.

Newly published, and not eligible for this year's poetry award, is a lovely little book by Fiona Kidman called Where your left hand rests. Within the attractive cover and endpapers are beautiful illustrations and fascinating poems that encapsulate a deep sense of family and history. Various images of Victorian embroidery separate the sections of the book but the repetition of a perfect rose provides continuity. This is a special book to hold, look through and read - a little treasure.