Poetbabble

54 Best Books of the Decade; mostly in no particular order.

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:19:37 -0600

compiled & reviewed by Anaïs Escobar—this will be permanently in the links at the top of my main page below the writing archive if you need to find it in the future. reblog as needed.
1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, 2007
2. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, 2001
3. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, 2003
4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy, 2007
5. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, 2006
6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, 2005
7. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño, 2007
8. Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller, 2002
9. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, 2009
10. Sailing Alone Around The Room by Billy Collins, 2001
11. Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, 2003
12. Invisible by Paul Auster, 2009
13. Livability by Jon Raymond, 2008
14. Lockpick Pornography by Joey Comeau, 2005
15. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
16. Captain Freedom: A Superhero’s Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves by G. Xavier Robillard, 2009
17. Littlefoot by Charles Wright, 2007
18. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II by Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill, 2003
19. No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July, 2007
20. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, 2004
21. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, 2003
22. 30 Days in Sydney by Peter Carey, 2001
23. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, 2004
24. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, 2005
25. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, 2002
26. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt, 2000
27. Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin, 2007
28. The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel, 2006
29. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, 2005
30. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, 2009 (US)
31. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, 2000
32. Super Spy by Matt Kindt, 2007
33. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, 2008
34. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, 2003
35. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, 2007
36. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, 2000
37. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, 2004
38. The Puppet & The Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity by Slavoj Žižek, 2003
39. Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 2001
40. Rose of No Man’s Land by Michelle Tea, 2006
41. Blonde: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates, 2000
42. Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser, 2001
43. All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland, 2001
44. Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende, 2007
45. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, 2003
46. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, 2003
47. The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl, 2003
48. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, 2009
49. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan, 2001
50. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane, 2001
51. Cecil & Jordan in New York by Gabrielle Bell, 2008
52. Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It by Geoff Dyer, 2003
53. Bee Season by Myla Goldberg, 2000
54. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, 2007

Pretty soon, someone will pay you to do this. Mark my words.

ataxiwardance: naivete: i am so eager to fall in love i’ve...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:41:57 -0600

ataxiwardance:

naivete:

i am so eager to fall in love

i’ve got really good news and really bad news.

Poem Craving

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:55:16 -0600

I need some new poetry that will blow my head off. Suggestions?

P&W's 50 Most Inspiring Authors in the World

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:35:00 -0600

P&W's 50 Most Inspiring Authors in the World:

Badass is right. Some usual suspects, some unknowns (to me), a bit American-centric but still, badass.

"It’s never the changes we want that change everything."

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:10:24 -0600

“It’s never the changes we want that change everything.”

- Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (via bibliotheque)

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:59:00 -0600

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

- Anna Quindlen, Enough Bookshelves, NYT 1991

From the Department of Cartwheels and Fireworks

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:35:00 -0600

I just input my final grades. I’m free. I can finally write. I can read for pleasure again. And do this shot of Four Roses. And sleep in. And go running and dancing and loving all of my people in person again.

For three weeks, I will live like a sweet monster, madly desirous of everything.

shawnbaldwin: Wandering | Ben Folds She’s a million miles away...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:23:38 -0600

shawnbaldwin:

Wandering | Ben Folds

She’s a million miles away from me. Separated by a hollow wooden door, and some time we can’t erase.

ARB / New swoonfest.

kevinharling1: Autumn Composition

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:16:15 -0600

kevinharling1:

Autumn Composition

I am emotionally available for ironyBaudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire!...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:11:00 -0600

I am emotionally available for irony

Baudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire! Baudelaire!

I am quite sure that I use irony as a way of identifying with others as well as distancing myself from them.

-K. Lorraine Graham

Whenever I let one poem take up a whole page—or, rather, when I really let white space take up...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:09:10 -0600

Whenever I let one poem take up a whole page—or, rather, when I really let white space take up the whole page, I think something like: “This is lame. And precious. And I know that ‘precious’ has very gendered connotations.” And then I change it back so that the page has text all over it. I don’t want there to be very many rests in my work. I don’t want to encourage my readers to rest in my poems. I want them to be, at best, carried away, overwhelmed, energized, breathless. Turned on.

- K. Lorraine Graham

Barrelhouse Releases Its "Out of the Debut Collections of Poetry I Read This Year and That Were Published This Year, These Are Some of the Best Poetry Debuts of 2009 in My Humble Opinion” List

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:06:00 -0600

Barrelhouse Releases Its "Out of the Debut Collections of Poetry I Read This Year and That Were Published This Year, These Are Some of the Best Poetry Debuts of 2009 in My Humble Opinion” List

jose-doraz: I wrote a story for Law and Religion, and now I get to do a character analysis of this...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:02:22 -0600

jose-doraz:

I wrote a story for Law and Religion, and now I get to do a character analysis of this story. It is a strange process for sure.

Nice assignment. Sounds like fun. I mean, if you were a total nerd like me, which I’m sure you’re not!

alisonj:carlovely: “Artist Christopher Locke has made ‘modern...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:21:57 -0600

alisonj:carlovely:

“Artist Christopher Locke has made ‘modern fossils’ by hand, everything from cassettes and floppy disks to Nintendo and joysticks. They represent pieces of modern technology that almost has become “extinct” in these days because of improved technology.”

(via)

odayaka:(via paragraphcove) Wait. Are those baby hands?

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:11:00 -0600

odayaka:(via paragraphcove)

Wait. Are those baby hands?

Nightclub by Billy Collins

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:59:04 -0600

bibliotheque:

You are so beautiful and I am a fool
to be in love with you
is a theme that keeps coming up
in songs and poems.
There seems to be no room for variation.
I have never heard anyone sing
I am so beautiful
and you are a fool to be in love with me,
even though this notion has surely
crossed the minds of women and men alike.
You are so beautiful, too bad you are a fool
is another one you don’t hear.
Or, you are a fool to consider me beautiful.
That one you will never hear, guaranteed.

For no particular reason this afternoon
I am listening to Johnny Hartman
whose dark voice can curl around
the concepts on love, beauty, and foolishness
like no one else’s can.
It feels like smoke curling up from a cigarette
someone left burning on a baby grand piano
around three o’clock in the morning;
smoke that billows up into the bright lights
while out there in the darkness
some of the beautiful fools have gathered
around little tables to listen,
some with their eyes closed,
others leaning forward into the music
as if it were holding them up,
or twirling the loose ice in a glass,
slipping by degrees into a rhythmic dream.

Yes, there is all this foolish beauty,
borne beyond midnight,
that has no desire to go home,
especially now when everyone in the room
is watching the large man with the tenor sax
that hangs from his neck like a golden fish.
He moves forward to the edge of the stage
and hands the instrument down to me
and nods that I should play.
So I put the mouthpiece to my lips
and blow into it with all my living breath.
We are all so foolish,
my long bebop solo begins by saying,
so damn foolish
we have become beautiful without even knowing it.

"For those of you falling in love, keep it kind, keep it good, keep it right. Throw yourself in the..."

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:47:46 -0600

“For those of you falling in love,
keep it kind, keep it good, keep it right.
Throw yourself in the midst of danger,
but keep one eye open at night.”

- Rachel Yamagata, Elephants (via shawnbaldwin)

herocomplex:(via fuckyeahslightlyamusing)

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:33:47 -0600

herocomplex:(via fuckyeahslightlyamusing)

My new nerdlycrush? Ben Folds. I had no idea he was soooo...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:35:06 -0600

My new nerdlycrush? Ben Folds. I had no idea he was soooo unassuming, awkward, brilliant, avid. Swoon.

The Dull Blog

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:01:52 -0600

The Dull Blog:

eeb:

ranga-sauce:

Only I would be amused by this

And me, apparently.

“I was standing at a central point in the room. The walls were all at approximately the same distance from me. I continued to stand there for a few moments.”

Yes, and something about this blog reminds me of almost every other blog I’ve ever read…