Hello. As part of the Institute For Things to do With Books’ mandate to participate in things that have to do with books, here is my annual list of books that have piled up on my bedside table. Some of these books have been read through, some (the short story anthologies, certain poetry books) have been dipped into, others have got lost in the shuffle and are as of yet unread. As always, come spring, I’ll reshelve, and start the process all over again. Feel free to contribute your own night table geographies in the comments section.
Books are listed from the top of the pile to the bottom
Pile A:
Happy New Year! And Other Stories by Sholom Aleichem (Translated by Curt Leviant)
The Circle Game by Margaret Atwood (Poetry)
So Much to Say: Dave Matthews Band 20 Years on the Road by Nikki Van Noy (perhaps the worst book I have ever read)
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol, Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (thank you BMV!)
50 Short Science Fiction Tales, Edited by Isaac Asimov and Groff Conklin
An Oak Hunch by Phil Hall (Poetry)
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson (BMV again!)
February by Lisa Moore
Not the Israel my Parents Promised Me by Harvey Pekar and JT Waldman (Graphic Novel)
Pile B:
Mammals of Algonquin Provincial Park
Unlearn, Rewild by Miles Olson
Island.Writer Magazine Winter 2010 (I had a poem in there, pulled it off the shelf for some reason)
Night-Eater by Patricia Young (Poetry)
Hello Serotonin by Jon Paul Fiorentino (Poetry)
The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English, Edited by Margaret Atwood and Robert Weaver
The Selected Short Fiction of Lisa Moore
Catching Life by the Throat: How to Read Poetry and Why: Poems From Eight Great Poets, by Josephine Hart
Pile C:
Paddle Your Own Canoe by Gary and Joanie McGuffin
The New Yorker, Oct 15th, 2012
Foreign (ie. non-book) Objects:
Five Pens
One Pencil
One Lighter
Two Headlamps
One Meltbead Bracelet
One Hemp Hand Cream
Two Guitar Picks
One Lamp, Rarely Used (See Above re: Two Headlamps)