Polysyllabic Spree – January 2013

Books Purchased:

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
Amber, Furs and Cockleshells by Anne Mustoe
Tenth of December by George Saunders
Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver
Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
American Primitive by Mary Oliver
The Size of Thoughts by Nicholson Baker
Pastoralia by George Saunders
Inside USA by John Gunther

Books Read:

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch
Evidence by Mary Oliver
Tenth of December by George Saunders
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Infinite Wait by Julia Wertz
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver
Heaven to Besty by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (re-read)
Baghdad Sketches by Freya Stark
Betsy in Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)

In January I read The Fault In Our Stars and saw Les Miserable and did not cry as a result of either. I joking commented to friends that my heart must be cold and hardened. But the poetry of Mary Oliver made it soar high and re-reading the first two Betsy books (for probably the 15th or so time in my life) made me so nostalgic and happy that I wanted to pick them up and start over again when I finished them. (For the record, I loved both The Fault In Our Stars and Les Miserable, there were just no tears.)

I finished reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy in January, and am now watching the movies. I will devote a full post to the entire experience of finally allowing myself to discover Tolkien once I finish the movies.

The Infinite Wait by Julia Wertz is a fantastic graphic novel/memoir that covers both finding your calling and dealing with illness. It’s also incredibly hilarious and there are fart jokes. Highly recommend. I just got another one of her graphic novels, Drinking at the Movies, in my most recent Strand shopping spree.

The Journal of Best Practices was given to me for Christmas by my friend Emma. Let’s just take a moment here and notice how quickly I turned this around from the TBR pile. Given to me in December. Read in January (early January, no less). This might be a record. Also, it’s a great memoir about a man with Asperger’s syndrome trying to make his marriage and family life work. Things that seem normal to many of us need to be constant reminders in his head, such as: “Don’t change the radio station when she’s singing along,” and “Apologies do not count when you shout them.” Asperger’s or no, it’s full of a lot of truths we all need to keep in the front of our minds if we want to have successful friendships, relationships, and families.

Read my review of Tenth of December here, and a passage from the Freya Stark book here.