January Reads: Poetry, Pain, & Perfect Romantic Heroes
January comes and goes like a flash in the pan, a blink of the eye, a pop of the firecracker into the night, sometimes taking our resolutions with us. In January, I wanted to continue the momentum that I had built from 2021 in terms of reading more, and make some real progress on my goal of 45 books this year. It seems daunting, but I want to do what I can to avoid the mid-December mad dash to finish as many books as possible to reach said goal.
Without further ado, here are the 6 books I read in the month of January, sometimes under the glow of my Kindle or under the glow of my sunset lamp:
1) Big Friendship, How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Review: This book is a beautiful and comprehensive analysis of friendships and how they last, how we can support each other and continue to build lasting bonds. The book tracks the friendship of the authors, who went from strangers, to long-distance friends to co-workers to friends on the outs, and talks about how to navigate the challenges in these relationships.
Quote that made me want to text my best friend immediately:
“This is a very old idea that still manages to feel fresh and inspiring. Greek philosophers were obsessed with friendship as an essential virtue and a pillar of the good life. There is, they argued, no pleasure, fulfillment, or meaning without friendship. According to Aristotle, friends hold a mirror up to each other. This mirror allows them to see things they wouldn’t be able to observe if they were holding up the mirror to themselves.”
2) My Art Is Killing Me By Amber Dawn
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Review: TW: SA
This was the first interaction that I’ve had with Amber’s poetry and art. This is an incredible, harrow and gutteral anthology from a queer poet about the reclamation of her body and her identity. The collection flows really well, its raw, real and plays with form and references in an interesting way that moves one to tears.
Quote that helps remind us why we’re here:
"I put it in ink: I’m here
for the divine and complex work that is
healing.
This is how my healing took shape
and this is how poetry
might yet hold its vital language onto us.”
3) In Five Years by Rebecca Seale
Rating: 2.5 / 5 Stars
Review: At this point in my reading career it’s hard to find a book that I won’t like. Dear reader, I hate to say that this is one of the books that I didn’t like as much as I wanted to. I had very high expectations for it because it has three of my favorite elements: New York City, a glimpse into a complicated future and promises of tears throughout the pages. However, in a book about friendship and romance it felt void of both of those things.
Quote that sums up running into someone you know on a crowded subway:
"What are the odds?"
"In a city of nine million? Less than zero."
4) I hope this finds you well by Kate Baer
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Review: A follow-up to her first published poetry collection, this collection is stylized differently but keeps the same voice throughout. Kate turns hateful comments on her website into beautiful prose through strikeouts. This collection is an introspection on public spaces and what we really own and owe to each other. ‘
Quote that captures the hard truth of finding your own voice:
“women want to live without fear / for thousands of years / we were not believed / this is what we carry”
5) Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Review: This book was my first introduction to Tessa Bailey and I am very happy that I met her through her words. Window Shopping is a fun, holiday department store romance that dares to ask the question “what if Ted Lasso was a romance lead?” This book has three more of my favorite things: New York City (again), department store windows during the holiday season and an ice-cold protagonist who gets her heart melted by a man with a mustache.
Quote that just might melt your ice-cold heart, too:
“But the most remarkable thing about him is those smile lines. They bracket his mouth, they fan out from the corners of his eyes. They are deep and worn-in like a pair of jeans that have been washed seven hundred times. This man smiles constantly. I hate him.”
6) Blue Horses by Mary Oliver
Rate: 5/5 Stars
Review: I’ve recently discovered Mary Oliver’s poetry as I looked for something to ground me in the world around me. This has been another one of the collections that I’ve gravitated towards. It’s a wonderful poetry collection that is rooted in questions of morality and nature, with flowing prose and beautiful imagery.
Quote that grounds you to the sounds around you in the forest:
“I know, you never intended to be in this world. but you’re in it all the same.
so why not get started immediately.
I mean, belonging to it.
there is so much to admire, to weep over.
amd to write music or poems about.”
It’s the first month of my 2022 reading challenge and I’m excited about the momentum. I only have 39 more books to read - so what’s next? When I read I have a few books that I work on, so right now I’m reading It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey, Want Me by Track Clark-Flory and Sticky Fingers by Joe Hagan.
Any recommendations? Books I should check out? Let me know, and keep on reading - whether its one day a day or ten minutes a day.