A reading list can come from anywhere and can be given to anyone.
Yesterday, Annex Books in Toronto closed its doors for the last time; however, before it went, it gifted me with a short reading list. Albeit an informal reading list, the books that ended up in my white plastic bag would not have ended up on my shelves had I not walked into that store on that particular day.
Book buyers, the ones who stock the shelves at your local bookstore, are the quiet list makers, tempting you with books you never knew were available. Their tastes inevitably shape the stock of the store, and your shelves. At the end of the year, newspapers and journals are bursting with end of year lists; however, a reading list tailored specifically for you will be the one you keep for years.
When I was twenty years old and a student at the University of Windsor, my American Literature professor noticed that I would read any book he mentioned in class. One day, before class began, he gave me a reading list. The list was comprised of names that while familiar to most were new to me. Years later, I still have the list and many of the books have become dog-eared favorites.
Although my professor passed away last year, his tastes have not. The good books he recommended remain good books, and, together, they make up a small slice of his literary history, which in turn, became mine.
So, take a few minutes and read through the list, which contains titles suggested by readers, writers and publishers, both Canadian and American. Inherit someone else's library, or at least one title from it. While this list was not tailored for any one in particular, I hope you'll consider picking up even one of the titles, especially if it is by a writer you have never heard of.
And if you want more suggestions, use the contributor list as your next reading list, many of whom have published worthy titles of their own. Better yet, ask a friend with an enviable book collection to make a list for you.
As for my pick, I'd like to suggest Now You Care, by Di Brandt. Now go on, get reading.
The NPR List of Essential Poetry Books
List of Contributors
Dani Couture, January 21, 2007
Ten years ago we worked together at Chapters, and here we are in 2007, both of us with first books published this year. Aside from feeling I'm getting on a bit, I remember a poem of yours where you talk about carrying around The Collected Works of Billy the Kid on your back as though "an extra muscle"; did it help inspire this collection about another historical figure?
Yes, I remember that old poem, too. And, yeah, you're right: Ondaatje's early work made a big impression on me back when I was a wide-eyed, and under-read undergraduate student. I'd never heard of an author re-shuffling or re-inventing history, and had never read a contemporary longpoem before. I'd also never seen an author approach historiography or history as...continue reading
Gleaned from his four previous collections and garnished with more than a dozen new poems, Todd Swift's 'Seaway' is both a 'greatest hits' collection for those who've already read this verbally athletic Canadian-born poet at length and a comprehensive introduction for those on the European side of the Atlantic who have had, so far, only the occasional chance to get a taste of his work at the jostling, competitive buffet known as English language poetry. As such, it is long overdue. Swift, after all, has been a tireless champion of a distinctively cosmopolitan, open-minded, post-modernist strand of contemporary writing for quite some time and his work as an editor and ferociously scrupulous blogger in Budapest, Paris and, latterly, London has all too frequently occluded his reputation as a poet with a singular ability to be simultaneously learned, playful and profound...continue reading