Wednesday, February 3, 2016

body shapes, Percy poems, watercolor galore & rumpy bunches


The best grown-up books I read in January:


The Worrier's Guide to Life by Gemma Correll





- HILARIOUS - inventive and often wacky perspectives about everyday things like body shapes (ex. I'm both broken slinky and pizza shaped) - she's super easy to relate to (esp. if you are girly and like pugs)


The Truro Bear and Other Adventures by Mary Oliver



- for animal poetry enthusiasts this includes poems about all kinds of creatures such as whales and horses - at the end there are a handful of Percy poems - also included is the poem, 'The Poet Goes to Indiana,' with a line that says the nostrils of a horse are 'soft as violets'





A Fine Romance by Susan Branch






- beautifully illustrated memoir written in diary form - magically transports you to England in seconds no matter where you are - lots of National Trust places lovingly detailed, including Beatrix Potter's house


Blue Iris by Mary Oliver



- poems about plants, music, the soul - my favorite poem, Sea Leaves, has a line: 'the only thing I don't know is, should the activity of this day be called labor, or pleasure?' and this is exactly how I feel about working at the library - Mary Oliver uses the phrase 'rumpy bunches' in the poem, Goldenrod, and now I use it to describe my two golden retrievers




The Fairytale Girl by Susan Branch

- memoir written in diary format with lots of photographs and watercolor art - Susan Branch's slow awakening to her artistic powers - if you're like me and cannot get enough of Susan Branch there's going to be a sequel that comes out in June 2016

Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton

- micro memoirs that will illuminate and augment your perspectives of strangers - often the people in this book are having conversations with each other even though they are strangers - occasionally the people spoke directly to me with stories that were my stories and if I ever feel alone, I will reread this book to remind myself that we're all connected


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