Books Acquired Recently

Back, Rachel Tzvia. What Use is Poetry the Poet is Asking. Bristol, UK: Shearsman Books, 2019.

I received this book from a friend. She lives in Tulsa, where Magic City Books recently held a sale of some books that Joy Harjo donated from her personal library as a fundraiser for a local food bank. The book is inscribed to Harjo by Back and came with a letter from Harjo to the purchaser. So it is a fantastic object. I am enjoying the poetry as well thus far.

Dunham, Mabel. The Trail of the Conestoga. 1924. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1970.

I recently heard about this novel, which may be the oldest Mennonite novel in English, which is why I am interested in it. I was able to find a new copy of the 1990 reprinting of the 1970 printing online, and it came today.

Books Acquired Recently

Lerner, Ben. The Hatred of Poetry. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the role of literature in apocalyptic times such as these. Reading poetry on a daily basis is helping me to survive emotionally. Therefore, I’ve been looking for texts related to this subject, and decided it was time to read Lerner’s book, which I’ve known about for a while but which had not previously appealed to me.

Machado, Carmen Maria, ed. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019. Boston: Mariner Books, 2019.

I bought this book because Sofia Samatar has a story in it (Mennonite writers represent!), but I also like a number of other authors who are included, and I love Machado’s work, so I am excited to see what her editorial taste is like.

Tea, Michelle. Against Memoir: Complaints, Confessions, & Criticisms. New York: Feminist Press, 2018.

I enjoy Tea’s work (especially Modern Tarot, which I read every morning), and I’ve been writing more creative nonfiction lately, so I decided that it would be a good idea to read her book about the genre.

Books Acquired Recently

Mierau, Maurice. How Mind and Body Move: The Poetry of Patrick Friesen. Victoria, BC: Frog Hollow Press, 2018.

I recently encountered a citation of this book in Magdalene Redekop’s Making Believe and ordered it immediately. According to the book’s “Colophon,” it was “published in a limited edition of 100 copies,” so I am glad that there was still one left for me because Friesen is one of the foundational figures of Mennonite poetry and I have long enjoyed his work. My copy is numbered 86.

Rosaldo, Renato. The Chasers. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019.

I received a promotional email about this book of poetry when it was published, and it sounded fascinating, so I kept it in mind. I ordered it last month during Duke University Press’s 50% off sale and it came a few days ago.

Sabbatical Productivity: May

I am on sabbatical this semester and have been keeping a list in my journal of the academic activities I engage in. This practice is partly for myself, so that I make sure I am using the time productively, and partly for my institution, which requires me to write a report about the sabbatical once it finishes. Here is a list of what I accomplished in May, generally in chronological order. I did less than in some previous months (you can read about what I accomplished in April here) because it’s been difficult to be productive due to the pandemic. I feel like I am slowly getting back on track, though.

1. Finished and submitted a book review of Nikki Reimer’s My Heart is a Rose Manhattan.

2. Updated the Mennonite/s Writing Bibliographies and blog throughout the month.

3. Wrote a draft of an essay about Mennonite speculative fiction for a special journal issue on Mennonite political theology.

4. Agreed to peer review a book in one of my fields for a university press and received the manuscript.

5. Had a special session panel proposal for MLA 2021 on Dungeons & Dragons that I co-authored accepted.

6. Agreed to serve on the MLA’s Committee on the Literatures of People of Color in the United States and Canada for a three-year term.

7. Began writing my portion of a Call for Papers for an essay anthology that a colleague and I are working on.

8. Emailed presenters from the Mennonite/s Writing IX conference that was scheduled for October 2020 to let them know that it has been postponed to October 2021 due to the pandemic.

Books Acquired Recently: Duke Sale Edition

I recently ordered a few more books from Duke University Press because they had a 50% off sale for most of May. Two of them came in the mail yesterday.

Crawley, Ashton C. The Lonely Letters. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020.

This book got on my radar via a promotional email, and I decided to buy it because it is at the intersection of “black queer studies / religion / creative nonfiction,” to cite the marketing labels on its back cover. I am interested in all of these fields as a reader and as a writer, so I am excited to read the book.

Fisher, Gary. Gary in Your Pocket: Stories and Notebooks of Gary Fisher. Ed. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996.

I’ve been catching up on my Sedgwick reading during the pandemic, and am now at the point where I am reading secondary texts/texts peripheral to her oeuvre. This book falls into that category. Apparently some of Fisher’s work is kinky erotica, so I am especially looking forward to reading it. I must say, though, that when I opened the package of books I was disappointed to see that Gary in Your Pocket is not pocket-sized despite its title. A missed opportunity!

Books Acquired Recently: Mostly Mennonite, Mostly Canadian, Mostly Poetry Edition

Carter, Terry Ann. Haiku in Canada: History, Poetry, Memoir. Victoria, BC: Ekstasis Editions, 2020.

I saw an advertisement for this book in the latest issue of the Haiku Society of America’s newsletter and decided to buy it because I am still fairly new to the haiku community and don’t know much of its history. I also enjoy reading literary history in general, so I am looking forward to learning from this book.

Redekop, Magdalene. Making Believe: Questions About Mennonites and Art. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2020.

Magdalene Redekop has been involved in the field of Mennonite literature since its critical beginnings in the 1980s. This is her first book about the field. I finished it last night (I began reading it as soon as I received it in the mail a few days ago). It gives a valuable historical perspective on how the field has gotten to where it is now. It also considers literature within the broader arts context, with chapters on Mennonite music and visual art, which is something that has not been done previously.

Rohrer, Jane. Acquiring Land: Late Poems. Edited by Julia Spicher Kasdorf. Telford, PA: DreamSeeker Books, 2020.

Jane Rohrer is one of the oldest Mennonite poetic voices in the U.S., but her work has often been neglected. It is wonderful to have a new collection of her work available. It has an introduction by Julia Spicher Kasdorf that will also hopefully spur more interest in Rohrer’s work.

Books Acquired Recently

Morris, Marla, Mary Aswell Doll, and William F. Pinar, eds. How We Work. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.

This is a collection of essays by writers in a number of different fields about their writing processes. One of my goals during my sabbatical has been to read a lot about writing in order to improve my own and to think about where I want my writing to go in the future. I saw a citation for this book and thought it would be helpful for this goal, and I found a new, inexpensive copy for sale, so I decided to buy it.

Pollack, Rachel. Fortune’s Lover: A Book of Tarot Poems. New York: A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2009.

Tarot has become a daily part of my life this year, and poetry is also a daily part of my life, so I was excited to hear about this collection that combines the two. I ordered it several months ago and was told it would be delayed due to the pandemic. It arrived today from Spain (which is where it was printed)! An enjoyable surprise.

Books Acquired Recently: Queer Archiving Edition

Kumbier, Alana. Ephemeral Material: Queering the Archive. Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books, 2014.

This book has been on my to-read shelf for a while, and I finally decided to buy it.

Sheffield, Rebecka Taves. Documenting Rebellions: A Study of Four Lesbian and Gay Archives in Queer Times. Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books, 2020.

While I was on the Litwin Books website looking for Kumbier’s book, I came across this new book by Sheffield and decided to buy it because I cite one of her articles, which I love, in my book, and have also taught the article in one of my writing classes, so I am excited to read more of her work. She is Canadian, so I wonder whether “Taves” is an Anglicization of “Toews,” and thus whether she has Mennonite heritage.

Books Acquired Recently: Nikki Reimer/PM Press Edition

I recently read Nikki Reimer’s My Heart is a Rose Manhattan and loved it. I decided to buy her previous two collections as a result, and they came in the mail today.

Reimer, Nikki. DOWNVERSE. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2014.

—. [sic]. Calgary: Frontenac House, 2010.

 

I just joined PM Press’s Friends of PM program, which sends subscribers several books each month for a flat fee of $30.00. It’s like a leftist Book of the Month Club! I got my first shipment today. There were three books. One is a vegan cookbook that I’m giving away, but these are the two that I am keeping:

Phillips, Gary. The Jook. Oakland: PM Press, 2009.

I am excited to see that this novel is about American football because there are almost no novels about the sport. There is Don DeLillo’s End Zone and Chuck Klosterman’s Downtown Owl (and even this one is a stretch), and that’s about it.

Stout, Mike. Homestead Steel Mill: The Final Ten Years; USWA Local 1397 and the Fight for Union Democracy. Oakland: PM Press, 2020.

The cover photograph of this book shows a bunch of workers at a protest yelling with their middle fingers raised.

Books Acquired Recently: Sedgwick Edition

I mentioned in my last post that I am reading more of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s work. These two books are a part of that effort. I’m especially excited to read Fat Art, Thin Art because I haven’t read any of Sedgwick’s poetry before.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Fat Art, Thin Art. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994.

—. The Weather in Proust. Ed. Jonathan Goldberg. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011.