Books Acquired Recently

Blanco, Richard. How to Love a Country: Poems. Boston: Beacon Press, 2019.

I was browsing the poetry section at my local Barnes & Noble today (perhaps surprisingly, they had a rather impressive selection of new stuff along with the “classics”) and came across Blanco’s new collection. I read a few poems and enjoyed them, so decided to buy it. I’ve never read any of his poetry before even though I teach his memoir in one of my writing classes.

Irby, Samantha. Meaty: Essays. New York: Vintage Books, 2018.

This is a revised edition of Irby’s first book, which I also found while browsing at B&N. I love Irby’s second book, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, so buying this one was an easy choice.

Negrón-Muntaner, Frances. Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2004.

This book is somewhat old, but sadly not that much has been written about Puerto Rican work in the arts since then, so I feel that it is necessary to read it because part of my current project includes a discussion of Puerto Rican literature.

Books Acquired Recently: All Queer Edition

Johnson, E. Patrick. Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019.

I love the pieces of Johnson’s work that I have previously read–he may be the most important currently active black queer academic–and ordered this book as soon as it came out.

Menon, Alok V. Femme in Public. N.p.: Alok V. Menon, 2017.

I recently read about this chapbook in madison moore’s excellent book Fabulous, and ordered it right away. It is a mixture of poetry and photographs. You can order it here.

Books Acquired Recently: Poetry Edition

Jones, Patricia Spears. A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems. Buffalo: White Pine Press, 2015.

I recently read an interview with Jones in The Writer’s Chronicle, and her work sounded interesting enough that I decided to buy some of it. I am enjoying it so far.

Myles, Eileen. I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014. 2015. New York: Ecco, 2016.

I’ve read some about Myles and she sounds interesting, but I have never read any of her work. I have been feeling the need for more poetry lately, so I decided to finally break down and buy one of her books.

Books Acquired Recently

Anzaldúa, Gloria E. Interviews/Entrevistas. Ed. AnaLouise Keating. New York: Routledge, 2000.

More and more of what I am interested in reading these days cites Anzaldúa, so I have been starting to explore more of her work myself. I am especially eager to read this book because I have also been investigating the role of life writing (a category which I argue includes interviews) as theory.

moore, madison. Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018.

I recently ran across a citation of this book and it sounded interesting, so I decided to buy it and read it for myself.

Books Acquired Recently

Díaz, Jaquira. Ordinary Girls: A Memoir. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2019.

I read an interview with Díaz in Poets & Writers a few months ago about this book and pre-ordered it immediately because I am looking for as many Puerto Rican memoirs as I can find since I am working on my own.

Machado, Carmen Maria. In the Dream House: A Memoir. Minneapolis: Gray Wolf Press, 2019.

I love Machado’s short story collection and have been eagerly anticipating this memoir ever since I heard about it a year ago. It just came out this week and my copy arrived yesterday. Twitter has been going crazy with praise for it (I just got a Twitter account! @shankcruz–follow me and I’ll follow you back), and I can’t wait to read it this weekend.

Muradyan, Luisa. American Radiance. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018.

Muradyan gave a fantastic poetry reading at Utica College yesterday, and I bought her book and got it signed. I love how her work is infused with 1980s pop culture, kind of like an ’80s version of Frank O’Hara.

Books Acquired Recently

Enns, Victor. Love & Surgery. Regina, SK: Radiant Press, 2019.

Enns has played an important role in the Mennonite literary scene because he was the founder and sometimes editor of Rhubarb, the journal of the Mennonite Literary Society. I have not read his earlier work, which dates back to Turnstone Press’s chapbook days of the late 1970s, but decided to buy his latest collection because it is in part about his divorce, a subject that has affected my own life. I began reading it as soon as it came in the mail and it is an excellent book.

Wheitner, Dave. The Snuggle Party Guidebook: Create Deeper Friendships, Decrease Loneliness, & Enjoy Nurturing Touch Community. Portland, OR: Divergent Drummer Publications, 2014.

I have heard of snuggle parties, sometimes also known as cuddle parties, but know very little about them. They seem like a queer subject, so I decided to buy this book to learn more.

Books Acquired Recently

Cuadros, Gil. City of God. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1994.

I recently read about this book dealing with the AIDS epidemic and decided to buy it because of its use of multiple genres.

Hancock, Ange-Marie. Intersectionality: An Intellectual History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Intersectionality is an important concept in my current writing project so I am trying to read a lot of recent scholarship on it, and thus bought this book. I am about half way through it and thus far it has been helpful.

Hardy, Janet W., and Dossie Easton. The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love. 3rd ed. California: Ten Speed Press, 2017.

I know people who are poly and I have read several novels depicting poly relationships but I have read very little nonfiction about it. I have recently read several pieces of scholarship that reference poly manuals to explore the idea of being theoretically poly–that is, using ideas from different academic disciplines in one’s work–so I decided to buy one because such an approach is an emphasis in my current project.

Moore, Carley. 16 Pills: Essays. Red Wing, MN: Tinderbox Editions, 2018.

I recently read Moore’s new novel The Not Wives and loved it; it was possibly the best book I’ve read this year. Therefore, I decided to order her recent essay collection.

Pérez, Laura E. Eros Ideologies: Writings on Art, Spirituality, and the Decolonial. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019.

I got a promotional email about this book from the publisher and ordered it right away because my current project focuses on the intersection between religion and writing, which is a kind of art.

Books Acquired Recently: Jane Addams Book Shop Edition

Last week I was in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I visited the Jane Addams Book Shop. It is a lovely little place, with three floors full of used books. I was good and only bought three things.

Koestenbaum, Wayne. The Queen’s Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire. New York: Poseidon Press, 1993.

I’ve enjoyed the other books by Koestenbaum that I have read, so when I found this hardcover for sale for only $10.00 I decided to buy it. I am not an opera fan but am aware of the gay-opera intersection, which I look forward to learning more about.

Millet, Kate. Flying. 1974. New York: Ballantine Books, 1975.

I am aware of this book because of its inclusion in Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home, in which she discusses it with her father. I found a signed copy of it in good condition and decided to buy it.

Oliver, Mary. Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems. 1999. Boston: Mariner Books, 2000.

I have grown more appreciative of Oliver’s work in recent years and decided to buy this miscellaneous collection because it includes an essay about one of my favorite poets, Walt Whitman.

 

Books Acquired Recently: Mostly 2019 Edition

Hemmings, Clare. Bisexual Spaces: A Geography of Sexuality and Gender. New York: Routledge, 2002.

I recently came across a citation of this book and decided to buy it despite its age because I am bisexual and because my research is concerned with space.

With the exception of Moore’s book, which I bought directly from the publisher, I bought all of these books from amazon.com. I bought Hemmings’s book new for $53.95 because there were not any used copies available for a reasonable price. It must be said that it is ridiculous that Routledge has not lowered the price for the book considering that it is seventeen years old (an eternity in academic publishing) and it is also now print-on-demand (I received the book yesterday and it was printed on 14 September), and thus of lower quality than the original paperback printing and also devoid of warehousing costs. I bought it because it feels necessary for me to read (texts on bisexuality are still woefully rare), and I am sympathetic to the struggles that academic publishers face in an increasingly-contracting market, but I haven’t been this annoyed about the price of a book since buying some overpriced textbooks my first semester of college.

Moore, Carley. The Not Wives. New York: Feminist Press, 2019.

I received an email advertisement for this novel and decided to buy it because it is about queer relationship models, something that is treated infrequently in literature.

Shatzkin, Mike, and Robert Paris Riger. The Book Business: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

As a bibliophile I of course bought this book as soon as I heard about it. I read it the other night and learned from it, though less than I was hoping. It is worth reading for anyone interested in trying to get a book published.

The Book Business provides an illustrative contrast to Hemmings’s book. It is also print-on-demand and is a recently released academic text, and yet it only cost $20.00.

Skeets, Jake. Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2019.

I read about this poetry collection in a recent issue of Poets & Writers and decided to buy it because I am always looking for new queer writers of color.

Zimmerman, Diana R. Certain as Afternoon/ Certa Come il Pomeriggio. Costa Rica: Self-published, 2019.

I enjoy Zimmerman’s memoir Marry a Mennonite Boy and Make Pie, so I decided to buy her new poetry collection about the death of her Italian husband. The poems are printed in both English and Italian.

Books Acquired Recently: Albany Book Festival Edition

Yesterday I attended the second annual Albany Book Festival at SUNY Albany. It was an excellent time, with readings by big-name authors, writing workshops, and a large book fair of local authors and their work. I showed great restraint and only bought four books, all of which I was able to get inscribed.

Bartow, Stuart. quaking marsh. Winchester, VA: Pond Frog Editions, 2018.

Bartow and Ungar ran a haiku workshop that I attended and enjoyed. They had a table together at the book fair and I bought a book from each of them. They had a deal where each book was $15.00 or two for $25.00.

Jimenez, Stephanie. They Could Have Named Her Anything. New York: Little A, 2019.

Jimenez and Moraga spoke on a Latina writers panel. I had not heard of Jimenez before but her novel takes place in New York City, so I look forward to reading it.

Little A is amazon.com’s relatively new publishing arm. I appreciate that despite their evilness they are willing to publish new authors of color.

Moraga, Cherríe. Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.

Moraga is a foundational queer Latinx writer and I was excited to buy her memoir and get to meet her briefly.

Incidentally, it drives me nuts that FSG does not use the Oxford Comma in their name.

Ungar, Barbara Louise. Charlotte Brontë, You Ruined My Life. Washington, D.C.: The Word Works, 2011.

I bought this particular book of Ungar’s because of the title. It is about divorce, a topic I am unfortunately familiar with. I am already more than a third of the way through the collection and enjoying it thus far.