Day 160 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and Gus is reading one of the volumes of The Diaries of Anais Nin, because he was charmed by the interior notation of the previous owner, down to notes all over the bookmark!Tony will, I hope, eventually be reading Outcasts United, the soccer/refugee book by Warren St. John that I won as a door prize at St. John's reading, because today is his birthday (Tony's), and I will be giving it to him, a signed copy! Right now, he's still reading the library copy of Last Call, the Prohibition book.
I am reading, among other things, The Never-Ending, by Andrew Hudgins, winner of the 1988 Poets' Prize, because of my poetry addiction. Very pertinent: "Heat Lightning in a Time of Drought, " which opens, "My neighbor, drunk, stood on his lawn and yelled, / Want some! Want some!" Not that any of my neighbors would do this, but it is very hot here, and it just won't rain.
I have heard Hudgins read some poems aloud. Gosh, he grips me on the page and in person. A wow poet.
A woman in the store today will be reading Caps for Sale to kids, I hope. She found the one copy I've ever seen come into the shop during my time there, a favorite of mine since the days of Captain Kangaroo, where I first encountered this picture book by Esphyr Slobodkina. It's A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business.
Have you ever fallen asleep in or under a tree?!
I know Caps for Sale from Captain Kangaroo as well, and loved revisiting it with my nephew when he was small.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading the first volume of Nin's journal when I was right out of college, have no idea what prompted me. I liked it a lot but never got any further than that.
Hudgins sounds like someone I need to check out.
I should clarify that Hudgins won the 1988 Poets' Prize for a previous book (in 1988): After the Lost War: A Narrative. The Never-Ending was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1991. I am just now getting around to it!
ReplyDeleteI have a copy of that edition of Caps for Sale. I think we got it at the Normal Public Library book sale when Jeremiah was in first grade and had just read it in school and loved it.
ReplyDeleteMuch as I loved Captain Kangaroo, which I would probably still watch if it were on TV.