Thinking about books and reading...

Normally this blog is dedicated to reviews, but my recent birthday gave me pause to think about what I read and how others perceive my choices.  Two different friends gave me these books for my birthday.  Both friends know of my love of literature and Canada.  The person who presented this lovely edition of poetry by Dylan Thomas actually sent a text asking if I liked this poet.  I am delighted to have this because previously I only had examples found in anthologies.  This New Directions edition even includes an essay on the Art of Poetry by Thomas.  The second friend took a chance that I would not have How To Be a Canadian * (Even If You Already Are One) by Will Ferguson and Ian Ferguson in my library; he was correct.  This is an amusing book; one to pick up, read a bit, skip around, and read a bit more.  But a book of poetry also requires the willingness to read a book a little at a time, even if the level or type of engagement with the text will be quite different.  As I tend to read from several books at the same time, it is nice to have some offering varying intensities of attention.

It is also nice as I am about half way through my reading year to reflect on my progress.  I always set myself a goal, and having challenged myself to 75 books in 2014, I am a bit behind.  I know why as life interferes and a different work schedule has changed my reading time.  But with less work in the summer and reduced teaching in the fall, I anticipate catching up and making my goal.  Unlike the past few years when I had categories to challenge my tendency to lapse into only fiction, this year I decided to start with a particular shelf of books and see where it took me.  

The year began with Canadian authors: two authors of YA novels and an adult novel on the "Canada Reads" list.  I was also reading short stories from the anthology for the Introduction to Literature class I taught.  I moved into a more recent novel, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, followed by The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder...again, for my class.  Together with a third novel,, the connections between time and where our lives take us emerged as a common theme.

As my annual pilgrimage to the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada approaches, I usually revisit some plays by Shakespeare and perhaps one or two of the other plays I'll be seeing with my seminar group.  But over the past few years I've also enjoyed the liberty of reading some books inspired by Shakespeare.  It is fun to see how other people make connections with the plays.  Last year I discovered a wonderful novel, I, Iago by Nicole Galland in preparation for a performance of Othello, and will revisit Fool by Christopher Moore along with King Lear for this summer.  But two other books have also jumped off the shelf together with my beloved Pelican edition of The Complete Works of Shakespeare: A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson and Shakespeare's Daughter by Peter W. Hassinger.

A Midsummer Night's Tempest is a classic from the genre of science fiction.  The back cover offers inviting promise: "Welcome to the world of Puck and Caliban, Oberon and Titania, Ariel and Neptune, to the world of Faery, where a single night can while away a century  and gold can turn to dross in the twinkling of an elfin eye...but what in the world of Faery is that steam engine doing there - and King Charles: he wasn't even born when Shakespeare wrote!"  Anderson has joined the worlds of A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest with additional surprises.  It offers me a fun way to revisit the Dream.  And Hassinger has written a YA novel that creates a world for Susanna Shakespeare.  I always had some students who enjoyed historical fiction; after all, Shakespeare did not expect us to be treating his plays like the Bible.

And who knows...perhaps as I shift between the physical books on my shelves and the Nook Library I am becoming accustomed to, I may even take up the challenge of another friend and read a romance.  This morning I finished reading a classic ghost story on my Nook.  The world is full of marvelous things.