Tuesday 23 February 2021

Books read in 2020


139) Broken Greek - Pete Paphides (non fiction)
138) The Discomfort of Evening - Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
137) How to Wash a Heart - Bhanu Kapil (poetry)
136) Postcolonial Love Poem - Natalie Diaz (poetry)
135) Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (non fiction)
134) Princess Anne - Katharine L. Oldmeadow (fiction, re read)
133) The Driver's Seat - Muriel Spark (fiction)
132) Perrault's Fairy Tales - Charles Perrault (fiction, short stories, re read)
131) Barn 8 - Deb Olin Unferth (fiction)
130) My Darling from the Lions - Rachel Long (poetry)
129) Day Four - Sarah Lotz (fiction)
128) The Shooting Gallery - Carrie Etter (poetry)
127) Lost at the Fair - W. Perring (fiction, picture book, re read)
126) Mock orange - Anne Osbourn (poetry)
125) The Bears' Picnic - Stan and Jan Berenstain (fiction, picture book, re read)
124) Bunnikin's Picnic Party - A.J Macgregor (fiction, picture book, re read)
123) My Name is Why - Lemn Sissay (non fiction)
122) Wild Persistence - Katrina Naomi (poetry)
121) Intimates - Helen Farrish (poetry)
120) Because a Woman's Heart is Like a Needle at the Bottom of the Ocean - Sugar Magnolia Wilson (poetry)
119) Shine, Darling - Ella Frears (poetry)
118) Witches, Warriors, Workers - eds Fran Lock and Jane Burn (poetry)
117) The Carrying - Ada Limon (poetry)
116) In the Lateness of the World - Carolyn Forché (poetry)
115) Instructions for My Imposter - Kathleen McGookey (poetry)
114) Solar Cruise - Claire Crowther (poetry)
113) When the Trees Fall - Jane Clarke (poetry)
112) Vixen - Rosie Garland (fiction)
111) Scion - Sue Rose (poetry)
110) Lament - Briony Bax (poetry)
109) Murder in the Dark - Margaret Atwood (fiction, short stories)
108) One Evening in October I Rowed Out on the Lake - Tua Forsstrom (poetry)
107) Be With - Forrest Gander (poetry)
106) Love And/Or the Storm - Jonny Wiles (poetry)
105) Dressing for the Afterlife - Maria Taylor (poetry)
104) The Faithful Look Away - Melissa Lee-Houghton (fiction)
103) The Enchanted Wood - Enid Blyton (fiction, re read)
102) Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me - Kate Clanchy (non fiction)
101) More Than You Were - Christina Thatcher (poetry)
100) The Shaking City - Cath Drake (poetry)
99) Bombs On Aunt Dainty - Judith Kerr (non fiction)
98) I Hate and I Love - Catullus (poetry)
97) Between the Stops - Sandi Toksvig (non fiction)
96) The Rose Metal Field Guide to Prose Poetry (poetry)
95) Feck Perfuction - James Victore (non fiction)
94) Love Minus Love - Wayne Holloway-Smith (poetry)
93) Tiger Girl - Pascale Petit (poetry)
92) Just Ask the Universe - Michael Samuels (non fiction)
91) I love the Bones of You - Christopher Eccleston (non fiction)
90) My Thoughts Exactly - Lily Allen (non fiction)
89) Rendang - Will Harris (poetry)
88) After Fame - Sam Riviere (poetry)
87) Interior With Sudden Joy - Brenda Shaughnessy (poetry)
86) Night Wanderers - C.J. Flood (fiction)
85) Where Were You Robert? - Hans Magnus Enzensberger (fiction)
84) The River's Song - Jacqueline Bishop (fiction)
83) Amy and Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout (fiction)
82) Cloudstreet - Tim Winton (fiction)
81) Antisemetic for Homesickness - Romalyn Ante (poetry)
80) Primers Volume Five (poetry)
79) A Better Me - Gary Barlow (non fiction)
78) A Fold in the River - Philip Gross (poetry)
77) Little Kings - Peter Kahn (poetry)
76) The Nerve of It - Lynn Emanuel (poetry)
75) Monica's Overcoat of Flesh - Geraldine Clarkson (poetry)
74) Magnolia, 木蘭 - Nina Mingya Powles (poetry)
73) Face It - Debbie Harry (non fiction)
72) Unlocked - Sue Butler (poetry)
71) The Remedies - Katharine Towers (poetry)
70) The Artist's Daughter - Kimiko Hahn (poetry)
69) Flood - Clare Shaw (poetry)
68) Remember, Body - C.P. Cavafy (poetry)
67) The Little Book of Passage - Franca Mancinelli (poetry)
66) A Portable Paradise - Roger Robinson (poetry)
65) The Air Year - Caroline Bird (poetry, re read)
64) Call and Response - Rachel Spence (poetry)
63) On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong (fiction)
62) I'm OK, I'm Pig - Kim Hyesoon (poetry, re read)
61) Lasagne - Wayne Holloway-Smith (poetry)
60) Memories of the Future - Siri Hustvedt (fiction)
59) Luxe - Amy Key (poetry, re read)
58) Why? And Other Questions - Robin Houghton (poetry)
57) Litany of a cardiologist - Denise Bundred (poetry)
56) Apple, Fallen - Olga Dermott-Bond (poetry)
55) About Leaving - Ian Glass
54) Tenter - Susie Campbell (poetry)
53) Body, Remember - Wes Lee (poetry)
52) Fruitcake - Selima Hill (poetry)
51) Shine, Darling - Ella Frears (poetry)
50) Sanatorium - Abi Plamer (poetry)
49) The Games - Harry Josephine Giles (poetry)
48) Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods - Tishani Doshi (poetry)
47) Plainwater - Anne Carson (essay/poetry)
46) Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel (fiction)
45) Letters Home - Jennifer Wong (poetry)
44) Bones on Ice - Kathy Reichs (fiction)
43) Homie - Danez Smith (poetry)
42) Boys in Trees - Carly Simon (non fiction)
41) I'm Stupid, But I'm Not That Stupid - Selima Hill (poetry)
40) Green Migraine - Michael Dickman (poetry, re read)
39) Deluge - Charlotte Ansell (poetry)
38) Footnotes to Water - Zöe Skoulding (poetry)
37) This Is How We Lost Each Other - Karese Burrows (poetry)
36) Split - Juana Adcock (poetry)
35) Don't Try This at Home - Angela Readman (short stories)
34) Much Left Unsaid - Finola Scott (poetry)
33) Milk Tooth - Martha Sprackland (poetry)
32) and what if we were all allowed to disappear - Tania Hershman (poetry)
31) When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities - Chen Chen (poetry)
30) Hinge - Alycia Pirmohamed (poetry)
29) Haverscroft - S. A. Harris (fiction)
28) A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor - John Berger (non fiction)
27) Beautiful Place - Amanthi Harris (fiction)
26) My Shrink is Pregnant - Katie Griffiths (poetry)
25) Anything is Possible - Elizabeth Strout (fiction)
24) Hash - Torgny Lindgren (fiction)
23) My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout (short stories)
22) Silent Years - Alasdair Paterson (poetry)
21) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë (fiction)
20) Coming Through Slaughter - Michael Ondaatje (poetry/fiction)
19) Horse-man - Em Strang (poetry)
18) Basic Nest Architecture - Polly Atkin (poetry)
17) Apple Water - Raine Geoghegan (poetry)
16) In Nearby Bushes - Kei Miller (poetry)
15) Finished Creatures (issue 2) - edited by Jan heritage (poetry)
14) If All the World and Love Were Young - Stephen Sexton (poetry)
13) That Lonsesome Valley - Melissa Lee houghton (fiction)
12) Truth Street - David Cain (poetry)
11) Wings made from the muscle of a river - Neil Richards (poetry)
10) Significant Other - Isabel Galleymore (poetry)
9) Isn't Forever - Amy Key (poetry)
8) Cuckoo - Nichola Deane (poetry)
7) The Aesthetics of Breath - Charles G Lauder Jr (poetry)
6) Interference Effects - Claire Dyer (poetry)
5) Nine Inches - Tom Perrotta (short stories)
4) Smoothie - Claudia Toutoungi (poetry)
3) Devoured - Anna Mackmin (fiction)
2) Tigress - Jessica Mookherjee (poetry)
1) sad boy/detective - Sam Sax (poetry)





First Draft of New Collection

I am working on my third collection, or what I should say is that I am struggling with my third collection. I have cut the poems down by two thirds. I have put them in an order that I like and makes some kind of sense to me but I still have way to many. At the moment I have 117 A4 pages which is way to many.

I thought it might be helpful to go back and look at what Threat looked like at this stage in the process. The second draft of Threat looks nothing like the finished article. The order is different and I counted thirty-six poems that didn't make the final cut - THIRTY-SIX! This is reassuring but also a bit daunting. There are some big decisions to be made. With my last book I was lucky enough to have funding for some mentoring but I don't have that luxury this time. I need to really interrogate each poem to make sure it is earning its keep, to check that I don't have several poems that are doing or saying the same thing. It is exciting. It is scary. It is exciting and scary!