WHAT I AM READING

library

Someone else’s beautiful bookcases.

I’m often asked what I’m reading so I thought, on the occasion of giving thanks for what we have, I would list the books on my nightstand.

Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins
Collins is a former US Poet Laureate. Some of his poems seem, at first reading, to be simple but they aren’t.  This fragment from the book’s first poem, “Reader” gives you a sense of how wonderful his writing is:

Looker, gazer, skimmer, skipper, thumb-licking page turner, peruser,you getting your print-fix for the day, pencil-chewer, note taker, maginalianist with your checks and X’s…

Katy Tur: Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History
My husband Bill and I are news junkies and since Trump’s election our addiction has gotten worse. Katy Tur of NBC and MSNBC is smart, funny and as a junior reporter was given the least-likely-to-succeed-candidate assignment.  Then she wound up covering the winner. Her road warrior stories are entertaining and chilling.

Amor Towles: A Gentleman in Moscow
Do this book justice by reading it in as few consecutive hours as possible. I didn’t and therefore I’m going to reread it. When I got to the last page, I marveled at what an intricate, Stave puzzle of a story Towles has written. What a mind Towles has!

John McPhee: Draft No. 4
I have not gotten far into this book yet but have discussed it a lot with my very well-read friend, James. I have always loved McPhee’s writing. His essays concern complicated and often scientific topics, written in a novelist’s style. If you want to get a sense of McPhee, check out this recent profile from the New York Times.

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. readers and good reading to all!

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About Alexis

Alexis Rankin Popik, author of Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate, is an award-winning short story writer whose work has appeared in The Berkshire Review and Potpourri Magazine. She has penned numerous articles about local history that have been published in Connecticut Explored and the University of Connecticut School of Law and The Hartford Seminary publications. A former union organizer, Popik traveled the country educating shipyard workers about health and safety and founded a labor-management health plan before turning to writing fiction full-time. She lives with her husband in New England.
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