Since self is currently Writer-in-Residence at the Mendocino Art Center, this week she’s been writing up a storm (also sending out her work) and adding to her reading list with regular drop-ins to one of the best bookstores in the world: Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino. Yelp gives them five stars!
She also asked two fabulous writers if they could share their list of Recommended Books with her, and she was so happy when they agreed. (Even if your local indie doesn’t carry the titles, they can always order them. In most cases, they’ll take an average of three or four days to get to the bookstore)
First up, Luisa Igloria
Luisa A. Igloria is the winner of the 2015 Resurgence Prize (UK), the world’s first major award for ecopoetry, selected by former UK poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion, Alice Oswald, and Jo Shapcott. Her latest works include the collection The Buddha Wonders If She Is Having a Mid-Life Crisis (Phoenicia Publishing, Montreal, 2018), the chapbooks Haori (Tea & Tattered Pages Press, 2017), Check & Balance (Moria Press/Locofo Chaps, 2017), and Bright as Mirrors Left in the Grass (Kudzu House Press eChapbook selection for Spring 2015). Her collection Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser was selected by Mark Doty for the 2014 May Swenson Prize and published by Utah State University Press. Her other collections are: Night Willow (Phoenicia Publishing, Montreal, 2014), The Saints of Streets (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2013), Juan Luna’s Revolver (2009 Ernest Sandeen Prize, University of Notre Dame Press). She teaches on the faculty of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University, which she directed from 2009-2015. Her website is www.luisaigloria.com
Luisa’s Poetry Recommendations:
- Afterland, Mai Der Vang
- Calling a Wolf a Wolf, Kaveh Akbar
- Carpathia, Cecilia Woloch
- Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, Ross Gay
- Chord, Rick Barot
- Eye Level, Jenny Xie
- Glasshouses, Lighthouses, Tung-hui Hu
- Khaty Xiong, Poor Anima, Khaty Xiong
- Living Quarters, Adrienne Su
- Night Sky With Exit Wounds, Ocean Vuong
- Some Say the Lark, Jennifer Chang
- Stereo. Island. Mosaic., Vincent Toro
- Registers of Illuminated Villages, Tarfia Faizullah
- The Second O of Sorrow, Sean Thomas Dougherty
- When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Further Possibilities, Chen Chen
- Whereas, Layli Long Soldier
Luisa’s Fiction Recommendations:
- A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
- America is Not the Heart, Elaine Castillo
- Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
- But For the Lovers, Wilfrido Nolledo
- Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
- Mayor of the Roses, Marianne Villanueva
- Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
- Smaller and Smaller Circles, F.H. Batacan
- The Last Mistress of Jose Rizal, Brian Roley
- The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen
- The Vagrants, Yiyun Li
- Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro
- To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
- Valiant Gentlemen, Sabina Murray
Luisa’s Nonfiction/Hybrid Recommendations:
- 100 Demons, Lynda Barry
- America is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan
- Blind Spot, Teju Cole
- Echolalia in Script, Sam Roxas-Chua 姚
- Kilometer Zero, Wilfredo Pascual, Jr.
- On Imagination, Mary Ruefle
- Silver Road, Kazim Ali
- The Dark Interval, Rainer Maria Rilke
- The Kepel Fruit, Tung-hui Hu
- Too Much and Not the Mood, Durga Chew-Bose
- Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
Self doesn’t know about you, but she’s itchy to get at more than a few of these books!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 