Books Wish List

Just throwing it out to the universe--it wouldn't suck if the following books somehow fell into my lap:

If ever a book was written just for me, this is it: Rebel Souls: Walt Whitman and America's First Bohemians, by Justin Martin. Great review, here:

http://artery.wbur.org/2014/09/04/bohemians-justin-martin

STFU & take my money!  Ireland's Pirate Queen: The True Story of Grace

O'Malley, by Anne Chambers.

Yes, please. Rimbaud: A Biography, by Graham Robb.

I adore Phyllis Barber. She's on the faculty at my alma mater, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and I was lucky to spend some time with her in a writing residency in Slovenia back in 2007. She's the only other person I know who's also been to Tibet (I was there in 2010). Anyway, I want to read her latest, To the Mountain: One Mormon Woman's Search for Spirit.  According to her website, this is "the story of the author's twenty-year hiatus from Mormonism and her visits with shamans in Peru and Ecuador; Tibetan Buddhist monks in North India and Tibet; a variety of Baptist congregations in Arkansas, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina; megachurches; charismatic Christian congregations, travels with godddess worshipers in the Yucatan, and much more. The book's purpose is to demonstrate how we can not only tolerate a variety of ideas in the spiritual realm, but can learn from their wisdom." Right up my alley! You can also watch the official book trailer.

This looks interesting, too: Strange Big Moon: The Japan and India Journals: 1960 - 1964, by Joanne Kyger. According to the Goodreads synopsis: "Hungry to explore Zen and make the discoveries that would shape a lifetime of poetry, Joanne Kyger left for Japan in her twenties and returned four years later ready to carve out a substantial niche in San Francisco's Beat poetry movement. Whether she is studying under Zen teacher Ruth Fuller Sakaki or meeting with the Dalai Lama (who at 27 'lounged on a velvet couch like a gawky adolescent in red robes'), her journals are witty, amusing, and intelligent, in this fascinating look at the art of poetry and portrait of the counterculture abroad." Another, right up my alley.

Finally, a couple of shout-outs to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, by Tom Stoppard, and Grendel, by John Gardner, two books I've been trying to read for years. I'm visiting the Foreign Language Bookstore in Shanghai later this week, so let's hope I can find even ONE of the above. If not, I'll see if I can order them online and have them shipped. Anyway, that's what's on my TBR (to-be-read) List at the moment. Cheers, Lauren

Murakami on a Sunday Afternoon

Quote from Haruki Murakami's magnum opus, 1Q84. I read this mind-blowing work last winter. Murakami's one of my favorite authors, and I was happy to buy an English translation of his latest, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage IN Japan this summer, from a bookstore in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, It was kinda cool to wander around a lot of the neighborhoods and subway stations that appear in his novels, too. Anyway, glad for the Sunday lazing time in order to get caught up on some things, including the blog! 

Update, Rome Photo Album

Wow, am I behind in my blogging, or what?!? I've been so busy with end-of-semester stuff, that everything else has taken a backseat. With final exams, grading research papers, attending meetings, upgrading syllabi, helping students prep for university interviews, filing reports, etc., there's been a lot of stress to finish everything before I leave on June 30th! But, damn...I mean, I even missed a memorial post in honor of Maya Angelou's passing on May 28th, and she was one of my favorite poets (R.I.P. Maya Angelou).

Well, another week, and I'm off again--back to Turkey, then on to Morocco, and finally, Japan, before heading back to China at the end of August. An epic summer in the works, for sure! Hopefully, I can get some more writing done over the summer, and when I get back. Which reminds me...where is The Coachella Review's latest issue, I wonder? They accepted one of my pieces to appear in the Spring, 2014 issue, but that issue never materialized. They're still active, so perhaps its been postponed to a summer issue? At any rate, I've no time to worry about it now--just keeping fingers crossed it comes out soon.

One more thing: here's the latest photo album I managed to finish, from the Rome trip last year. Yes, I FINALLY finished organizing and uploading pictures! If you're interested, you can view the public photo set on Flickr, at the link below:

Rome Photo Set on Flickr

That's it for now. Maybe I'll get a chance to update from the road--we'll see. Have a GREAT summer, and I'll see you on the other side!

Cheers, Lauren

Poetry is...

Casa di Goethe

Located at 18 via del Corso, just steps away from the Piazza del Popolo, is the Casa di Goethe, the house where Goethe spent his time in Rome during 1786-1788. Here, he lived with the German painter, Tischbein. Though most of the displays are facsimiles (originals being located in German museums and other places), it is still a moving experience to wander through his old rooms. One can just imagine Goethe, in his stockinged feet, leaning out the window to look at the street below, as depicted in Tischbein's 1787 drawing! And, they have posters of that for sale (had to buy a copy). In one corner of the largest room, which was Tischbein's studio, an easel holds a copy of the artist's most famous work, Goethe in the Campagna (also 1787), which is very striking, and surrounded by excerpts of Goethe's Italian Journey printed on the walls. There's even a copy of the huge Jupiter bust Goethe purchased while living here. What was perhaps most interesting, however, was to view Goethe's actual books, excerpts from his letters, and his drawings and sketches. Another highlight: Andy Warhol's rendering of Goethe in the Campagna, a visual delight! Here are some photos:

Copy of Tischbein's Goethe in the Campagna (1787), in the studio

Italian Journey excerpt, printed on the wall

Copy of Tischbein's drawing of his friend, Goethe, at the window (1787)

A deep and abiding friendship

Facsimile bust of Jupiter, which Goethe used to pray to each night

Library

Goethe research materials in the library

Warhol's painting, Goethe (1982)

Me, in front of Casa di Goethe, Roma

While I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Keats-Shelley House the other day, I admit that Goethe had more of an impact on me than the Romantics ever did, so visiting the Casa di Goethe was important to me. I was largely self-educated in literature before going back to school, and Goethe's work was some of the first serious lit I ever read--to be standing in his rooms, surrounded by his things (and copies of them), had a bit of a celebratory feel. Now, to hunt down his statue in the Borghese Gardens. Ah, Roma! Ah, Goethe!

So much for hiatus...

I wasn't planning on spending much time blogging while on holiday, yet here I am...posting away! I've seen so many points of literary interest though, that I wanted to share.

While in Edinburgh, I visited the home of Robert Louis Stevenson, a pub named the Conan Doyle (near Arthur Conan Doyle's house) and saw a statue of Sherlock Holmes. Also saw the grave of philosopher David Hume up on Calton Hill. And fun fun fun was the Frankenstein Bar, a themed restaurant/pub located in a renovated church. Then, there was the Jekyll and Hyde pub. And the Sir Walter Scott monument in Princes Street Gardens. Wonderful and magical! I love Edinburgh, and want to move there.

In Rome, I've visited the Keats-Shelley House, the graves of Keats, Shelley, and Corso, and the Casa di Goethe. I also found this cool statue of Victor Hugo in the Borghese Gardens, below. Saw the Stendhal Hotel, and the Dante Cafe, and apparently, there's a Lord Byron Hotel somewhere. Still looking for the Lord Byron and Goethe statues up in the Borghese Gardens (no fear, I'll find 'em!), and the Gogol House on via Sistina. Went to Babington's Tea Room, near the Spanish Steps, but I'm still looking for Antico Caffe Greco (an old haunt of writers). 

Whew! So many things to see and do...and I've still 10 days left in Rome, before heading on to Turkey for a couple of weeks, where I've already scouted out more literary highlights. What a summer!

Statue of Victor Hugo, Borghese Gardens, Rome

Robin Stratton: Books

The newest release from author Robin Stratton, In His Genes, is now available and ready to order on amazon.com for $15.00 (plus S & H). It's also available in Kindle and Nook. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I'm a huge fan of another of her works, On Air, which was a National Indie Excellence Book Award finalist, so I'm betting In His Genes is just as wonderful. Robin has been a writing coach in the Boston area for almost 20 years. She is the author of The Revision Process, A Guide for Those Months or Years Between Your First Draft and Your Last, Of Zen and Men, and two poetry chapbooks, Dealing with Men, and Interference from an Unwitting Species. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and she's been published in Word Riot, 63 Channels, Antithesis Common, Poor Richards Almanac, Blink-Ink, Pig in a Poke, Chick Flicks, Up the Staircase, Shoots and Vines, and many other places. She's also the editor-extraordinaire of Big Table Publishing Company and the excellent Boston Literary Magazine (I swear, I don't know how she finds the time for all of this!). Be sure to check out her homepage at http://www.robinstratton.com/, and read a great review of In His Genes in the Denver Examiner, by Zack Kopp, here. I guarantee you'll love her work--don't miss out on this amazing writer!

Fire Diner

New from Magic Trash Press, and available on Amazon.com, is Zack Kopp's awesome collection of poems and shorts, Fire Diner, of which I was honored to pen a blurb for recently, along with Gerald Locklin and Jon Cone.  Fire Diner is "Poetry and brief prose by a young man who eats fire, sets his head on fire and speaks fire. Charles Bukowski crossed with Gregory Corso crossed with Lewis Carroll crossed with Iggy Pop", and it's even more than that, so much more. As I wrote in my blurb, it's "the flashlight work of roving private eye, Zack Kopp, illuminating our modern existence on 'the banks of a giant strange world'.  It is man among the elements, and on the edge of this squawking, discordant, ecologically-catastrophic, numb-suffering, flying metal planet, hungry for nature and love during the pre-apocalypse. Catching the 'eerie screaming cackle' of our consciousness under a dying sun, the static-electric-cold whoosh of planets, cars, televisions, and time, with a foot in the city and a heart in the cornfield, these poems are full of star-fire, organic energy, shadows and light, and the yearning of 'us green-faced fools' in an 'empty hungry lonely night'.  Quite simply, I adore this book, and I know you will too.

You can purchase Fire Diner for $8.00 (plus S&H), at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Diner-shorts-Zack-Kopp/dp/0615778224/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362589269&sr=1-2&keywords=Zack+Kopp

Also available is Kopp's newest novel, Sorehead, of which I haven't had the pleasure of reading yet, but I'm betting it's just as wild and juicy as Fire Diner.

It's available for $10.00 (plus S&H), at this link:
http://www.amazon.com/Sorehead-Zack-Kopp/dp/061577752X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362348606&sr=1-1&keywords=Zack+Kopp

Kopp, as his bio notes, is "founding editor of a webzine called Doggerel (formerly MightyMercury) specializing in short fiction, verse, art, photography and commentary from the anti-famous (from V. Vale to Rennie Sparks to Paul Krassner to Jenny Abel and others). Kopp has been a creative artist of one kind or another from ever since.  His vision is a vital blend of social and political themes with raw, wild soul from the bottom of the can.  He received an MFA in Writing (fiction) from Vermont College of Fine Arts in January of 2008, that magic year."  I say, do yourself a favor, and order one or both of these books--I guarantee you'll become the latest in a long line of Zack Kopp fans.

The Especial Visit

Wanted to share this link to author Idiong Divine's new book, The Especial Visit, of which I wrote the foreword to recently.  Idiong, a Nigerian poet and writer, offers up his latest delicious treat, a collection of children's stories/fairytales, which take place in his homeland, to Amazon.com readers.  Whimsically illustrated by his brother, Imeh Friday Idiong, the traditional folkloric stories will delight readers of all ages.  Believe me, these stories are as divine as only Idiong Divine can be!  You can order it for $5.89 (plus S&H) at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Especial-Visit-Idiong-Divine/dp/1481951963#reader_1481951963

Also, check out his Amazon.com author page, and a list of his other books, here:

http://www.amazon.com/Idiong-Divine/e/B009W2NCHK