Under my hashtag eileenreadsbooks on Facebook, I occasionally place Notes to my acquisitions as the library progresses. Here are selections in reverse chronological order from January 1, 2024 which is when I began inputting them on this blog. To see older book acquisition Notes, go to Facebook and look up the hashtag. Acquisitions from July-September 2024 are HERE, April-June 2024 are HERE, and Jan.-March 2024 are HERE.
12/30/24
There’s a particular delight in compiling the complete series or sets of collectibles—I find that in miniature books. My latest acquisitions add to the palm-sized series put out by Isolarii and “For Dummies.” The former is one of the most exciting publishers today (in both miniature and normatively-sized books) and the latter is a series I don’t usually read but whose miniature versions I find visually enchanting. Enjoy the sight of these palm-sized series! Plus, that Philip K. Dick looks timely: HOW TO BUILD A UNIVERSE THAT DOESN'T FALL APART TWO DAYS LATER. Indeed!
With 15,516 books as the library’s target, these series additions make it 1,018 books down, 14,498 books to go. Good Afternoon!
12/26/24
The New Yorker’s apparently called Kevin Killian’s SELECTED AMAZON REVIEWS one of the best books in 2024. I go further. I think this will be one of the most significant books of the 21st century. Kevin, fully aware of the zeitgeist, had infiltrated and queered the Amazon platform—who else could have pulled that off but someone who also is fully knowledge about how Kapwa in literature is the antidote to dumbed-down education and one-dimensional genres. Anyway, all that is why, when Tom and I selected books for our Xmas gifts, Kevin’s was my choice. And not just because he honored me with an Amazon review for my conpo book AMNESIA: SOMEBODY’S MEMOIR that ended up being reprinted in this book (which of course I replicate below because what else is FB for?). Kevin had a beautiful mind specifically because his attention span knew no limits—that requires not just talent but fortitude.
Speaking of holiday books, Dr. Sonny San Juan sent over E.L. Doctorow’s LOON LAKE—a timely gift since it incorporates poems within the body of the novel and that seems to be one of my consistent approaches now for the novel. Future essay topic: the use of poems in novels.
With 15,516 books as the library’s target, the holidays make it 1,016 books down, 14,500 books to go. Good Morning!
12/21/24
The latest addition to my library is special: master vizpo artist Marton Koppany's "peut-etre le messie". I've long enjoyed his visual poetry and so was pleased to receive his latest book. Then I discovered that he'd replicated one of the works he'd once created in a miniature book version for me! I was so happy to see it I almost cried--the wildfires had taken the mini book but with this latest book I can now have its memory duplicated back on paper. I show the images, followed by the images of the now-evaporated miniature book.
Marton's book, with other additions, go into my library-in-progress. With 15,516 books as the library’s target, that’s 1,013 books down, 14,503 books to go. Good Evening!
12/16/24
A "Trunk Novel" is a finished novel that stays in your drawer or files (the metaphorical trunk) versus being submitted to potential publishers. My CLANDESTINE DNA is my Trunk Novel but four chapters were published in Ravenna Press' TRIPLE SERIES (#24) that presents a sizable chunk of work by three authors. I was pleased to receive my Contributor Copies which shows me in the company of fictionist Soramimi Hanarejin and poet Jeffrey Ethan Lee.
Thing is, the contributor copies made me reread the excerpts--it's not bad. In fact, two other chapters were published by two literary journals. I'm recalling that I relegated CLANDESTINE DNA to Trunk Novel status because it was a novel immediately after DOVELION--I was trying to write non-experimentally, which made me attempt genre-ish writing viz a spy thriller. In this case, a spy story involving the CIA and poetry (I do love that dysfunctional rub between elements that became an organic combination if the writing is good enough to pull it off).
After reading the excerpts, I briefly wondered if I should dust off the 71,000 draft. But I'll wait. Meanwhile, I show Chapter 3 below--you can judge for yourself if the novel has potential (bear in mind it was intended as genre writing, to the extent I could write that way).
This is also a time for me to thank the fine poet Margo Berdeshevsky for writing a line ("a stone, ripening") that is compelling enough to make me quote it.
TRIPLE SERIES #24, with two other books given by Rantala Press' very generous & also brilliant writer Kathryn Rantala, joins my library-in-progress. So with 15,516 books as the library’s target, that’s 1,009 books down, 14,507 books to go. Good Evening!
12/9/24
I guess my poems still show up in print journals. Pleased to share that a monobon poem appears in the new issue of Consequence, a literary journal put out by Consequences Forum, a laudable organization that “addresses the consequences, realities, and experiences of war and geopolitical violence through literature, art, and community events. [CF] provides the public with works and voices from around the world to promote a clearer and more nuanced understanding of what’s at stake in choosing to wage war or engage in conflict.”
Consequence joins my library-in-progress with other acquisitions that include two Holiday presents: Kimiko Hahn’s THE GHOST FOREST from me to moiself and Orhan Pamuk’s SILENT HOUSE from my favorite communist. The former is a Selected Poems project; I like reading through SELECTEDS and COLLECTEDS for its allowance, unlike with other types of poetry collections, of letting me (imperfectly) assess whether the work merits a life.
So with 15,516 books as the target for my new library, that’s 1,006 books down, 14,510 books to go.
11/30/24
Deep in the bowels of my e-files, I knew I had a picture of poet-novelist Marisa de los Santos—and I found it! I met her at AWP when she’d just released her poetry book FROM THE BONES OUT. So this must have been shortly after the century shed its dress to become the 21st, and boy did we writers look like babes here. L to R: Unknown, Vince Gotera, Oliver de la Paz, Evelina Galang, Eileen Tabios, Marisa de los Santos, and Leslie Ann Hobayan.
And what a way to preface my latest book acquisitions which includes four of Marisa’s novels. So with 15,516 books as the target for my new library, that’s 1,002 books down, 14,514 books to go. Onward!
11/27/24
11/20/24
When internet usage was still in its early stages, there was a period when folks looked for what would be "The Internet Novel" or "Internet Poem." Some used hyperlinks for creating that. Well, folks, I'm pleased to say I have now discovered the definitive
SOCIAL MEDIA NOVEL OF OUR TIMES!
That would be GIGANTVM PENISIVM: A TALE OF DEMONIC POSSESSION by Jose Elvin Bueno. I'll be explaining more in a review that will come out soon in next The Halo Halo Review. This Bueno dude (pun intended) is interesting; check out his "Shelfie" at https://halohaloreview.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-filipino-shelfie-jose-elvin-bueno.html And here's a link to his novel: https://www.clashbooks.com/new-products-2/jose-elvin-bueno-gigantvm-penisivm-preorder
I show Jose's book below with part of its Acknowledgements page which I did not expect to include my name--but I'm grateful of course. I also show his book with other recent additions to my personal library. The bottom row of books continue to manifest the gifts of my favorite Communist, E. San Juan, Jr. as he deaccessions from his personal library to mine—some of his books are sufficiently fragile so that I would not want to read from them; but I treat them as previous objects for recalling the presence of a beloved mentor in my library. I do appreciate his gift of Erle Stanley Gardner--I gobbled up those Perry Mason stories as a youngster! So with 15,516 books as the target for my new library, that’s 989 books down, 14,527 books to go. I’m excited to approach a thousand books! Onward!
10/2924
A Big-Small combination results because of treasured friends. First, it’s always a pleasure when someone releases a poetry book larger than my “brick book” (my 500-plus page I Take Thee, English…). Mark Young’s 650-page collection THE MAGRITTE POEMS is newly out and it is as stupendous as its heft. If you pay attention to contemporary poetry, you should have read a Magritte poem by this New Zealander based in Australia who also founded Otoliths that published hundreds of poets from around the globe. I show the first page of a useful Introduction by Javant Biaruja to this magnificent trove of poems. Thanks to Sandy Press and harry k stammer for that feat! Second, the “small” is the first miniature book I’ve shelved in a while, a gift from Jaime Robles: EARMARKS: BEING A METAPHYSIC ON THE PROFOUND NATURE OF EARS which is sized at 3.25 x 2.5 inches. Both are real treasures from radically opposite scales…
…and are part of latest acquisitions of my library-in-progress. So with 15,516 books as the target, that’s 979 books down, 14,537 books to go. Onward, Dear Library!
10/19/24
I bit—I helped Han Kang sell over a million books. 'Twas the least I could do to support an experimental women’s writer. My post-Nobel purchase was Han Kang’s GREEK LESSONS.
With other recent purchases for my library-in-progress whose goal is 15,516 books, that’s 971 books down, 14,545 books to go. Persevere to go Onward!
10/7/24
It’s always a pleasure to receive Contributor’s Copies, in this case of the inaugural issue of the 2-volume UTRICULI, an increasingly rare print journal of experimental and innovative poetry and visual art. I’ve been receiving some empathetic responses to my essay, "The Courtship Phase Towards Technological Singularity," including from Jean Vengua at Eulipion Outpost. I cite her because she mentions another reason I’m glad UTRICULI came into existence (under the stellar editorship of harry k stammer): the experimental poetry community, whose practitioners usually warrant more attention than they receive in this world where considered attention is increasingly rare.
Meanwhile, here are latest additions to my library-in-progress--speaking of innovative poetry, I’m glad to receive signed new releases from Patrick James Dunagan (his is long overdue!) and Melissa Eleftherion. I've long enjoyed and appreciated Melissa's poems, and her new book opens with a marvelous one, "Brighton Beach," which is probably my favorite from the book.
With 15,516 books as the target, that’s 963 books down, 14,553 books to go.
10/2/24
It’s always a delight to recommend a poet’s novel, in this case Sarah Manguso’s LIARS. A “poet’s novel,” to me, is not just a novel written by a poet but a novel written with poetic considerations. An example is form—in this case, the novel’s method transcends dialogue: I don’t recall the single use of quotation marks. The plot itself is not of huge interest to me (a marriage’s disintegration and the wife’s survival of such), but the writing—the pace is masterful—makes it of interest, even compelling.
Another novel recommendation—also due to its form—is Tsipi Keller’s NADJA ON NADJA. It’s a writer describing her novel-in-progress while living as a writer. She treats pace as the opposite of compulsive, which generates its own challenge for the reader; since my pace is currently as *slow* as this one’s, I paid special attention because it’s a feat to maintain reader interest despite a slow pace. I’ve recommended Tsipi’s work before, making me feel she’s got to be one of the underrated contemporary writers out there.
Anyway, I’m glad to have Tsipi’s book in my personal library (I’d borrowed Manguso’s LIARS from the library). Here, in fact, are the library’s most recent acquisitions. They include two books gifted by Scott MacLeod who operates Serious Publications press, as well as another two books from E. San Juan, Jr. (his poetry book and Euripides V. With 15,516 books as the target, that’s 955 books down, 14,561 books to go.
P.S. If anyone wishes to review E. San Juan, Jr’s bilingual poetry collection THE ARMED PARAMOUR IN A TIME OF TERROR for The Halo-Halo Review, let me know and I’ll send you the book. Review deadline is Nov. 15, 2024.
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