November Reading 1: Poetry and Short Stories

 It's getting a bit late to post my November reading wrap-up. Last week was busy and time slipped away from me. I'm just going to post the books I read and not be too long-winded about them.

I read a lot of poetry and several short story collections and thoroughly enjoyed all of it! I'll start with the poetry. 

The Gulf Tower Forecasts Rain: Pittsburgh Poems: An Anthology edited by Doralee Brooks (owned book)

I was sitting in the yarn group one day when my phone buzzed with a message from a friend. He was in the Enniskillen bus station with time to kill between buses. They have a couple shelves of used books there so people can leave books or take books. They ask for a donation to a children's charity. What an excellent idea this is! Whenever my friend is going through there, he sends me photos or video of the shelves so I can see if there are any books I'd like. On this day, he sent me a photo of this book followed by '?'. What an unlikely book to find in that place. It's an excellent book--surprisingly so, I must admit. I've never been to Pittsburgh, but I loved this book. Each poem told a story, which is the kind of poetry I enjoy. I don't need deep symbolism or tricky word play, although I can appreciate the latter. But I love poetry as story and this book is full of that. I didn't really expect much from this book, but it's one I'm keeping and will revisit. And who knows--if I ever get to Pittsburgh I'll bring it with me.

The Puzzle-Heart by Louise C. Callaghan (friend's copy)

This was on the shelf when we were dogsitting and it's another book I thoroughly enjoyed, full of little story gems, this time set in rural Ireland.

Calm (A Poetry Prescription Collection) by various poets (BorrowBox e-book)

All of the poems in this collection are meant to evoke a feeling of calm. It's a great little collection. My favorite poem in the book is by Ono no Komachi.

Seeing the Moonlight

Seeing the moonlight

spilling down

through these trees

my heart fills to the brim

with autumn.

I read several short story collections last month as well. I do love my short story collections, especially classics and modern classics.

Secrets in the Snow and Other Classic Crime Stories, edited by Matthew Booth (library book)

Standing Her Ground: Classic Short Stories by Trailblazing Women, edited by Harriet Sanders (library book)

Classic Stories from the Age of Decadence, edited by Jane Desmarais (BorrowBox e-book)

These are all part of the Macmillan Collector's Library. They're great little hardback books that would be great to tuck into a bag or a pocket when going out in case you have a bit of reading time 😊They're all excellent collections which I thoroughly enjoyed reading

Case of the Claws by various authors (BorrowBox e-book)

This book contains four short stories written by authors such as Catherine Aird, Edmund Crispin, Ellis Peters, and Patricia Highsmith. It's a good read.

The Open Door and Other Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Margaret Oliphant (library book)

Oliphant is an author I want to read more of so I was happy to read this book. I have her Carlingford Chronicles on my e-reader. I've only read this book and her novel Hester, both of which I loved. She was quite prolific so I still have plenty of this Victorian author's work to read.

Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett (BorrowBox e-book)

A collection of sort-of linked short stories chronicling the author's experience of a kind of solitude at the edge of a coastal town. I quite liked it.

That's it for today. I'll post the rest in part two. Hope your December reading is as good as mine has been so far!

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