In 2021 I had to relearn how to enjoy reading. I went months without picking up a book, or starting books and putting them back down. I missed reading, I missed the joy that came from immersing myself in a fictional world and I missed the easiness of being able to follow a story. In the end, I decided to do it the hard way: force my way through. Luck was with me. The couple of books that I forced my way through were entertaining and fun. Which, of course, was an additional push out of my reading slump. Also, smaller books helped with feeling the satisfaction of finishing a book, giving me enough momentum to move and read forward.
Category: books
A poetry anthology dedicated to Ursula K. Le Guin
I am lucky enough to have two of my poems be part of a wonderful poetry anthology dedicated to Ursula K. Le Guin. It’s called Climbing Lightly through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin and includes poems and essays inspired by Le Guin’s work from great artists all around the world. Working with the editors Lisa M. Bradley and R.B. Lemberg was a great experience.
The first poem “We dream the future in our songs” has been inspired by my favourite book of hers “The Word for World is Forest” and the second one “Time is being and being time” is an answer to her poem “Hymn to Time”.
While I didn’t discover Le Guin as an author until a decade ago, her words have created a little nest in my heart I visit frequently and add to it as I read more of her work – which I do slowly, as I’m afraid of the emptiness once I won’t have another book of hers to open, like a last step on staircase that doesn’t really exist.
I believe this book covers this emptiness, approaches her work with love and care and all the ways her words have touched her readers.
Time is being and being
time, it is all one thing,
the shining, the seeing,
the dark abounding.
from Hymn to Time, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Favourite Books for 2020
A little late for this post, but I had it on my drafts for a month, so, here it is. 2020 was an absolute clusterfuck but somehow, I managed to read 40 books which the majority of which I greatly enjoyed. Here is the list with my favourite books in no particular order; these are the ones that kept me company in hospital stays, long long nights and the hard weeks in between. I mean, something good had to come out from this year, right?
Review: The Girl Aquarium
The Gi
rl Aquarium is Jen Campbell’s debut poetry collection. I’ve read her short stories collection “The Beginning of The World in the Middle of the Night” and I’ve loved it so, naturally, I was very excited about this book. Read More
Review: Prime Meridian
I decided that it was time to start writing reviews. The main reason for this is because I suck at it, so what better way to better yourself at something than jump right into it.
I’ll start with a book I read at the end of last year and I liked very very very much.
Prime Meridian by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Finally Fall Book Tag!
This might be a fall book tag, but it’s winter here in Athens. It’s been raining for two days straight, there are sharp winds and lots of cold. I hope, during the next week we get our fall back. Nevertheless, this is a great excuse for fluffy socks, hot beverages and kitty cuddles!
The whole summer was a dry spell for my writing and my reading but as September uncurled and I came back from vacation everything felt a little better, a little brighter. This why when I saw yesterday this tag at Adventures of a Book Reader, (which was created by Tall Tales) I thought it would be a cozy way to sneak my way back into blogging. What better way of diving into reading again than remembering what makes you love books in the first place?
Let’s talk books 🙂