Start Anywhere!

By Nadia Ghent in Winter Reading 2018 on
6 comments

Here’s my pile. It’s a fairly random pile, since I could have pulled a number of books that have been orbiting my reading space for a while now (“read me! “no, read me!”) and have had a completely different assortment, but I thought that starting somewhere might be a better strategy for me. Seeing what I have ahead of me as a real, physical entity instead of an amorphous conceptual maybe might actually get me started and on the road to disciplined reading.

I have a few books that I am still in the middle of–Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Autumn, which had been my fall project, now woefully unfinished and out-of-season, the anthology, This Is The Place, and Minna Zallman Proctor’s Landslide, which I’ve already read twice but have promised to write a review of which is also unfinished. I need to read it a third time before beginning to write about it–at least that’s a handy excuse to stall the writing part for a bit longer!

I’m very happy that reading for page numbers gives us the opportunity to read again and to read broadly–articles, journals, newspapers, and maybe even webpages. Probably we should draw the line at cereal boxes, though….but how comforting it was for me as a child to have the same words greet me every morning as I poured Sugar Frosted Flakes (sorry Alison–my poor nutrition of the past!) into my bowl and to have Tony the Tiger pass benevolent approval of my happy munching.

And I am looking forward to this reading journey ahead with all of you.

Published by Nadia Ghent

I am a work-at-home mother, formerly a violinist, teacher, and performer, reluctantly giving up full-time, hands-on, no-holds-barred mothering as my children grow up and move on to taking care of their own lives. At least now I have more time to read and write.

6 comments on “Start Anywhere!”

  1. I was raised on Frosted Flakes, myself, Nadia! Good thing we learn from our mistakes, ha ha. An ambitious stack as usual– can’t wait to see what sticks/emerges from your reading~

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  2. Nadia, just have to say that I love seeing ‘Landslide’ teetering on the top of your mountain! Very poetic. Speaking of poetry, I’m happy to see Stevens. I’ve read ‘The Songs We Know Best.’ I think you’ll enjoy it.

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    1. I’m really enjoying “The Songs We Knew Best,” and it’s making me appreciate where I live–Rochester, NY!–much more. I’m thinking of going by Ashbery’s grandparents’ house on Dartmouth Street, if it still exists, and when the weather improves, a longer trip to where Ashbery grew up in Sodus and Pultnyville, near one of the infamous lakes that make our winter so difficult. It really is beautiful there, and thinking about these physical places while reading about Ashbery’s younger years helps me conceptualize his poetry with just a tiny bit of insight. Not that I understand the poems any better, though!

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  3. Wait, cereal boxes count? I might make that page number after all! I’m looking forward to hearing about Heating & Cooling…I like this notion of the “micro memoir”. Isn’t that what we all are, a compilation of micro memoirs within our own lives’ narrative?

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