Books That Matter.
I just discovered For Southern Boys Who Consider Poetry (When Soul Food Isn’t Enough), the blog of poet Saeed Jones. One of his recent posts was a list of Books that Matter, and he’s also posted some responses he’s got from his readers. I thought this was a pretty sweet idea, so here are my Books That Matter. I really hope you’ll tell me yours, too - whether it’s one book that particularly touched you or twenty that you think changed your writing. I’d really like to do what Saeed did and post your responses on the blog, so please do respond. I know you’re all reading - you need just to comment now and again!
Books that influenced my poetry:
Dreaming Frankenstein by Liz Lochhead // Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy // Ruin and Beauty by Patricia Young // Nine Horses by Billy Collins // The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy // The Boy Who Taught The Beekeeper To Read by Susan Hill // The Unswept Room by Sharon Olds // Another Country by Jane Griffiths
Books that taught me things I didn’t know about poetry:
Why I Am Not A Painter by Frank O Hara // Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg // Somebody, Somewhere by Alan Gillis // Kaddish and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg // The Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes // Love is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski
Wow… that’s weird. All my ‘teachers’ are men, and all but one of my influences are women. What does that say?
Tell me your lists - which books made you the poet you are? Which books changed your poetry, influenced your poetry, or helped your poetry? Which books matter to you? (Don’t forget to check out Saeed’s blog!)
Tags: advice for young writers, books that matter, publishing, resources for young writers, young poets
November 27th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I almost feel like I’ve not read enough to be able to say what matters to me, or what has influenced me, but these do come to mind:
Important to me personally:
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren, Punainen Erokirja by Pirkko Saisio, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, Moonwalk by Michael Jackson.
(though I haven’t really written anything in years) Writing related:
On Writing by Stephen King, The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Part 1 by Virginia Woolf.
November 28th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Books that have influenced my writing:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald // The Boy From The Chemist Is Here To See You by Paul Farley // The Harbour Beyond The Movie by Luke Kennard // Selected Poems of T. S. Eliot // Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys // Ariel by Sylvia Plath (though sometimes I wouldn’t like to admit it…) // Beowulf // Sir Gawain and the Green Knight // A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman // Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis by Wendy Cope
Probably lots more, but basically I have realised I am a plagiarist! “Influence” is a very forgiving word :p
November 28th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I just like any excuse to make a list. So…
1. Poetry Collections that are important to me:
Harmonium - Wallace Stevens
Collected Poems - James Schuyler
New Collected Poems - Tomas Transtromer
New Collected Poems - W.S. Graham
The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly - Denis Johnson
Collected Poems - T.S. Eliot
View with a Grain of Sand - Wislawa Szymborska
Collected Poems - Edwin Morgan
Selected Poems and Prose - Gerard Manley Hopkins
2. Books about poetry that are important to me:
The Truth of Poetry - Michael Hamburger
20th Century Pleasures - Robert Hass
Lives of the Poets - Michael Schmidt
Best Words, Best Order - Stephen Dobyns
After Confession - Kate Sontag and David Graham
The Sounds of Poetry - Robert Pinsky
November 29th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Your male/female influence/teacher split is interesting! Very interesting!
And Collins…an honorary woman? I don’t think he’d object…
x
January 28th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
[...] you may remember that quite a while I wrote this post… and promised to share YOUR ‘Books that Matter’… but I forgot. But [...]
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Interesting and very rattling true. Bookmarked.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I like your website. Do you have mor informations which you can post? Thanks for the article.