Author: Antonia Clark

? Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens – novel – 5 ★
? Strange Weather in Tokyo, by Hiromi Kawakami – novel – 5 ★
? Finding Freedom to Create: A Painter’s Roadmap, by Dianne Mize – nonfiction
? Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction by Tracy Kidder – nonfiction
? The Aging Brain, by Thad A. Polk – Great Courses audio – 5 ★
? The Pleasure of Reading, by Antonia Fraser – writers on reading
? The Wave in the Mind, by Ursula K. Le Guin – talks & essays
? No Time to Spare: Thinking about What Matters, by Ursula K. Le Guin – essay – 5 ★
? Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir, by Cinelle Barnes – memoir – 5 ★
? Asymmetry, by Lisa Halliday – fiction

It’s less than a month away now. Time to start looking for my poetry hat. Every April, poets at The Waters meet (in the Sunset Beach forum) to write a poem a day for 30 days. A great poetic workout. Some of the results are duds. Some merit revision. And more than a few are eventually published online or in print journals. Even a couple of good ones make the whole month worth the effort.

January was a pretty great month for reading and I did a little writing, too.

READING — I read 14 books in January and they included more really good ones than in any month I can remember. Here’s my list:

? How Reading Changed My Life, by Anna Quindlen – memoir
? My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues, by Pamela Paul – memoir
? Small Fry, by Lisa Brennan-Jobs – memoir
? Jane Steele, by Lyndsay Faye – novel
? The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield – novel – 5 ★
? Unlimited Memory, by Kevin Horsley – memory training
? An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones – novel – 5 ★
? Brain Myths Exploded, by Indre Viskontas – cognitive neuroscience – audio – 5 ★
? The Word is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz – novel – 5 ★
? A Quiet Life in the Country (Lady Hardcastle Mystery #1), by T. E. Kinsey – palate cleanser, fun
? The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller – novel – 5 ★
? The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole – novella – classic
? I’m Still Here, by Austin Channing Brown – memoir/polemic – audio
? Cape Cod Summers, by Beverly Koester – memoir

Books that helped meet my reading goals:

Classic: The Castle of Otranto
Read Your Shelves: Jane Steele, The Thirteenth Tale, The Song of Achilles

WRITING — I completed one “7-in-7” (7 poems in 7 days). Were any of them any good? Three are worth keeping. Not bad.