A poetry anthology + a graphic memoir + + a novel + a book of
meditations + short stories + a professional text + essays x2 +
script x 2 = A mixed bag of ten terrific titles, old and new.
THE BOOK OF BIRD POEMS compiled by Ana Sampson; illus. Ruyto Miyake / poetry / 2024
I don’t buy many poetry anthologies (do you?) but this book caught my attention. My friend, Jennifer and I have a thing about birds (‘Birds of a feather,’ are we1). Bird poems were very special to my dear friend David Booth. His final publication Bird Guy:Wally Karr’s Poems About Birds: 9th Grade English Project (2018) is a testimony to his dedication to illuminating the life of our feathered friends. I know that The Book of Bird Poems would have been a gift I’d have given David. I read each poem in the book chronologically. In fact, I read this book while sitting on a bench in Central Park, fondling thinking about Jennifer, and David and birdsong. Ans Sampson has collected about 100 classic poems from the past 200 years accompanied by artist Ryuto Miyako’s sublime images of ourwinged friends whose flight is frozen on the page.
Snippets
The thrushes sing as the sun is going, And the finches whistle in ones and pairs, (from ‘Proud Songsters’ by Thomas Hardy.)
Sing cuckoo now, sing cuckoo!/ Sing cuckoo, sing cuckoo now! (from ‘Cuckoo’ (Anon)
Dark and lugubrious, his eyes / signify no intent beyond brooding. (from ‘The Condor’) by Michael Hogan)
He clasps the crag with crooked hands; / Close to the sun in lonely lands, / Ring’d with the azure world, he stands. (from ‘The Eagle’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson).
Something told the wild geese/ It was time to fly, – / Summer sun was on their wings, / Winter in their cry. (from ‘Something Told the Wild Geese’ by Rachel Field)
If you were an owl, And I were an owl, And this were a tree, And the moon came out, / I know what we’d do. (from That’s What We’d Do by Mary Mapes Dodge)
Tell the air to hold me in the rushing heart of it/ And keep its path straight (from ‘ The Arctic Tern’s Prayer’ by Mary Anne Clarke)
EMBERS: One Ojibways’ Meditations by Richard Wagamese / meditations / 2016
Isn’t it wonderful to have conversations with friends while meeting for breakfast? My friend Marion and I were chatting about books that we’ve been reading and she highly recommended Richard Wagamese’s Embers which I ordered promptly from Amazon before finishing my omelette. Marion said she often returns to this book to reflect on the wise words by one of Canada’s foremost First Nations authors and storyteller. Embers is a collection of lessons that the author absorbed from the mundane and sublime. The book is divided into 7 sections: Stillness, Harmony, Trust, Reverence, Persistence, Gratitude, Joy. Each section features observations and reflections and questions presented in paragraphs. Evocative photos that capture nature’s glory appear throughout capturing the contemplative, spiritual mood of the book. Using post-it notes, I marked pages particular memorable thoughts that invited me to pause and ponder. I used almost a full pad of sticky notes. Conversations between the author and old woman are particularly inspirational. Thank you Marion for this book session. Like you, I will surely return often to Richard Wagamese’s Embers.
Some gems
“I want to listen deeply enough that I hear everything and nothing at the same time and am made more by the enduring quality of silence.” (p, 23)
“Teachings come from everywhere when you open yourself to then,. That’s the trick of it really. Open yourself to everyone, and everything opens itself to you.” (p, 58)
“Remember to remember”. (p. 85)
“I’ve been referred to as odd before. Nowadays, I refer to myself as “awed”. I want awe to be the greatest ongoing relationship in my life.” (p. 90)
“Knowledge is not wisdom. But wisdom is knowledge in action.” (p. 130)
“All we have are moments. So live them as though not one can be wasted. Inhabit them, fill them with the light of your best good intention, honour them with your full presence, find the joy, the calm, the assuredness that allows the hours and the days to take care of themselves. If we can do that, we will have lived.” (p. 161)
EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim; edited by Josh Pachter / short stories /2025
Put the name Stephen Sondheim on the cover of a book and you’ve got my attention. The premise of this crime fiction collection is that each of the 20 short stories, written by twenty different authors, is inspired by the songs of Stephen Sondheim. Editor, Josh Pachter organizes the anthology by presenting stories in chronological order of a musical’s release date. The story titles are indeed drawn from the score of each show (e.g., “Tonight” from West Side Story; “Hello Little Girl ” from Into the Woods; “Losing My Mind from Follies. In many instances, character names are invented from character names that appear in the shows or the actors who played the roles. For example, in “Everyone Ought to Have a Maid” A Funny Thing Happened To Me the Way to the Fortum” the characters are called Zero and Michael Crawford (they starred in the movie; Angela Fay a dancer at the Cookie Jar is featured in the story “There Won’t be Trumpets” from Anyone Can Whistle) (Angela Lansbury played the mayor; Lee Remick played Nurse Fay Apple, the cookies were citizens of a local asylum was a dancer at the Cookie Jar; Dorothy Peters (i.e. Dot (the character and Bernadette Peters is the actress who played Dot in the original production of the musical) is the central character of the story Sunday in the Park with George. Those ‘in the know’ might be amused by such character names as Robert Dean Jones; Toni Bates Chip Baker and Luisa Tarchetti. To add to the reading pleasure, aficionados might be pleased to discover references to the plots or settings of play they are likely familiar. Some stories adeptly accomplish the conceit of the book by hitchhiking on the theme of the play and these were the selections I enjoyed the most. In “Every Day a Little Death’ by Josh Pachter, Anne and Charlotte, best friends discuss marriage and infidelity . Charlotte knows that Ann is having liaisons with her husband(beware of the lovely new tea, Charlotte). In “Together Wherever We Go” by Jeffrey Marks, a mother Mama Rose) and her daughter (Gypsy) experience a murder in a dive bar.(“Gypsy thought back across all the history she and her mother had shared and sighed, “No, I’ll go with you, Mama. When you’re in the soup, I’m in the soup. For better or worse, Mrs. Hovick, you and I are in this together.” Get it? Each story does is a mystery with a murder, robbery, a kidnapping or puzzle to be solved. I found Every Day A Little Death to be lovely company on a recent Saturday night plane trip (not from Barcelona).
LOW-HANGING FRUIT: Sparkling Whines; Champagne Problems and Pressing Issues from My Gay Agenda by Randy Rainbow / essays / 2024
Randy Rainbow is one funny funny guy. You can quote me on that. This collection of essays provides the entertaining comedian to observe, to kvetch to criticize as “a privileged white male complaining about a bunch of shit.” (book jacket). In the opening essay entitled ‘Letter of Resignation’, the author begins by writing a letter to ‘Dear Stupid People’ and goes on to relieve himself of any responsibility for subway riders who choose settle disturbingly close to others, those who bury themselves in tier iPhones as they slowly cross the road, those who don’t say thank you to strangers who open doors for them, those who remove shoes and socks on airplane, those who publicly use the FaceTime feature – stupid people all. Other funny essays include, ‘Randy Rainbow for President’ (“Experience is overrated and competence is the last thing a person needs to win an election”); ‘My Name is ‘a’, a skewing account of Streisand’s 966 page biography; ‘I Feel Bad About My Balls’ (“I do not have the perfect proportions of Jacob fucking Elordi. I never will, and for that I take serious issue with whoever is reponsible.”): ‘Life Sucks, Wear the Damn Lipstick’ (“I can watch a makeup tutorial for hours on end without getting bored and always learn something new and constructive.”). Oh-so clever essays are presented in different writing genres (i.e.,a eulogy (‘RIP, My Attention Span’); poetry (‘Would That I Had an Ass’ and ‘Where do Trolls Come From’); messages (‘Memos to my Upstairs Neighbour: An Emotional Odyssey in Six Parts’); social media comments and replies (‘From the Peanut Gallery’) lists (‘Do I Hear a Schmaltz’ and a anthropomorphic monologue where Randy writes the world according to Tippi, hisChinchilla Silver Persian cat (‘Notes from a Litter Box’). A shout out goes to Chapter 15, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen… My Mother (the Sequel’), Randy’s conversation with his mother (“Mom: Giving birth to you was the gayest thing I’ve ever done.”). Randy Rainbow shares strong views that include “pet peeves, irks, irritants and annoyances and grievances” about airport greeters, dating apps, hosting an awards show, and, oh yes, Donald Jessica Trump. I love Rainbow’s satirical YouTube videos and I loved his biography Playing With Myself. Rainbow is one funny funny guy. You can quote me on that.
Funny Stuff
“The sad reality is that I have no social life whatsoever when touring. Why, you ask? Because I was born too soon and started too late – that’s why!” (p, 80)
“I learned this logic from my grandmother…She’d spot a tall, blond, statuesque woman with voluptuous curves and a killer rack walking through the mall and say ‘See? That’s the body I’m supposed to have,’ as though she ordered achocolate ice cream cone and somebody accidentally gave her pistachio.” (p. 91)
“You know that Alfred Hitchcock thriller called The 39 Steps. That was actually based on my daily skin-care regimen. (p. 95)
“Why do you think everything annoys us all the time? Are we hypoglycaemic or just Jewish? (p. 148)
“People who say ‘You look tired’ and have no idea what they’re saying is wildly offensive. These people are terrorists.” (p. 192)
“I have never understood wrestling as a sport. Like, why not just fuck?” (p. 197)
“OH, MARY!” by Cole Escola / script / 2025
Mary Todd Lincoln finds life in the White House – and her husband – to be to be oh-so-boring. Booze and a dream of starring in a cabaret keeps her going, Mary is hysterically funny Cole Escola is hysterically funny, “Oh, Mary!” is hysterically funny on stage and on the page. I laughed out loud when I read this 48 page script. I was lucky to have seen this show on Broadway – the funniest play I’ve seen in years. Yes, the brilliant live performances (and the sensational costume) make thsi a unique theatre-going experience. “Oh, Mary!” and Oh, Escola have a great future in world of theatre, with this riotous play, which even the author has called ‘stupid’. Hysterical.
Excerpt
Abraham: Because actually a dead wife would do wonders for the president’s reputation in the South right now. Take the acting lessons, you fucking moron.
Mary: The South of what?
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde / novel / 1890
In this iconic novel by the infamous Oscar Wilde, the handsome and wealthy, Dorian Gray has a portrait of himslef by a reputable artist. Gazing at the image, Dorian hopes to stay forever young and beautiful forever wishing that the painting age instead of him.Gray keeps the piece of art hidden from the world and when he continues to live a ife of excess and pleasure and seediness, the painting transforms growing more and more grotesque thus reveaaling the true nature of Dorian Gray’s life. The novel explores the dangers of embracing a purely aesthetic view of the world. Overall, the theme of this story seems to be that the pursuit of pleasure, with little regard for consequence cn lead to unhappiness and corruption. By describing characters and social habits of the upper classIt is story that reveals a commentary on Victorian society. Women are portrayed as intellectually inferior, To be sure, Oscar Wilde’s homosexual lifestyle is filtered through the relationships of some male characters expressing a str0ng attraction to one another.
The Picture of Dorian Gray was originally published in a monthly magazine. Even though it wasn’t critically well-received (i.e. immoral, hedonistic), the work was defended as a work of art by the author and was published as a novel in 1890. I found myself reading this 230-page novel fairly slowly. Oscar Wilde is oh so clever in his commentary and I ofen re-read some sentences a couple of times. Wilde is the guru of epigrams (pithy sayings or remarks expressing an idea in a clever, amusing and ‘profound’ way. Some examples:
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.”
“Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing,”
“Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man’s face. It cannot be concealed.”
‘Pleasure is Nature’s test: her sign of approval. When we are happy we are always good, bu when we are good we are not always happy.”
Of particular interest is the preface to the novel that espresses Wilde’s wild philosophy of art:
“The artist is the creator of beautiful things.”
“The critic is he who can transfer another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.”
“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful Things are the cultivated. For those, there is hope,”
“All art is quite useless.”
“There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well-written or badly written. That is all.
A black and white film version of this story ws released in 1945 starring George Sanders, Angela Lansbury., Donna Reid, Peter Lawford and Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray. Going to see the play version of this story, inspired me to read this classic novel beforehand. The Broadway play is preented as a one-woman performance starring Sarah Snook, (of ‘Succession’ fame) who brilliantly portrays 26 characters. What an explosive performance!Technological wizardy is a marvel of this production directed by Australian Kip Williams.
PREPARED CLASSROOM: Ready to Teach, Ready to Learn by Gail Goushey and Allison Behne / professional text / 2025
Gail Bushey and Allison Behne, criers of the Daily 5 Framework and Cafe Literacy Systems have written a practical handbook inviting teachers to reimagine their teaching practices to boost student engagement, collaboration and independent learning. The resources is divided into two sections: Section 1 offers roadmap to strategies to consider in order enrich a classroom environment that fosters positive relationships and establish daily routines that promote effective management and student involvement. Section 2 presents 52 lessons 1involvement and effective lessons that consider action, interaction and joy (e..g Exit Slips, I Wish My Teacher Knew, Brain Breaks, Taking Turns, What To Do When You are Finished. The authors use a friendly voice to teachers and effectively present ideas through a framework that includes Understand (Why?); Prepare (Students): Teach (Explicitly); Support (Pivots). Prepared Classroom is a comprehensive, practical guide for teachers hoping to reflect on current practices and consider effective ways for students to excel.
UNCLE VANYA by Anton Chekhov / script / 1897
Uncle Vanya ” explores themes as diverse as male mid-life crisis; men’s exploitation of the natural world and of women; the ruin that massive destruction of Russia’s forests will cause; peasants’ subjection to hunger, ill health, illiteracy, and ignorance and hope for a joyful life after death as a consolation for the miseries of earthly existence.” (from preface notes in the Dover Thrift Edition)
The setting is an estate in nineteenth-century Russia. A retired professor, his second wife, his brother-in-law and daughter from a previous marriage lived lives of frustration and despair. From the preface note ‘Uncle Vanya is a “haunting portrait of the sense of futility and wasted lives that burdened men and women enduring disappointments and frustrations and rural tedium.” What prompted me to read this classic play was a recent viewing of NT Live one man performance of VANYA starring Andrew Scott who portrays all the characters in a modernized version of Chekhov’s play. This was the second time I watched this must-see spectacular performance. Mr. Scott you are brilliant!
SHOUT OUT!
FEEDING GHOSTS by Tessa Hulls / graphic memoir
This prize winning graphic memoir works on many levels. It is Tessa Hulls story the jumps across 80 years in which the author /illustrator maps her family’s history, the historical events of the Chinese Communist Revolution and a personal coming of age history filled with questions, anger, frustration, and self-determination in the quest to make meaning of life, loss, and love. It is essentially the story of three generations of women: Shun Yi, journalist who once wrote a memoir about her persecution and survival and eventually came to have a breakdown and was committed to a mental institution, Tessa’s mother, Rose who struggles to take care of Sun Yi and Tessa who is determined to escape her mother’s fears and religious beliefs, and decides to leave home and travels to remote parts of the world, hoping to find freedom, but moreover to unravel the struggles that shaped her family. The unique visual storytelling allows the author to synthesize her family’s history and provide a context for her to reconnect with her estranged mother and examine the lasting effects of trauma. The book took almost a decade to complete so that Tessa Hulls could conduct extensive research (quotations from many resources are filtered throughout) on come to terms with the impact of her grandmother’s and mother’s mental health – and that of her own. It is a book where creating art helps an artist to seeking and finding ghosts that are hidden in one family’s past.
Although speech bubbles appears throughout, most of the verbal text is presented through narrative captions with crafted , often poetic, statements that provide information, relate experiences, and convey deep reflection. (see excerpts below*). The writing is frequently the stuff of therapy as the author confesses how the experiences as daughter and artist have shaped her identity . (“I grew up living in a lockstep of my greatest fear: imprisonment bound by internet rules far stronger than any external chains (p. 325) Hulls often unpacks how the process of creating this book has helped her to look into the meaning of her grandmother’s life, her mother’s life and her relationship to them.(“Collaborating on this book has given us a framework to explore the fraught territory between us. And while we both run for cover when missteps create huge explosions.” p. 337). Hulls’ staggering illustrations of white highlights cut into like dream-like /nightmare-like) expressionist interpretation of what the author is thinking and feeling. I gasped at many of the full page images (e.g. Mother as a puppeteer over her daughter, each with snake-like flames roaring from their mouths (.p. 256) . Panels are not only filled with characters portrayed with varied emotions but Hull fills each panel space with scratchy- textured backgrounds and cinematic, ghost-like people, places and things. . Though I usually can breeze through graphic novels, I found that I could only read Finding Ghosts in small chunks, taking rests between every dozen pages or so. I became aware that I re-read narrative texts at least twice to savour Tessa Hulls sophisticated language and revelations of this troubled, talented sole. I also lingered over the illustrations in paying attention to details conveyed by the text as well as images drawn from the Hulls’ brilliant mind. Astonishing!
The first time a graphic novel received the 1992 Pulitzer Prize was Art Spiegelman’s for his book Maus. Feeding Ghosts won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in the autobiography/memoir category. It is the most original, powerful publication of the year. Feeding Ghosts is a graphic memoir masterpiece!
Excerpts *
“There were no messy realities to contradict the perfect illusion of the China she held within herself, an unchanging snow globe where a mother and daughter remained eternally locked in a an embrace of uncomplicated filial piety.” (p. 93)
“Writing this book has allowed us to see the threads of this knot – how love, fear, culture, and mental illness are intricately bound.” (p. 122)
“Being mixed in America is a constant sociology experiment in a culture obsessed with forcing binaries. Where does someone with a. foot in both worlds and a home in neither fit in?” (p. 160)
“Going home was like standing in a hurricane where my family’s narrative about me – broken, cold, selfish, angry, unstable – pelted my skin like hail. By the end of each visit I’d wonder, where they right? Was I in fact crazy? Was I lying to myself about who and what I was? Was anything real?” (p, 313)
“Creating this book has not been a panacea for me and my mom. ‘Two steps forward, one step back’ does not do justice to the violent eruptions of mutual hurt and flights for self-protection that have peppered this journey.” (p. 337)
“What are you learning through making this book?” / I’m learning how to stand closer to my mother’s pain. And in order to do that I’m having to learn, how to stand closer to my own.” (p. 348)
SHOUT OUT! SHOUT OUT!
LESSONS FROM MY TEACHERS: From Preschool to Present
by Sarah Ruhl / essays / 2025
“This is a book about many of the teachers I was lucky enough to have had over the course of my life. It is, in a way, a portrait of my life told through portraits of my teachers.” (Introduction, p.3)
Sarah Ruhl is a playwright (The Clean House, Eurydice), an author (Smile: A Memoir; 100 Essays I Didn’t Have to Write) and a professor at the Yale School of Drama where she has taught for over a decade). Lessons From My Teachers is a collection of 60 essays where Ruhl shines a light on educators, mentors and those who influence our lives from day to day. Ruhl’s memories of important teachings arise from her personal and professional life, in sickness and in health, as student and as a teacher. Special recognition is given to Sarah Ruhl’s mentors in her theatre world (i.e., Paula Vogel, Beth Henley, Maria Irene Forbes, Joyce Piven) Here are some titles of the the essays in this book: ‘The elementary art school teacher who gave me an assignment I hated’ (4); ‘Lessons from a marriage’ (23); ‘When your babysitter is also your dharma teacher’ (35); ‘My dog knows everthing’ (42); ‘A practical use of meditation (55); Can you be your own teacher?’ (p. 57).
Everyone is a learner. Everyone is a teacher. This book provides the author with a chance to pay tribute to her classroom teachers, family members, children, community members, spiritual guides, theatre colleagues, and the students in her courses and through her stories, she provides readers with inspiration to pay attention to, and reflect upon, all those who help to shape our lives. As a classroom teacher, university instructor, workshop presenter, brother, uncle and friend , I was quite moved by the stories Sarah Ruhl shares and found the book which is divided into three parts (Roots; Branches, Flowers) to be a gift of meditation, reflection and gratitude. Readers can helped to dig into their own memories of people, place and things that are the stories that shape us within the school of life.
Dear Sarah
About thirty years ago, I purchased a long banner to decorate one of the walls in my 5th grade classroom. It read “Everyone is a teacher, if we choose to let them be.” I don’t know who to attribute this precept to , but I believed that each member of a classroom has something (stories) to contribute. Hopefully, it served as a mantra for what I hoped my students would come to believe too.
Larry
I have already read some mighty fine books this year but Sarah Ruhl’s book will be, I’m sure, at the top of my list of 2025 titles. I have ordered a batch of copies to gift my friends, whether they are teachers or not. Each essay provides a poignant lesson about teaching, learning, and living. As Sondheim reminds us, ‘No One is Alone.’
Excerpts
“Middle C does not move. But the middle of life is never certain: we never know where the middle is until life ends.” (p.33)
“I think if I were to ask my grandmother what the secret of life was, she would tell me that it was to be always and forever interested, deeply interest in other people and the world.” (p. 64)
“… we remember what we are given more than we remember what we gave away, if the gift was freely given.” (p. 72)
Max “taught me that students sometimes make the best teachers.” (p. 152)
“Sometimes you have to go to your neighbor’s door and knock.” (p. 175)
“I only know that my dreams are sometimes my best teachers. Art is a dream we are allowed to have together: when we sleep we dream alone.” (p. 182)
“There are no former teachers, not really. Teachers – the ones who truly taught you – don ‘t stop teaching you, even after you leave their classroom. Teaching, over time, is ultimately unbounded by the classroom. Just as love is unbounded by time.” (p. 216)