This is reposted from my old blog. I’ve imported the whole post, comments and all, into a single space here. I’ve listed it here under its original date.
Agenda 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
I don’t usually have a real agenda for my reading, unless there are certain texts assigned for work. For the most part, I just make my way through my books (several at a time) as I feel like it. Recently, though, I worked on a list of things that I wanted to read in 2010, focusing on books that are geared to help me become a better writer (specifically, a better writer of speculative poetry). I continued the practice last year, and enjoyed the process once again.
I’ve included last year’s list at the bottom. Here, though, is a new list that I will use for 2012. I have decided to read a couple of the books that I didn’t get to last year (listed here in brown), and added a lot of new ones too. It looks like a long list, but a lot of the poetry collections are actually very short, so it’s not as daunting as it seems.
Several of the poetry books are things I’ve ordered. They’ve not yet been shipped, so I’ll get a bit of a late start on them this year.
Poetry Collections
The Trouble with Poetry (Billy Collins) √
The Phantom World (Gary William Crawford) √
Signs and Wonders (Jennifer Crow) √
Virgin of the Apocalypse (Corrine De Winter) √
Beast (Erin Donahue) √
Through the Woods (Erin Donahoe) √
VAMPS (James S. Dorr) √
Stellar Possibilities (John J Dunphy) √
The Tin Men (Kendall Evans & David Kopaska-Merkel) √
21 Novel Poems (Suzette Haden Elgin)
Dreaming of Days in Astophel (Lyn C A Gardner)
To Be Read in 500 Years (Albert Goldbarth)
Selected Poems (Tony Harrison) √
The Engagement of the Spur (Janie Hofmann) √
Shocks (Aurelio Rico Lopez III) √
Falling Through Nothing (Scott Nicolay) √
Poems (Charles Hamilton Mangrove)
Fair Warning (Susan M Sailors) √
Disturbed (Julie Shiel) √
Psychoentropy (Julie Shiel) √
Celestial Bodies (Keith Sikora) √
Unearthly Delights (Marge Simon) √
Legends of the Fallen Sky (Marge Simon and Malcolm Deeley) √
City of 1000 Gods (Marge Simon and Malcolm Deeley) √
Dragon’s Dictionary (Marge Simon and Mary Turzillo) √
Dragon Soup (Marge Simon and Mary Turzillo) √
Wild Hunt of the Stars (Anne Schwader) √
Idylls of the King (Tennyson) (in progress now) √
Up is Down (Mikal Trimm) √
The Handless Maiden (JoSelle Vanderhooft)
Improbable Jane (s c virtes)
Black Maria (Kevin Young) √
Collections by Todd Boss √, Ha Jin √, Edwin Morgan
Anthologies
The Rhysling Anthology (upcoming) √
Dwarf Stars (upcoming) √
The Essential Haiku (ed. by Edward Hass)
….along with a big stack of back issues of various poetry magazines
Nonfiction
The Heart of Haiku (trans. by Jane Hirschfield and Mariko Aratani) √
The Poetry Home Repair Manual (Ted Kooser) √
Biocentrism (Robert Lanza)
Myth and Science: An Essay (Tito Vignoli)
How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction (ed. by J. N. Williamson) √
The Japanese Haiku (Kenneth Yasuda) √
A Backpack and a Bit of Luck (Zhang Su Li)
Fiction
The Illustrated Man (Ray Bradbury) √
The Quinx Effect (Tyree Campbell)
The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) √
The Crater, or Vulcan’s Pride (James Fennimore Cooper)
The Book of Myths (Jeanie Lang)
Last Days of Pompeii (Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton)
Cyberiad (Stanislaw Lem) √
The American Cyclops (James Fairfax McLaughlin)
Vulcan’s Workshop (Harl Vincent) √
….and something by Michael Crichton √, Lao She √, Ha Jin, and Jules Verne
Here’s a review of the 2011 list 
Poetry Collections
A Book of Minutes – Cathy Smith Bowers
Blood Verse – Derek Clendining
I Feel so Schizophrenic, the Starship’s Aftbrain Said – Kendall Evans
On Metallic Wings – Angel Favazza
Brushfires – David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Symphony of the Universe – Deborah P. Kolodji
Touched by the Gods – Sandra J. Lindow
The Anatomy Theater – Nadine Sabra Meyers
Oddities – Aurelio Rico Lopez III and Kristine Ong Muslim
ChemiCKal Reactions – Karen L. Newman
Raven’s Runes – Karen A. Romanko
Dark Eden – Lewis Sanders
Cyborgia – Susan Slaviero
Remnants – Eddie Tay
Sometimes While Dreaming – Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
Genesis, an epic poem – Frederick Turner
A Galaxy in a Jar – Laurel Winter
Black Maria – Kevin Young
Collections by the following poets (not yet sure which collection I’ll tackle for each)
T. S. Eliot
Tennyson
Anthologies
The Rhysling Anthology (upcoming)
Dwarf Stars (upcoming)
Up Against the Window (ed. by Jim Kacian and Bruce Ross)
Modern Japanese Tanka
The Essential Haiku (ed. by Edward Hass)
Haiku World (ed. by William J. Higginson)
Out of Everywhere (ed. by Maggie O’Sullivan)
….along with a big stack of back issues of various poetry magazines
Nonfiction
The Practice of Poetry – Robin Behn
Ragnarok: Age of Fire and Gravel – Ignatius Donnelly
The Science Fiction Poetry Handbook – Suzette Haden Elgin
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women – Donna J. Haraway
Science and Poetry – Mary Midgley (in progress now)
Dark Thoughts: On Writing – Stanley Wiater
The Japanese Haiku – Kenneth Yasuda
Fiction
The Illustrated Man – Ray Bradbury
The Crater, or Vulcan’s Pride – James Fennimore Cooper
The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde
Last Days of Pompeii- Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
The Game – Diana Wynne Jones
Cyberiad – Stanislaw Lem
….and something by J Alan Erwine, Charles Williams, and Philip K. Dick
just finished The Hunger Games. really good! and you have something by Michael Crichton right? really I think my favorite is the first I read Prey. though there are some other good ones. State of Fear is a good one too.
happy reading!!
I do have something my Michael Crighton. I think I have 3, in fact. I’m planning to read the one you sent for Christmas. It looks like a good read.
I’m really looking forward to Hunger Games. I’ve been finishing up some things I needed to get done, and so haven’t started it yet. It looks like something I will really like. Did your daughter like it?
I have a feeling there will be lots of items listed in brown on next year’s list, but this is what I’d like to accomplish this year. (It’s always better to dream big, right?)
It’s nice to see that you’ll be reading so many books again this year. At the end of last year, I went through the books I had reviewed and came up with over 40. I was surprised. Goodness knows how many I would have if I made up lists in advance.
Malcolm
At the rate I’m going, I might not make much of a dent in the list this year. But I do like how it gives me some focus each year in a specific reading agenda. There are a number of these books that I ordered and have not yet received. Since I’m heading back up to Shanghai next week (before they arrive), it will take me even longer to get started on the bulk of this list.
It’s great that you reviewed 40 books last year. Nearly one a week!
Shelly Bryant 