Meet you at the pump

Meet you at the pump
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

To the Markham House today to work on getting the data for the Poetry Center Library. This dry pump is there, at the History Park. It used to be useful, in the manner of many things in the history park. In the manner of many things . . .

I usually read one book at a time; or, sometimes I have an upstairs bed book and a downstairs sofa book. But lately, I have so many books—I started a couple before we went to Michigan and left them here—I got some good books for Christmas, etc. So here’s the list, which doesn’t include art books I am investigating, but which you read in a different way, an essay at a time while you look at a clutch of pictures, like the book on the Joseph Cornell exhibit. These all happen to be biographical or biographies, which I love.

A Writer’s Life by Gay Talese (finished a couple of days ago)
The Snoring Bird (about his father) by Bernd Heinrich
Picasso, the triumphant years 1917-1932 (Christmas present)
Mark Twain by Claire Tomalin
Remembering Anna Akhmatova by Anatoli Nayman (a gift, just begun)
Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama (finished last week, ate it in one bite!)

Mark Twain: just during and after the civil war. Berd Heinrich and Akhmatova, during and after both World Wars. Picasso, after World War. These correspondances and many others are very interesting to think about. These books span more than one hundred years, and yet many themes are the same. I thought I could write about this in one try, but it is going to take several. To be continued . . .