Unexpected snow day but expected reading

The Sunday Salon, What I'm Reading

I had today off anyway since I work tomorrow, but I had planned to go to the local state university library, about 20 minutes away, to read. Really, the only thing that has changed is that I’ll be reading at home and, let’s be honest on a day like this, napping.

I’m starting my day this morning with a poem through the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day service that I’ve signed up for for the Poetry Reading Challenge 2020. The challenge, as outlined by Serena, is to read a poem-a-day for a week once per month and write about which poems were your favorite and why on your Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, or your blog. I am adjusting it to pick out my favorite from each week and write about it here on the blog, providing a link to the poem. So here’s a link to this week’s favorite, “Entering St. Patrick’s Cathedral” by Malachi Black.

These are the lines that stuck out for me:

and there, brightly skeletal beside it,
the organ pipes: cold, chrome, quiet 

but alive with a vibration tolling
out from the incarnate 

source of holy sound. I turn, shivering
back into my coat. 

especially the middle couplet there, with the way the line breaks: out from the incarnate” before striking the next line, like a note “source of holy sound.”

I’ll be continuing my reading this afternoon with:

  • Heaven, My Home, the second in the Highway 59 series, by Attica Locke.
  • How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi,

both of which I started last Sunday. I am about three-quarters through Kendi’s book, but to be honest, while I like it, I don’t love it because I am finding the structure offputting and overall more academic than I wanted. However, I am maybe a quarter through Locke’s book and am loving it. She continues to impress.

On Sunday as I mentioned last week, I would to begin digging into Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65, the second part of Taylor Branch’s history of the Civil Rights Movement in America. I had planned to begin reading the latter on MLK Day but that didn’t happen (I finished a book of King speeches instead). Based on the length of Pillar of Fire, it will be one I’ll be delving into over several weekends, not just this weekend.

I didn’t do as well with my planned short bursts of reading during the past week with the Sherlock Holmes short stories, but I’m hoping to do better this coming week. I’ll let you know on next weekend’s Sunday Salon.

Until then….

How is your reading going this past week? Anything to recommend (or not)? Please share in the comments.

This week’s shout-out goes to Chris Wolak and Emily Fine of the podcast Book Cougars. The two went to see Jeanine Cummins, author of American Dirt, which I’m sure by now you have heard about, on January 23 of this year at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut. They shared their thoughts on the book, Cummins’ talk, and the controversy surrounding the book on Podcast 95 (click the link to be taken to a page where you can download the podcast).

Published by Bryan G. Robinson

Blogger formerly known as Unfinished Person. Still an unfinished person...

Published

33 thoughts on “Unexpected snow day but expected reading”

  1. I’ve actually been looking forward to reading How to be an Antiracist but I’m not always in the mood for academic books. I guess I’ll keep that in mind for whenever I am looking for such a book.

    We had some snow this weekend as well. We’ve honestly seen worse but school was still called off on Friday. All that snow has melted so we are sad we couldn’t make a snowman this time.

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    1. We had enough snow here that they called off school too. The library where I work was closed too, but I already had the day off since I was working on Saturday. Not much of a victory.

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  2. That’s an unusual breakfast, I just had vegemite on toast.
    I’m currently in the middle of The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold, an urban fantasy. I’m enjoying it so far and should have it finished tonight.

    Wishing you a great reading week

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  3. Friday was so snowy that the only time I left the house was to pick up my son at the bus stop and drop him off at his grandma’s house! I’ve grown to really appreciate the beauty and stillness of the snow…as long as the roads are clear 🙂

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  4. I LOVE your snow pic and wish I still lived where it snows. I didn’t know about the Poetry Reading Challenge so I checked your link out and subscribed to the Poem-a-Day site that Serena linked to.

    I’ve been in a reading slump and wish I could pull myself out of it.

    I’ll be reading and watching some old movies today.

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  5. I was secretly hoping we might get some snow here in Paris, but nada. It’s been cold, in the fifties and occasionally in the forties, but nothing that some warm boots and a coat and scarf can’t deal with.

    We went to Mass at Saint-Sulpice last Sunday, probably most known for its organ, so this poem resonates (!) with me.

    Hope everything works out with Pillar of Fire this weekend and later in the week with your short bursts of Sherlock Holmes.

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    1. I’m hoping to get a little into Pillar of Fire, but I’m not sure. I think I might have to buy the book on ebook for later. I’m not sure it’s working for me right now, but I’m not giving up on reading it. I do want to read it but not sure about right now.

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  6. You should share some of your own poetry with your readers :). You know what I’m up to – home and uncool. Reading a book by Karen White from an actual library (gasp!). Hopefully I don’t lose this one (actually never lost one but it was close.) I remembered Karen’s name when I went back to the library because we know someone in town with the same name, but spelled differently.

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  7. More reading time is for me the only redeeming thing to this horrible white stuff.
    I have been reading a lot of Asian authors: Japanese classics and modern, plus haiku collections, and a Chinese thriller!

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  8. A day at home reading, snuggled under a blanket on the couch, sounds blissful. I just finished How to be an Antiracist and thought it was super interesting. I like that he threaded personal stories throughout that showed we are all a work in progress.

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  9. You have me craving sushi now.

    I am finishing up Something in the Water. It’s a Reese Club pick and very readable. A page-turner but I can’t shake that I’ve read it before. I’ve also been reading several Bible studies on the YouVersion app. I always do one or two but I signed up for some challenge so I added a bunch more and it’s turned my week around. I like to start each day in that app. Seems to help set the tone for the rest of the week.

    All I have on my mind this weekend is food and the Oscars. I finally get to watch it again. Student ministry has conflicted with it for the past three years.

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  10. The weather was pretty weird here this morning — snow, sleet, and rain all at once — but it has stopped. No snow day for me. My parents are supposed to get a foot of snow by the end of today, though, so YUCK for them. Glad you get a day of reading at home!

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