Among the Pages

A certain imbalance reached into March with volatile weather, like a lion, of course, which led me to two very different books for grounding. Having been a fan of his work for decades, I checked out William Eggleston’s impressive book of portraits. Then, coincidentally, a co-worker highly recommended a book she was returning. The book’s cover illustration and title were intriguing enough.

My Father the Pornographer: A Memoir by Chris Offutt
William Eggleston Portraits by Phillip Prodger & an appreciation by Sophia Coppola

While studying Eggleston’s composition and use of color and reading Offutt’s snappy chapters alternately, a common thread emerged—an exploration of how we know and don’t know people, no matter their proximity. Appearance is just that; it rarely yields a reliable knowing, but it offers a strong character of suggestion and nuance. A good-read pairing, I say. 

Among the Pages

How one greets a new year can be a toss-up. For some it’s a time to rejuvenate, make new resolutions, get back on the happy horse and move forward; for others it’s a time to look backward and let the introvert take the lead. For me, it’s the latter—a time to take internal inventory.

In keeping with this, I’ve chosen two books out of the MLC collection to read with a studious eye: Parchman by R. Kim Rushing and An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 by William Doyle. I highly recommend both books and what they call for—equitable change for all.

Among the Pages

Choosing a book to read. It’s not about only what’s newly published, hotly reviewed, or otherwise hitting the bestseller lists; it’s also about your mind wandering, a memory revisited, hearing something of interest through whatever medium, or simply a title and what it evokes. Like this, I read multiple books in shifts some months, bookmarked and ready to resume in whatever order I choose, some months just one book. Other months I look up, get on the road, and take photographs. Here’s what I’m reading now in no particular order:

• Compass & Clock (poems) by David Sanders (Swallow Press/ Ohio University Press)
• Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition by Adam Gussow (The University of North Carolina Press)
• Lonesome Lies Before Us (novel) by Don Lee (W.W. Norton & Company)
• ShallCross (poems) by C.D. Wright (Copper Canyon Press)
• Available Surfaces: Essays on Poesis by T. R. Hummer (The University of Michigan Press)
• She (novel) by Michelle Latiolais (W.W. Norton & Company)
• Ever (poems) by Ralph Adamo (Lavender Ink)
• Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann (Little, Brown and Company)
• Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe (Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Crazy Moon (poems) by Bet Wooten (Mila Ink)

Be adventurous. Be random. Enjoy!