Why Choose Books for your gifts this holiday season? Glad you asked. It's because there are few things more fun than giving someone a book they fall in love with; it lasts longer and matters more than, say, necklaces or sweaters, while rarely being more than about fifteen dollars. What's more, your purposeful choice of books, purchased from indie booksellers, supports a vibrant and dynamic literary culture in a time when the book world is struggling and even literacy is horrifically low. Choose Books because you really can make a difference. Choose Books because it is joyful.
In this series, you can look forward an ongoing guide to books as gifts; at the end of the season, it will be collected as an attractive PDF for you to download. More than a mere list of my personal favorites, Choose Books is outward-looking, featuring outstanding books of very different styles for very different tastes (and ages). Learn more about this series here.
What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics
By Adrienne Rich
Poet and provocateur, Adrienne Rich is one of the most original minds of both literature and activism. She has published no less than twenty-four collections of poetry, alongside many volumes of nonfiction and essays. In What Is Found There, Rich brings her many identities together with both verve and passion. What is the purpose of poetry in a world where there is so much suffering? How can social responsibility and art co-exist? How is it even possible to have something like "artistic integrity" when, as W.H. Auden once put it, "poetry does nothing?"
What is Found There is a hybrid book, at once a set of deeply-felt journals; sharp-sighted essays that take close readings of poets like Muriel Rukeyser, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Wallace Stevens; and something like an anthology--poems that both well-known and under-known are given space. As well, Rich draws in threads from visual art and the natural world.
The New York Times Book Review indicated that "this is a book of wisdom...more resonant with each rereading.” The Boston Globe called it, “Essential reading for ... anyone interested in the current debates on art and politics...and the spiritual and moral power of literature.” But June Jordan put it best:
The clear-eyed depth and the visionary stretch of these notes bespeak an irresistible, prophetic intelligence and a huge heart wrestling with the transformative power of poetry up against the needs of an emerging new world.
Who knows how long it would take me to find my way to Rich's book if it hadn't been for sale at an end-of-business sale? The only good thing about such sad sales is that it inspires readerly whims. This was one of mine. And now, it is a book that I will never be "done" reading. I want to put a copy in the hand of everyone I know.
This is a powerful book, and a joy to read.
Consider for people who are one or more of the following:
- People who struggle to balance their individual acts of creativity with a broader sense of social responsibility.
- Politically-minded folks who might be ready for more nuance (I'm thinking of an activist friend who told me that she only reads nonfiction now because her reading attention is inevitably limited and she feels compelled to give it to 'true stories' so she can better understand what's going on in the world. Rich's book could be something of a gateway drug for her, so that she can better see the expansive truth that can only be conveyed through fiction and poetry.)
- Bookworms with a generous heart.
Recommended Edition:
W.W. Norton
Paperback / $14.95
Definitely look for this 2003 "expanded edition" of the book (which was originally published ten years before): it features a new preface and a new essay, "Six Meditations in Place of a Lecture," that Rich wrote after September 11, 2001. Taken in the prism of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rich's book takes another shade of resonance.
Not to judge by it or anything, but it also has a much nicer cover than the original.
Where To Buy:
Your local independent bookseller. Find the shop nearest to you here. You might also want to prowl the used bookshops for treasures. If the book you want is not in stock, the bookseller will be happy to order it for you (almost always sans shipping); just ask! If there are really, truly no indie booksellers near you, consider ordering online from an independent bookseller, such as Brookline Booksmith or Powell's, and having it delivered to your doorstep. Another option: order online directly from the publisher.
Image Credit: Creative Commons, by db*photography.
Hi Anna,
I was very happy to find your site today through Emerging Writers Network, it's probably one of the best "about books" resources that I've stumbled into...I'm always digging around for something new to read, and feel that I have to get caught up! I've added you to my bloglist on "Upstate Girl" so my friends and readers can find you too!
Best wishes,
Laura
Posted by: Laura J. W. Ryan | November 27, 2009 at 09:51 PM
Such kind words, Laura -- thank you! And thanks for the tip on your own website; it's a lovely thing. Such pretty photos!
Posted by: Anna Clark | November 28, 2009 at 03:26 PM
I've heard this name (Adrienne Rich) a lot in the past few days. Now I really want to read this and I also know a person to give it too (your list of people to gift it inspired me).
Posted by: Stefania | March 25, 2011 at 06:35 PM