The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening 2021
by Christina M. Rau
Fanfare for reading as much as I did! I usually don’t get to read a lot, so I made it a priority. The watching was mostly mindless and fun. The listening was heavy on podcasts. Here’s the rundown of how my year shaped up.
READING
Graphic novels and comics: I rarely read visual literature because I have cognitive spatial issues, like I don’t know my left from my right without thinking about it for a moment. I found these easy to follow and enjoyed reading:
Black Hole by Charles Burns, a collected comic series about a plague that descends on teens
In: A Graphic Novel by Will McPhail, in which I punched the page at one point because I started crying
Good Talk by Mira Jacob, yasssssss!
Poetry—I absolutely loved all the poetry I read this year:
Not Sorry by Vicki Iorio
Teahouse of the Almighty by Patricia Smith
Homie by Danez Smith
Magical Negro by Morgan Parker
Core Samples from the World by Forrest Gander
Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series by Tyler Knott Gregson
The Octopus Museum by Brenda Shaughnessy, a specpo collection that poses, What if octopi took over?
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz, this collection garners a special yassss
These next two are part of a trilogy by Alexis Pauline Gumbs. I read M Archive a few years ago and published a write up in The Cascadia Subduction Zone. Gumbs’s speculative series is everything sci-fi-fem poetry should be:
Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity
Dub: Finding Ceremony
Nonfiction
The Answer Is by Alex Trebek, a sentimental read
Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright
Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction by Damien Keown
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova, within the first two pages, I felt better about how my brain works
Fiction
They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman, a YA novel that made me never miss being a teenager
That’s Not A Feeling by Dan Josefson, a novel that made me never miss being in school
Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko, the second in a series of tween novels set in Alcatraz that read like young adult historical fiction
How To Kidnap The Rich by Rahul Raina, fast-paced and really a fun read
The Boy In The Black Suit by Jason Reynolds, and anything by Reynolds is good
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, fast-paced and refreshing
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott, thrilling as all Abbott books are
With The Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo, and anything by Acevedo is good
Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann, a book that led me to think about the Twin Towers again
Books that unexpectedly had whales in them
Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jamison
Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life by Darcey Steinke
Let’s not forget literary journals!
The Disappointed Housewife (https://thedisappointedhousewife.com/)
fillingStation (http://www.fillingstation.ca/)
VIEWING
The Masked Singer
Love Island
Supermarket Sweep, both the old version and the new one
America Says
People Puzzler
I also watched some Netflix: Trial of the Chicago 7, Red Notice, some Mike Birbiglia stand-up, The Crew, The Last Blockbuster, Tiffany Haddish Presents, basically a lot more stand-up
And on Hulu: Shrill and Vacation Friends
And on Paramount+: The Real World because nostalgia
LISTENING
Reality Gays Podcast
VS (Versus Podcast through the Poetry Foundation)
The Problem with Jon Stewart
Awaken (Rubin Museum)
The History of Standup (apparently, I needed to laugh this year)
Louder Than A Riot
The Dork Forest
The Slowdown (poetry podcast)
Exit Scam
Christina M. Rau is the author of the 2021 poetry collection What We Do To Make Us Whole, the Elgin Award-winning sci-fi fem poetry collection, Liberating The Astronauts (Aqueduct Press), and WakeBreatheMove (Finishing Line Press) and For The Girls, I (dancing girl press). She’s served as Poet In Residence for Oceanside Library NY, was named Long Island Poet of the Year by Walt Whitman Birthplace, and is the recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Creative Works and a New York State DEC arts grant through Huntington Arts Council. She also serves as Editor-in-chief for the international literary journal The Nassau Review at Nassau Community College, where she teaches writing. http://www.christinamrau.com
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