Poetry and About Poetry

The Great Crash of 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith My rating: 5 of 5 stars Sad to see how much Galbraith's prediction came true: that collective amnesia could eventually lead to another boom and bust almost as bad as the 1929 crash. View all my reviews

Given Sugar, Given Salt by Jane Hirshfield My rating: 4 of 5 stars Jane Hirshfield has written better collections, but this one still resonates with her revisioning of the most commonplace of things and events into the deeply significant. When so much poetry seemingly is written to exclude the reader, Hirshfield intimately and profoundly includes us. View all my reviews

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger My rating: 3 of 5 stars Perhaps I missed too much having not read this when I was 16 or so. I certainly can still recall the sense I had then that I was from another planet and terribly unlike everyone else in the world. There is a necessary narcissism to being that young and building some sense of self from apparently nothing. The scene where Holden walks streets fearful he will disappear is also something I can remember feeling when his age. Nonetheless, there were other novels I have read that have made a greater impact on me and probably would still be more impactful even if I had read Catcher 50 years ago. But who knows? maybe I am being a phony? View all my reviews