Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you’re reading or that might fit the 12th Read Harder task. Sign up for our new Read Harder newsletter to get recommendations for each task delivered straight to your inbox! https://bookriot.com/newsletter/read-...

These are some titles I've seen mentioned or have found that seem interesting so far:

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
Anybody: Poems by Ari Banias
Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith
How Far You Have Come by Morgan Harper Nichols
You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson
Where Hope Comes From by Nikita Gill
I'll Fly Away by Rudy Fancisco

I'm also planning to do the Goodreads Choice Awards Challenge, so I'm reading The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country.

I am not a poetry lover, but Homie looks intriguing.

Also reading Call Us What We Carry.

Tricia wrote: "These are some titles I've seen mentioned or have found that seem interesting so far:

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
Anybody: Poems by Ari Banias
Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith
How Far Y..."

Bonnie G. wrote: "I am not a poetry lover, but Homie looks intriguing."

Very good and I say that as a non-poetry person.

Bonnie G. wrote: "I am not a poetry lover, but Homie looks intriguing."
I thought Homie was good but Danez Smith's first collection, Don't Call Us Dead was amazing! I'm thinking I'll reread it for this prompt and highly recommend it. (also not much of a poetry person)

I think I will finally get to Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith this year!

I usually read a fair amount of poetry, so this is a task I'm likely to get to quickly without trying. One I have out from the library now that I don't know if I'll get to before 2022 starts is Is This Scary?: Poems. I also have Call Us What We Carry on hold with the library and it is unlikely to come in before the new year, so I'll be reading it in 2022.

If anyone is looking for recommendations, I'll add to those recommending Danez Smith, both Homie and Don't Call Us Dead are phenomenal. Other than that, some of the best stuff I've read this year includes it was never going to be okay, Postcolonial Love Poem, and I Am the Rage.

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

Tiffany wrote: "Bonnie G. wrote: "I am not a poetry lover, but Homie looks intriguing."
I thought Homie was good but Danez Smith's first collection, Don't Call Us Dead was amazing! ..."

Thanks for this recommendation! It's what I'm going to read for this. :)

For anyone wanting a collection of comic poems, try Pam Ayres or Gervase Phinn (at least I think he had a collection of poems, I remember reading one as a kid!)

I am big on Joy Harjo's poetry.

A few indigenous poetry books I'll be reading are:

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry

Native Voices: Indigenous American Poetry, Craft and Conversations

My daughter has poetry book by the the actress Lili Reinheart so I’m going to borrow that

Ron wrote: "I am big on Joy Harjo's poetry.

A few indigenous poetry books I'll be reading are:

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poe..."</i>


If you are a fan of indigenous poetry, I would highly recommend [book:Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry . I read this past year and absolutely loved. Joy Harjo gathered works from 47 contemporary Native poets for the Library of Congress as part of her signature laureate project. On the LOC website, you can explore a digital story map for these poems and hear audio of the poets reading their work and discuss the piece as well as their view on poetry and Native culture. It was an in depth and amazing way to experience the collection.

I had a goal to read 6 poetry collections in 2021, and I still have a few remaining! (Maybe one extra will carry over to 2022 for this challenge).

I'm currently reading Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O'Brien and it's so much fun - voicey and interacting with old Lovecraftian horror stories, and sometimes quite dark or sometimes quite funny!

Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver is another I really liked this year. Much more classic, with reminiscences on life and nature. Some very strong things here.

I have 2 on order at the library and 1 I recently bought that I need to read:
Calling Down the Sky by Rosanna Deerchild
Felon: Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts
Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger (yes, it's a Black Plague-themed poetry collection)

I read Kaveh Akbar's Calling a Wolf a Wolf a few years ago and was blown away by it.

I have Miracle Fair by Wislawa Szymborska on my list for this task which I bought this year but haven't started yet.

songs of innocence and experience by William Blake

Probably one of these three I just borrowed from the library:

Me
Home Is Not a Country
Call Us What We Carry

Megan wrote: "Probably one of these three I just borrowed from the library:

Me
Home Is Not a Country
Call Us What We Carry"

I just read 'Call Us What We Carry'. There was a lot of good poetry in it. Some of which I ended up highlighting.

I have never been drawn to poetry, have no appreciation for poetry, and sadly poetry doesn't speak to me...at all. Is anyone else in the same boat? What have you read that you actually did enjoy? I guess I could always fall back on an easy collection for children and call it a day!

I LOVED Finna by Nate Marshall

Elizabeth wrote: "I usually read a fair amount of poetry, so this is a task I'm likely to get to quickly without trying. One I have out from the library now that I don't know if I'll get to before 2022 starts is [bo..."

The second book I've finished in 2022, and the first book I both started and finished in 2022, I ended up reading [book:Is This Scary?: Poems|55407909] by Jacob Scheier. Some of the poems were deeply relatable (the poet writes about mental illness, chronic illness, Jewishness, and is Canadian), and there were some good ones in the overall collection, but it wasn't to my personal tastes as a whole which stopped me from fully connecting with it.

If anyone is interested in reading it, I'd add definite CW for suicide/suicidal ideation and institutionalisation.

I'm already planning to read A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson for the TBR challenge, but I would like to avoid double-dipping if possible, so I am looking for something else.

There are so many choices I can't decide yet, but am considering these:

Book of Sketches by Jack Kerouac

Citizen by Andrew Feld

Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson

Things of This World by Richard Wilbur


Wikipedia has a definition of what a poetry collection is and is not (e.g., a 'collection' differs in definition from volumes of a poet's 'collected poems' or 'selected poems,' as well as from a 'poetry anthology'), along with a (very incomplete) list of poetry collections, in their article "List of poetry collections."

I can't decide between The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology, A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry, or Leaves of Grass. I'm leaning towards Luminous Things.

I'm going with Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry

Sarah wrote: "I'm going with Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry"

I read that about a month ago after hearing Joy Harjo talking about it. It was really good. I even highlighted some of my favorite lines in several of the poems.

I think I might do Goldenrod: Poems I can wholeheartedly recommend Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude that I read last year. It is a delight.

These are some fairly recent poetry collections I've enjoyed and recommend:

Funny but also touching Midwestern poetry including wienermobile and Guy Fieri poems: Flavortown

Seconding this lyrical poetry: Finna

Lonely poems that pair well with Kristen Radtke's Seek You graphic novel: Popular Longing


also the BreakBeat Poets books are great and feature lots of different poets. I loved this one: The BreakBeat Poets, Vol. 3: Halal If You Hear Me

Julia wrote: "I have never been drawn to poetry, have no appreciation for poetry, and sadly poetry doesn't speak to me...at all. Is anyone else in the same boat? What have you read that you actually did enjoy? I..."

Replying to my own post: I did find a website of "8 Poetry Collections for People Who Don't Like Poetry." (https://www.bustle.com/articles/19372...)

From these, I selected Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth since my library had it in on the shelf that day and it was slim. :D

One of my goals this year is to dive into my at-home TBR a bit more, so I read I Hope You Stay for this one.

Julia wrote: "I have never been drawn to poetry, have no appreciation for poetry, and sadly poetry doesn't speak to me...at all. Is anyone else in the same boat? What have you read that you actually did enjoy? I..."

I am not a poetry reader either, but I truly loved Brown: Poems

I got Set Me On Fire: A Poem For Every Feeling for Christmas and read it all the way through first thing in 2022, although it would also be a lovely book to just read a poem or two every now and then throughout the year. Ella Risbridger has brought together poems from a truly diverse bunch of poets, old and new, in an effort to reach people who don't really enjoy poetry. As someone who enjoys poetry very much, I can't speak to that aim, but it's a fantastic anthology.

A book I discovered recently was Within the Walls of Yellowstone - Classic Accounts and Poetry of the World's First National Park .

I had thought of going with a different collection but when I found this one by chance it seemed more fitting. I've been to Yellowstone 7 times so it's become a favorite national park for me.

I've read stories about it here and there but this is a more recent poetry anthology which I think will be fun.

I haven't regularly read poetry since high school, when I loved slam/spoken word. I will probably go with something by Lacey Roop, who was one of my favorites, or potentially Blood Sugar by Nicole Blackman which I adored in high school, although that appears to be out of print? I remember having it in my Google Books account so I'll need to see if I can get into that...

I just finished Black Girl, Call Home and absolutely loved it, can't recommend it highly enough.

Rebecca wrote: "Also reading Call Us What We Carry.

Tricia wrote: "These are some titles I've seen mentioned or have found that seem interesting so far:

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
Any..."

I read Call Us What We Carry over the holiday break and I LOVED it! She is an amazing talent, her work will be in textbooks one day

I'm excited to try this author;

Fierce Fairytale

Ron wrote: "Megan wrote: "Probably one of these three I just borrowed from the library:

Me
Home Is Not a Country
Call Us What We Carry"

I just read 'Call Us Wh..."

Thank you for the recommendation! I finished Gorman's book and was amazed. Definitely one of the best modern poets I've read in recent years.

Megan wrote: Thank you for the recommendation! I finished Gorman's book and was amazed. Definitely one of the best modern poets I've read in recent years.

I completely agree. She's so articulate and so powerful in her tone and word choice.

So many poetry books to chose from but I found a new one that I think will be fun:

The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem

Julia wrote: "I have never been drawn to poetry, have no appreciation for poetry, and sadly poetry doesn't speak to me...at all. Is anyone else in the same boat? What have you read that you actually did enjoy? I..."

Have you tried the poet Wendy Cope? Her early collections "Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis" and "Serious Concerns" are short and really accessible - a lot of the poems are humorous.

I read Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman for this prompt.

Another one I recently discovered:

My Book of the Dead: New Poems

thrilled to see that someone mentioned Danny Caine's FLAVORTOWN - he's a good poet and a good guy :) I read I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL by Kate Baer, which I loved.

I read Breakpoint by Betsy Aoki for this, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is the first in this challenge I have completed and I had such an amazing experience!
I read Nikita Gill's poetry collection GREAT GODDESS: LIFE LESSONS FROM MYTHS AND MONSTERS
This was my first of Nikita Gill's that I have, but I will be reading more by her!

I read The Leaf And The Cloud by Mary Oliver for this challenge.

This challenge is oddly worded...this just means "a book of poetry" right? Not the entire collection of poems written by a specific author...

I'm going with Love in the Time of Coronavirus: A Pandemic Pilgrimage