BookBar's blog

By Blaine Heydt

By Ginny Short

Blanco’s recent book of poems is vivid and startling. There is no pretense of language or cleverness or attempt at intellectual gymnastics in this collection. What I love about it most is that it is completely approachable. Blanco, the Inaugural Poet for Barack Obama’s second inauguration, describes himself as “Latinx, immigrant, gay,” and sets himself the task to “explore more deeply my own civic and artistic duty in questioning and contributing to the American narrative…” This collection represents his exploration, and what a dark and radiant collection it is.

We’re here to help you choose your next book…

By Kateri Kramer

This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating balance. #BalanceForBetter because a balanced world is a better world. How can you help forge a more gender-balanced world? Celebrate women’s writing. Recommend books written by women. Take action for equality in the publishing industry by supporting VIDA.

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By Kateri Kramer

I’ve felt “stuck” creatively since I graduated from my MFA program. Whether that was because of burnout, the anxiety of influence, or the daily stresses of life I can’t say for sure. All I know is that I’ve been pining for more consistent creativity again. Keep Going by Austin Kelon, the third book in the Steal Like an Artist series, came to me at exactly the right time: when I was getting back to both writing and illustration.

By Becky LeJeune

As our Read-O-Lution 2019 party quickly approaches on March 1, we wanted to round up some of our first of the year reads. We didn't just read books though! We also listened to audiobooks on Libro.fm and tuned into some great bookish podcasts! See our lists  HERE

We are so excited to be hosting Pam Houston here at BookBar for a writing workshop and book launch party. We are even more thrilled that she is staying here with us at BookBed! While preparing the apartment for her I couldn't get LCD Soundsystem's song Daft Punk is Playing at My House out of my head. So I wrote a little ode to Pam via LCD Soundsystem:

Review by Becky LeJune

When Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings released, I dare say I wasn’t the only one surprised by the fact that the supermodel was a serious foodie. Sure, those who followed her online (and she has a massive following) were aware, but I know I wasn’t alone in learning it for the first time thanks to the book. And it got rave reviews!

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The forward to Peter Mishler’s collection Fludde begins “Occasionally, poetry provides us with raw proof of what it is to be alive, perceptions that never stray far from sensations, an illumination of sparks as opposed to, or at least in addition to, the steady artificial light of reason” (ix). This collection incorporates visual, concrete imagery that bends the mind to compare, or at least consider, seemingly displaced objects. Mishler keeps the reader ensnared in their body, experiencing the work – breathing it – engaging in a visceral, as opposed to cerebral, process.

Deep Creek – BookBar Book Review

Stephanie Vessely  
 

“For now,” writes Pam Houston in Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, “I want to sit vigil with the earth…I want to write unironic odes to her beauty, which is still potent, if not completely intact.”

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Review

By Kateri Kramer

The Collected Schizophrenias Book Review

by Stephanie Vessely 

Donna Hay begins her beautiful new book, MODERN BAKING: CAKES, COOKIES, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN with “Anyone who knows me will tell you baking is my therapy- it’s my own form of mindfulness meditation! Plus, it’s the way I nurture the people I love. When I can’t sleep, I often tiptoe into the kitchen and, in the calm quiet of the early morning, will begin to measure and mix- maybe a batch of oat cookies for my boys, a cake for a girlfriend’s birthday, or some raw caramel slice for my team at the office.

On Being 40(ish) – BookBar Book Review
by Stephanie Vessely