BLACK COFFEE POET READS @ SPINLAW 2014

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

Reading at SPINLAW 2014Last Saturday I had the honour of reading at the York University Osgoode Hall Law School conference SPINLAW (Student Public Interest Network Legal Action Workshop) for the second year in a row!

For SPINLAW 2013 I read a poem commissioned by SPINLAW: Spreading The Roots Of The Living Tree. I take great pride in my first commissioned poem being read, and well received, at a social justice conference.

This year I read an essay about the second time I was incarcerated, The Bull Pen, and a letter from me to my deceased friend, former Osgoode Hall student, Wendy Babcock.  The audience enjoyed both!

BIG thanks to the SPINLAW 2014 team:

Darcel Bullen, Jennifer Brown, Richard E Lanns, Emily Meuser, Juan de Villa, and Alison Mintoff.

And thanks Lorne Sossin, Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School.

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VIDEO BLOG: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2014 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

BCP reading The Will To Change by bell hooksThis video blog is a companion to my previous post Black Coffee Poet’s Book Recommendations for Black History Month 2014.

In this video I show the books while talking about them and their authors.

Watch, SHARE, Tweet and comment on this video.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Black Coffee Poet YOUTUBE channel!

If you appreciate the work I do consider treating me to a coffee or making a donation to blackcoffeepoet.com.  Click on the CONTACT page above to find out how.

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BLACK COFFEE POET’S BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2014

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

BCP reading Audre LordeBlack Coffee Poet’s Book Recommendations For Black History Month 2014

By Jorge Antonio Vallejos

I remember growing up and listening to my Black friends (my first crew comprised of 5 Caribbean boys and I) make correct claims that our school system never taught books written by Black writers.  And they would point out the one green page that was used to teach Black history to students.

One page!

I hope things have changed.

Below is a list of books I have enjoyed and recommend.  In the photo to the left I am holding a collection of poems by Audre Lorde (1934-1992) who was seminal to women of colour and queer women writers being published, read, and heard.  Yesterday was Lorde’s birthday; Lorde is not physically with us anymore; I hold and list her book in honour of the historical and groundbreaking work she did.

All the books listed are great.  The list includes writers of different genders; straight and queer writers; writers from North America, the Caribbean, and the continent of Africa.

The book on this list that has impacted me the most is The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity and Change by bell hooks.  It’s a must for all men to read!  I read, underlined, re-read, journaled, and talked about this book after reading it.  And I will re-read it again and again.  I have changed and learned and will continue to change and learn, and as is life, I have messed up and will always mess up but I will learn from mess ups, question myself, and change and…

Read, SHARE, Tweet, and enjoy the books on this list!

There are many pages here, none of them green, and all of them worth your time.  Enjoy…

Poetry

The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde

rivers…and other blackness..between us by d’bi.young.anitafrika

Mixology by Adrian Matejka

My Best Friend Is White by Klyde Broox

Black Hisotry 2014 Poetry books

Fiction

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Another Country by James Baldwin

Skinfolk by Nalo Hopkinson

Black Hisotry 2014 List Fiction books

Memoir and Essay

Affirmative Acts by June Jordan

One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainana

Brother I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat

Black History Month 2014 Memoir and Essay books

Social Science

Silenced by Makeda Silvera

The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks

Black History Month 2014 Social Science books

Reportage

Far From Over: The Music and Life of Drake by Dalton Higgins

Black History Month 2014 Reportage book

Do you appreciate the work I do?  Do you have a book you’d like me to read? Consider treating me to a coffee, donating to my site, and sending me a book!  Click here to find out how. 

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AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN MURDERED IN ONTARIO, CANADA + PHOTO ESSAY OF THE 9th ANNUAL STRAWBERRY CEREMONY IN HONOUR OF MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN (TORONTO)

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

Yellow sing Your Sisters Are Our SistersHundreds of Indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered in the land now known as Canada.  Every February 14th, Indigenous peoples and their allies gather in front of police headquarters in Toronto, Canada (and various places across the country) to Honour and Remember these women.

The photo essay below is from today (February 14, 2014) at the 9th Annual Strawberry Ceremony for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Photos taken by Jorge Antonio Vallejos aka Black Coffee Poet (ask for use of photos)

Originally appearing on the No More Silence website is an incomplete list of Indigenous women who have died violent and premature deaths in Ontario, Canada:

♥ Alice Quoquat Netemegesic, murdered in Thunder Bay in the late 1970s.
♥ Alissa Martin-Travers, 5, murdered in Cornwall, April 2008.
♥ Audrey Brown, murdered in Lac La Croix First Nation, Sept. 2007.
♥ Barbara Shapwaykeesic, murdered in Thunder Bay in 1989.
♥ Bella (Nancy Marie) LaBoucan McLean, 25, fell from 31st floor of a Toronto condo on July 20, 2013.
♥ Bernadette Leclair, 16, murdered in Thunder Bay in 1987.
♥ Caroll Lou Viau, 41, missing from Thunder Bay in September 1985.
♥ Carolyn Connolly, 54. beaten and repeatedly stabbed to death, her body found on August 2, 2008 near Sherbourne and Dundas Streets, Toronto.
♥ Cheyenne Fox, 20, fell from 24th floor of a Don Mills condo on April 25, 2013.
♥ Cynthia Lynette Jamieson, 44 of Six Nations; beaten, brutally raped and murdered in Hamilton on June 12, 2002.

Mother holding photo of daughter
♥ Deanna Daw, of Fort Frances; shot to death on Oct. 29, 2000.
♥ Debbie Sloss- Clarke, 42, found dead in her room at Gerrard and Sherbourne, Toronto on July 29, 1997.
♥ Deborah Toulouse, 41, murdered in Wikwemikong on May 18, 2002.
♥ Denise Bourdeau, 39, murdered in Kitchener Waterloo in Jan. 2007.
♥ Diane Dobson, 36, found dead in ditch in Windsor in Feb. 1995.
♥ Diane Marshall, 43, found dead in Toronto in May 2006.
♥ Donna Kabatay, approx. late teens; murdered in Seine River First Nation.
♥ Donna Tebbenham, raped and murdered in Thunder Bay in 1987.
♥ Doreen Hardy, 18, murdered in Thunder Bay in 1996.
♥ Edith McGinnis Quagon, 42; murdered in Minneapolis.

Medicine Wheel Drum
♥ Elaine LaForme, 48, murdered in New Credit on Jan. 22, 2012
♥ Elena Assam-Thunderbird, 17, sexually assaulted and beaten to death on June 1, 2002.
♥ Helen Gillings; murdered in Hamilton, February 1995.
♥ Helen Louise Jacobs, 73, murdered in Elliot Lake, July 2005.
♥ Helyna Rivera of Six Nations 25, murdered in 2011 in Buffalo
♥ Holly Anne Painter, missing from East York since June 1995.
♥ Jane Jack, stabbed to death in Kenora on April 28, 1995.
♥ Jane Louise Sutherland, 20, fully clothed body found on Oct. 23, 1984 in Hull’s Jacques Cartier Park across the Ottawa River from Lowertown.
♥ Jennifer Stewart, stabbed to death in Ottawa in August 2010.
♥ Jordina Skunk, 29, found frozen to death in Fort Severin First Nation on January 31, 2008.

Group Photo
♥ Josephine Thompson, 18; murdered in 1971 – her body found by the railway tracks in Macdiarmid/Rocky Bay.
♥ Judie Thibault, 57, murdered in Thunder Bay in November 2000.
♥ Katelynne Sampson, 7, found dead with signs of bodily trauma on August 3, 2008 in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood.
♥ Kelly Morrisseau, 27 and 7 months pregnant; murdered in Ottawa; her body found in Gatineau Park on December 10, 2006.
♥ Laura Pilon, 22, murdered in Thunder Bay in 1992.
♥ Lisa Lynn Anstey, 21, last seen getting into a car on Bleeker St; found murdered behind Street City in Toronto on May 12, 1997.
♥ Liz Bonney, murdered in Cat Lake First Nation in 1992.
♥ Lorraine Rivers, murdered in Thunder Bay.
♥ Mae Morton, 17, raped and left to freeze to death outside Beardmore in 1962.
♥ Margaret Yvonne Guylee, disappeared in Toronto in 1965.

Young Jibwe holding photo
♥ Margaret Perrault (Bluebird), 32, murdered in Thunder Bay in 1988.
♥ Mary Ann Davis, 25, murdered in Zhiibaahassing (Manitoulin Island) First Nation.
♥ Mary Peters King, murdered in Thunder Bay.
♥ Maxine Susanne Peters, 34, of Walpole Island First Nation; shot and killed on June 13, 2004.
♥ Meloni Sutton, 18, of Fort Frances; reported missing on March 13, 2003 and found murdered in Kenora
a month later.
♥ Mercedes Stevens, 9, murdered in Kashechewan First Nation, Sept. 2006.
♥ Pamela Holopainen, 22, of Schumacher; last seen in Timmins on Dec. 14, 2003.
♥ Petrina Whitecrow; murdered in Fort Frances.

Braid
♥ Rena Fox, 38, murdered in Thunder Bay, Feb. 2003.
♥ Samantha Johnings, of Hamilton, 19 months; sexually assaulted and murdered on Dec. 13, 1992.
♥ Sandra Kaye Johnson, 18, found dead on Feb. 13, 1992 near 110 Ave in Thunder Bay.
♥ Sarah Jane Wawia Bernard, murdered in Thunder Bay in 1966.
♥ Sarah Mason, 44, murdered in Thunder Bay in 1997.
♥ Sarah Skunk, 43, missing from Thunder Bay since 1995.
♥ Shelley Lynne Joseph, of Six Nations, 43, stabbed to death in Hamilton on July 2nd 2004.
♥ Sonya Nadine Mae Cywink, 31, found dead in 1994 at Southwold Prehistoric Earthworks near Iona.
♥ Spring Phillips, 26, murdered in Toronto in December 2009.
♥ Stacey Diabo, 18 of Kahnawake; killed in Sept. 2003.

Terra Jean Gardner
♥ Susan Asslin, 19, brutally stabbed to death near Dryden in 1974.
♥ Sylvia Gaudet, 52 of Hamilton; found murdered on Jan. 5, 2005.
♥ Tashina Cheyenne Vaughn General, 21, murdered along with her unborn child, body found on
April 26, 2008 at Six Nations, near Chiefswood Road and Indian Line.
♥ Terra Gardener, 26, was killed by a train in Toronto on May 14, 2013.
♥ Theresa Wilkins Jamieson, body found Spring 2011 in Thames River, Chatham.
♥ Therese Labbe, 47, body found in Mountjoy River in October 1989.
♥ Tricia Paquette, 8, murdered in Brantford, February 1978.
♥ Viola Melvin, 67, murdered in Toronto on April 14, 1977.
♥ Viola Panacheese, 42, missing from Sioux Lookout since August 1991.

Cheyenne Wesley holding photo
♥ Virginia Nootchchtai, 31, missing from Whitefish, October 1988
♥ Vivian Cada, 53, found dead on June 30, 2005 in apt. at 285 Shuter St, Toronto.

Every February 14th we will honour and remember Indigenous women who have gone missing or been murdered. In the words of 2 Spirit Menominee poet Chrystos:

We pray for her

We sing for her

We drum for her

We pray

Do you appreciate the work I do?  Do you have a book you’d like me to read? Consider treating me to a coffee, donating to my site, and sending me a book!  Click here to find out how. 
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HUNDREDS OF ABORIGINAL WOMEN ARE MISSING AND HAVE BEEN MURDERED IN CANADA

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

Thunderbird sign Native Rally 2013Is Canada a utopia?

It’s often described as such: safe haven, melting pot, welcoming…

For many people it is not any of these.

One of the main things that is not talked about is that Canada is stolen land.

Canada is a corporation that has not honoured many treaties with the original peoples of Turtle Island now known as Canada.  And the many different peoples from different Aboriginal nations who were here before Canada was formed are still here, and they are often forgotten, as well as vilified, by the larger Canadian society.

One of Canada’s main dirty secrets is that 800-plus Aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing since the late 1970s.

And Canada is doing nothing about it!

Every February 14th thousands of Aboriginal peoples and their allies hold vigils, rallies, talks, and many other events to bring awareness to the epidemic.

Join them!

Below are three video resources for you to find out more about the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal women in the land now known as Canada.

Here is an interview I did with Haisla writer Eden Robinson in 2011.  She breaks down this epidemic quite well:

I had the privilege of being on Indigenous Waves Radio in 2012.  We talked about the epidemic and actions to stop it:

In 2012 community Elder Wanda Whitebird shared her knowledge on the epidemic and how it all started!

Take action!

Educate yourself and others on this epidemic.  SHARE and TWEET these videos; attend vigils and rallies and talks; and remember the 800+ Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women in the land now known as Canada.

Do you appreciate the work I do?  Do you have a book you’d like me to read? Consider treating me to a coffee, donating to my site, and sending me a book!  Click here to find out how. 

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WASHING THE WORLD: A POEM FOR CANADA’S 800+ MISSING AND MURDERED ABORIGINAL WOMEN

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

Washing the World

By Anna Marie Sewell

In the dark at this end of the year
so much stacked up against the light
between us, against the odds
despite the tears, in this season’s bitter wind
listen to a dream
in which grandmothers stand
shoulder to shoulder, on the rim of a hill
they bend as one, and grasp one thing together
ask them, in the dream world, why
do they cry… and they will show you in reply
their shawls of many colours, spread these wings
sweep you in and teach you how
once a year, in the dark of the year
we wash the whole world in a day.
for one day, we cry.
 
from one dawn to the next
remember the fallen
mourning for the broken
wailing for regrets
love lost, wrong words, wrong actions
unbalanced moments and all the cracks
between heart and heart, parent and child
lover and beloved friend, nation and nation
creature, and creature of another kind
 
for what we choose and what we neglect to choose
for what we wish we’d known
for each hand unclasped
the tongue unbridled
one whisper falling short of heard
the bread far from the hunger
the apology
the confusion
the broken road
 
these things we gather in this blanket
brown and sand and beige
we wash the world, between us
we hold this blanket, fill it with our tears
and when we have cried
from one dawn to the next
then we will rise, and we dance
cradling this ocean, bitter healing, dark
 
let them lay your hands upon the truth of beauty lost
heavy, soft as moss
this blanket full of tears and dust and dying
becomes, as the light is returning
the promise
washed clean
by our sorrow
not so much redemption
as the logic of seasons
calls for justice, to restore the rhythm
one day, the lawmakers must exit
their echoing halls, fall in
with the grandmothers
dancing
carrying it
cry it clean
until light through their bodies
translates to rainbows strung over the land.
she tells me that, her eyes all red.
and shrugs.
and trudges off through the deep
snow blanket that covers
this end of another year
waiting.
AMSewell/Edmonton/2013
ams at homeAnna Marie Sewell is Ojibway, Mi’gmaq from Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation in Quebec, and Polish.  She is the author of Fifth World Drum (Frontenac House 2009) and was Edmonton’s 4th Poet Laureate (2011-13). See webofvisions.wordpress.com/ writing collected in her installation, The Poem Catcher – 18 months, 1000+ pages, writers from around the world. Her other work continues, at The Learning Centre Literacy Association, at prairiepomes.com/.  Sewell will be opening for Joy Harjo at Edmonton Poetry Festival, April 20, 2014.
To find out more about Canada’s Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women click on the links below:
Do you appreciate the work I do?  Do you have a book you’d like me to read? Consider treating me to a coffee, donating to my site, and sending me a book!  Click here to find out how. 
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THE SITE OF MEMORY: NOTES FROM A TALK BY TONI MORRISON

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

Toni Morrison talkingThe Site of Memory: Notes From A Talk By Toni Morrison

By Jorge Antonio Vallejos

Two days ago I finished Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir edited by William Zinsser.

It’s a collection of essays by well known biographers and memoirists, one being Toni Morrison whose speech The Site of Memory ended the collection.  Here are notes from that talk.  (See what else I am reading via my Winter 2014 Reading List.)

Books (slave narratives) mentioned:

* The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olandah Equuiano by Olandah Equuiano

* The African, Written By Himself by Gustavus Vassa

* Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself by Harriet Jacob (Linda Brent)

* Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave, Written by Himself by Frederick Douglas

* Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself by Henry Bibb

* 12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northrop

Why slave narratives were written and published:

* former slaves used their stories to expose the horrors of slavery

* writers knew “literacy was power”

* voting was connected to the ability to read

* “literacy was a way of assuming and proving the “humanity” that the constitution denied them

* slave narratives carried the subtitles “written by himself” and “herself” to authenticate the narrative.  Prefaces by white sympathizers also authenticated the books.

The climate in which these books were written:

* The Age of Scientific Racism, a twin of The Age of Enlightement

* Founders of The Age of Scientific Racism: David Hume, Emmanuel Kant, Thomas Jeffereson

* “Never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration, never see even an elementary trait of painting or sculpture.”– Thomas Jefferson

* “This fellow was quite black from head to foot, a clear proof that what he said was stupid.” — Emmanuel Kant

* “Over and over, the writers pull the narrative up short with a phrase such as, “But let us drop a veil over these proceedings too terrible to relate.” In shaping the experience to make it palatable to those who were in a position to alleviate it, they were silent about many things, and they “forgot” many other things. There was a careful selection of the instances that they would record and a careful rendering of those that they chose to describe.” — Toni Morrison

Why Toni Morrison writes:

* “For me–a writer in the last quarter of the twentieth century, not much more than a hundred years after Emancipation, a writer who is black and a woman–the exercise is very different. My job becomes how to rip that veil drawn over “proceedings too terrible to relate.” The exercise is also critical for any person who is black, or who belongs to any marginalized category, for, historically, we were seldom invited to participate in the discourse even when we were its topic.”

* “I consider that my single gravest responsibility is not to lie.”

* “…the crucial distinction for me is not the difference between fact and fiction, but the distinction between fact and truth.  Because facts can exist without human intelligence, but truth cannot.”

Writing process:

* “The image comes first and tells me what the memory is about

* “…no matter how “fictional” the account…or how much it was a product of invention, the act of imagination is bound up with memory.”

* “All water has a perfect memory and is trying to get back to where it was.  Writers are like that: remembering where we were, what valley we ran through, what the banks were like, the light that was there and the route back to our original place.  It is emotional memory–what the nerves and the skin remember as well as how it appeared.  And a rush of imagination is our flooding.”

* “…like water, I remember where I was before I was “straightened out”.

Advice for writers:

* “When you first start writing – and I think its true for a lot of beginning writers- you’re scared to death that if you don’t get that sentence right that minute it’s never going to show up again. And it isn’t. But it doesn’t matter- another one will, and it’ll probably be better.”

* “…I don’t mind writing badly for a couple of days because I know I can fix it- and fix it again and again and again, and it will be better. I don’t have the hysteria that used to accompany some of those dazzling passages that I thought the world was just dying for me to remember. I’m a little more sanguine about it now. Because the best part of it all, the absolutely most delicious part, is finishing it and then doing it over. That’s the thrill of a lifetime for me: if I can just get done with that first phase and then have infinite time to fix it and change it.”

* “I rewrite a lot, over and over again, so that it looks like I never did. I try to make it look like I never touched it, and that takes a lot of time and a lot of sweat.”

Notes from Previous Writers Talks:

Declaring and Taking Back the Power of Words: Notes From A Talk by Daniel Heath Justice

Writing For The Sake of Story: Notes From A Fiction Writing Workshop By Richard Wagamese

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VLOG: BLACK COFFEE POET’S WINTER 2014 READING LIST

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

BCP reading Joanne ArnottIn my last post, Black Coffee Poet’s Winter 2014 Reading List, I listed all the books I’m reading this winter.

This video-blog is a companion to my reading list.  I show you the books, talk about their authors, and big up some of the publishers who treat me well.

A little bit of my politics are mixed in here: see my t-shirt and you’ll know what I mean.

Watch, SHARE, and Tweet this video!

Please comment on this video and subscribe to my youtube channel!

Enjoy my new VLOG!

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BLACK COFFEE POET’S WINTER 2014 READING LIST

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

BCP reading Simon OrtizWinter Reading List 2014

By Jorge Antonio Vallejos

It’s a new season, which means  it’s time for a new reading list.  I’m a bit late putting this up but there’s still close to two months left of this cold winter: fifty-two days to be exact.

Some of these books have already been read since December 21st, the start of winter. Some that I’ve read I forgot to put on here; sorry.  Some are being read at the moment. Some are re-reads such as After and Before The Lightning by Simon J. Ortiz and Mind Gym.

This list has two new sections: “Anthologies” and “Literature Journals”.  I’ve had such books included in previous lists but lumped them in with other sections.  Now they have their own home.

Poetry

Winter Poems Along The Rio Grande by Jimmy Santiago Baca

Evidence of Red: Poems and Prose by LeAnne Howe

Rosa Rose and Other Poems by Robert Priest

Argument With the Lake by Tanis Rideout

The Civic Mindedness of Trees by Ken Howe

Music Garden by Jim Nason

A Night For The Lady by Joanne Arnott

After and Before the Lightning by Simon J. Ortiz

Whirr and Click by Michelle Maylor

A Bitter Mood of Clouds by Vivian Hansen

Winter 2014 Reading List Poetry

Fiction

Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson

Winter 2014 Reading List Fiction

Literature Journals

Rampike: Sur-Teksts Vol. 22/No. 2

Exile The Literary Quarterly Vol. 36/No. 3

Winter 2014 Reading List Literature Journals

Anthologies

Best Sex Writing 2008 Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Inventing The Truth: The Art And Craft of Memoir edited by William Zinsser

Sovereign Bones: New Native American Writing Edited by Eric Gansworth

Zhush Redux: An Outwrites Anthology 

Winter 2014 Reading List Anthologies

Spiritual and Self Improvement

Mind Gym by Gary Mack and David Castevens

Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey

Winter 2014 Reading List Spirtual and Motivational

Writing Reference

Advice To Writers by Jon Winkour

Winter 2014 Reading List Writing Reference

I have 52 days left to read these books.  I plan on reading them all!

I’m a reader and a writer.  I’m re-reader and a re-writer.  I’m a word lover.

These books and this list, along with my faith, family, friends, and my physical and spiritual art (The Gentle Way) are the most important things to me.  I see no better way to spending my time this winter.

If you’d like to join me in reading some of these books email me: blackcoffeepoet@gmail.com.

You can also friend me on Face Book, follow me on Twitter, and subscribe to my YOUTUBE channel; all three are under the name Black Coffee Poet.

Happy winter reading.  Stay warm and inspired.

Peace, Prayers, Poetry,

Jorge Antonio Vallejos

Black Coffee Poet

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BLACK COFFEE POET’S TOP 10 BOOKS READ IN 2013

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Black Coffee Poet

Black Coffee Poet reading ChrystosI wanted to wait until 2013 was over to put up a top 10 list.

Every year I intentionally read a mix of poetry, essays, reportage, short stories, spiritual, and self help/motivational books. “Read everything” is what Chicnao writer Jimmy Santiago Baca and Acoma writer Simon Ortiz both said to me.  I listened. And I read books both new and old.  Good writing is good writing no matter what genre or year.

Many books I enjoyed in 2013 did not make the list.  And some of you might notice that no poetry books made the list.  It’s just how it happened. Plus, every year I re-read my favourite book of poems: Not Vanishing by Chrystos.

Here is my top 10 list for 2013 with only one book published in 2013:

1. Best American Essays 2011 Edited by Edwidge Danticat

2. What Good Is God? In Search Of A Faith That Matters by Philip Yancey

3. Affliction by Russell Banks

4. Mastery by Sensei George Leonard

5. The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

6. Nothing More Than Murder by Jim Thompson

7. Become A Better You by Joel Osteen

8. Rumble Fish by S.E Hinton

9. Best Sex Writing 2013 Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel

10. The Prisoner’s Wife by Asha Bandele

Let me know if you have read any of these.  And let me know what you think of the list!

See my 2013 reading lists below:

Winter 2013 

Spring 2013

Summer 2013 

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