on the shelf

My favorite part of summer vacation is the chance to sit back and catch up on my extensive reading list (which includes poetry collections, novels, non-fiction, literary journals, and magazines). I probably have a hundred books sitting at home that I’ll eventually get to, which doesn’t include all the books I haven’t even bought yet. The task of reading all the classics and keeping track of contemporary literature is quite daunting, but summer always gives me hope that someday, I’ll only have one more page to read.

I’ve been getting my fix of era-specific fiction with On the Road by Jack Kerouac (late forties), and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (sixties) which I finished in about two days. SF literary magazine Zyzzyva has also been keeping me riveted with its exceptional stories and poetry; the publication is defined by its contributor limitations of being a west coast writer. I’ve been glued to the pages of its Spring 2012 No. 94 volume (not shown above) and can’t wait to get my hands on back issues. I’ve also been reading the likes of Frank O’Hara and Anne Sexton lately, since I’m currently on a poetry-writing spree and can’t seem to write anything else.