THE SECRET BOOKS PROJECT
We all have favorite books, movies, and music. Some are classics, or at least well-known perennial favorites: my all-time favorite book, "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" by Joan Didion is hardly obsure, at least in the circles I run with. But lately I've discovered that most people have "secret" favorites, too. Secret favorites are the books (and movies and music) that somehow slipped under even the most avant-garde radar, obscure and incredible books that we found somehow. We recommend them to our friends (who have inevitably never heard of them), re-read them, and look them up when we visit far-away libraries just to be sure that they're alive and well.
"Talking to the Sun" (edited by Kenneth Koch) is my secret book. It's a childrens' anthology of poetry and art that I checked out of the Cameron Public Library obsessively, read obsessively. Now that I'm teaching poetry in public schools, it's an invaluable resource, too, and I can't believe how obscure it is. When I trace back my history with poetry, this book was one of the first that showed me how much was possible, taught me to read and love it. "Talking to the Sun" may even be the reason I'm a writer. After all of this time it still feels like my own secret book.
So, here's the project: e-mail me the story of your secret book (or movie or music): tell me when and how you found it and what it means to you. Or, talk to me about it the next time you see me. Maybe I can interview you sometime. Eventually I'll collect them and publish them in a zine. Most importantly, we can all experience the delight of finding something incredible and new in the public library.
E-mail me at sesmith (at) andrew (dot) cmu (dot) edu. That's an old (and nearly defunct) address, but there's no freaking way I'm giving out the real deal to you (potential) pervs. Also, include something about the secret books project in the subject line or I'll never find it in the morass of bizarre spam e-mail.
We all have favorite books, movies, and music. Some are classics, or at least well-known perennial favorites: my all-time favorite book, "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" by Joan Didion is hardly obsure, at least in the circles I run with. But lately I've discovered that most people have "secret" favorites, too. Secret favorites are the books (and movies and music) that somehow slipped under even the most avant-garde radar, obscure and incredible books that we found somehow. We recommend them to our friends (who have inevitably never heard of them), re-read them, and look them up when we visit far-away libraries just to be sure that they're alive and well.
"Talking to the Sun" (edited by Kenneth Koch) is my secret book. It's a childrens' anthology of poetry and art that I checked out of the Cameron Public Library obsessively, read obsessively. Now that I'm teaching poetry in public schools, it's an invaluable resource, too, and I can't believe how obscure it is. When I trace back my history with poetry, this book was one of the first that showed me how much was possible, taught me to read and love it. "Talking to the Sun" may even be the reason I'm a writer. After all of this time it still feels like my own secret book.
So, here's the project: e-mail me the story of your secret book (or movie or music): tell me when and how you found it and what it means to you. Or, talk to me about it the next time you see me. Maybe I can interview you sometime. Eventually I'll collect them and publish them in a zine. Most importantly, we can all experience the delight of finding something incredible and new in the public library.
E-mail me at sesmith (at) andrew (dot) cmu (dot) edu. That's an old (and nearly defunct) address, but there's no freaking way I'm giving out the real deal to you (potential) pervs. Also, include something about the secret books project in the subject line or I'll never find it in the morass of bizarre spam e-mail.
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