April - Book Pick & Date

April is National Poetry Month! We will be reading The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands by Nick Flynn. I know that some of you are anxious about reading poetry, but this book club is not about being "correct" in your feelings or analysis of poetry (I don't think that there is even such thing as being "correct" in that sense), but instead it's just to read & enjoy the poems together. Nick Flynn is a wonderful poet and I hope everyone enjoys it.


We will be meeting at the amazing Birroteca (seriously, that place has incredible food & a huge beer selection) on April 27th at 1:00pm. I look forward to seeing all of you there!

Choose Your Own Adventure - April

April's theme is poetry, so please choose the book that you'd most like to read on the monthly poll. Here are some descriptions of each book, all of which are pulled from Amazon.

A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The title of this book is taken from Henry Miller's "Into the Night Life" and expresses the way Lawrence Ferlinghetti felt about these poems when he wrote them during a short period in the 1950's - as if they were, taken together, a kind of Coney Island of the mind, a kind of circus of the soul.

The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands by Nick Flynn
What begins as a meditation on love and the body soon breaks down into a collage of voices culled from media reports, childhood memories, testimonies from Abu Ghraib detainees, passages from documentary films, overheard conversations, and scraps of poems and song, only to reassemble with a gathering sonic force. It’s as if all the noise that fills our days were a storm, yet at the center is a quiet place, but to get there you must first pass through the storm, with eyes wide open, singing. Each poem becomes a hallucinatory, shifting experience, through jump cut, lyric persuasion, and deadpan utterance.

Low Parish by Steven Leyva







awaiting description
Useless Landscape by D.A. Powell
In D. A. Powell’s fifth book of poetry, the rollicking line he has made his signature becomes the taut, more discursive means to describing beauty, singing a dirge, directing an ironic smile, or questioning who in any given setting is the instructor and who is the pupil. This is a book that explores the darker side of divisions and developments, which shows how the interstitial spaces of boonies, backstage, bathhouse, or bar are locations of desire. With Powell’s witty banter, emotional resolve, and powerful lyricism, this collection demonstrates his exhilarating range.

The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck
This collection of stunningly beautiful poems encompasses the natural, human, and spiritual realms, and is bound together by the universal themes of time and mortality. With clarity and sureness of craft, Gluck's poetry questions, explores, and finally celebrates the ordeal of being alive.

Deadest Rapper Alive: The Rise of Lil' Wayne and the Fall of Urban Youth by Jomo K. Johnson
Labeled as one of the most polarizing urban book releases of 2011 — Deadest Rapper Alive gives a microscopic social analysis of Rap Superstar Lil Wayne. The Author challenges Lil’ Wayne’s fans and critics — to take a greater look into the rise, career, and impact of the cultural icon.” Written with a unique intellectual prowess and a near exhaustive knowledge of the Artist’s rise to fame, Jomo Johnson’s, Deadest Rapper Alive is a razor sharp exegesis of not only Lil’ Wayne’s body of work – but the impact of his philosophy upon Urban Youth. Mainstream Hip Hop Fans, Parents, and Social Critics alike would do well to read the book that has arguably ended the rap reign of Lil’ Wayne.

Who's the Best Rapper? Biggie, Jay-Z or Nas by Ronald Crawford
Ronald Crawford, a therapist and author uses hip-hop lyrics and dialog sessions to increase literacy and stimulate healing among at-risk youth

Thank you and please vote no later than March 15th.