I read poetry, write poetry, teach poetry, recommend poetry, buy poetry... And I'm an all-around literature lover who can't stop buying books. Books come in, but they don't go out -- thus my wall space in every room except the kitchen and bathroom is devoted to bookshelves.
My teaching specialization is in 20th-Century African...
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I read poetry, write poetry, teach poetry, recommend poetry, buy poetry... And I'm an all-around literature lover who can't stop buying books. Books come in, but they don't go out -- thus my wall space in every room except the kitchen and bathroom is devoted to bookshelves.
My teaching specialization is in 20th-Century African American literature; I also teach creative writing and I used to (and may again) teach Victorian literature. I am interested in poetics, and my scholarly methodologies are deeply invested in feminist and critical race approaches, so my bookshelves (the real ones and, as I get time, these Shelfari ones) reflect those things as well. I used to read a lot more "anything and everything," but once I became a literary scholar by profession, my reading time has become more and more devoted to books that I do or might teach or use in my scholarship. But I have continued to make time to read speculative fiction -- predominantly fantasy and "magical realism" -- even which I shouldn't!
My tastes are pretty broad in some ways, though that has to be contextualized. The style of writing I read and enjoy from the 19th Century would not fly with me if a contemporary author employed it. In contemporary fiction, I prefer modernist/postmodernist writing. In contemporary poetry, I like writing that appeals as much to the intellect as to the emotions (if not slightly more so) -- my preference is not quite for LANGUAGE poetry, but what gets called sometimes "experimental," sometimes "avant-garde" or "post-avant," sometimes "innovative."
I look forward to exchanges with readers who seek and can give recommendations of texts worth checking out. Although I (sadly) buy books a lot faster than I can read them, I will try to keep my Shelfari shelves (unlike my real shelves) limited to books I have already read, in whole or in part, so that I can speak to what I like and don't like about them, if asked! : )
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