ALONE ON A WINDY RIDGE: A seriously bright day

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A seriously bright day

...and seriously bright books to match.

Top to railing:

An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton.

Thanks to Ian for recommending this book.

Beyond Religion by the Dalai Lama.

Damned Nations by Samantha Nutt.

In Other Worlds by Margaret Atwood.

Diplomacy in the Digital Age by Janice Gross Stein.

The Anatomy of Israel's Survival by Hirsh Goodman.

Arguably by Christopher Hitchens.

I won these six Signal Books by entering this contest at The Afterword.

How to Prepare for Flooding by Ariel Gordon and Julia Michaud.

A gorgeous chapbook. I owe Ariel for this.

The other day I pinned a draft of a new book to my bulletin boards. As I sat back and celebrated with a cup of hot chocolate, I thought of the people who have given me feedback and encouragement over the years. Thanks again.

As the year winds up I'd like to thank all of you for stopping by. May the year ahead be filled with great revisions!

8 comments:

Ariel Gordon said...: What a nice pile! (And you don't owe me a thing...); 21/12/11 11:09 PM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Tis! (Do too!); 22/12/11 9:04 AM
Blondi Blathers said...: I hope you heard the fine interview this morning with Samantha Nutt on CBC radio's The Current.; 23/12/11 10:34 AM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Darn, I missed that! Maybe they'll post it. Thanks!; 24/12/11 2:10 PM
Anonymous said...: THANK YOU! I and my bibliophile partner will be checking out these books for sure. (We are also bird lovers!) I just discovered your blog thanks to searching Google results for Carolyn McDade's wonderful Widening Embrace CD, and am very pleased -- I will be exploring your work! Earlier I followed your link to "I've Been Craving Eggs All Day" (annotated version). YouTube has disabled comments for that but I'm sending around to friends. Wonderful, wonderful!!!
CarolfromMassachusetts; 31/12/11 9:12 AM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Thanks, Carol! Happy new year!; 31/12/11 12:57 PM
Shawna Lemay said...: happy revisions too : ) a wonderful feeling.; 1/1/12 8:07 PM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Thanks, Shawna! :); 1/1/12 8:21 PM

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"This is a skilled poet having good fun, and inviting us all to join the party." - Shelley A. Leedahl, SaskBooks Reviews. Read more.

"Employing a variety of forms and the culvert stories — who knew? — of numerous people, she digs beneath the obvious roads to find out what keeps the water — the subconscious, the unconscious — flowing smoothly, discovering a variety of things about herself, notably the everyday masks we wear and the aging process we won’t always admit to." - Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix. Read more.

"For Schmidt is indeed a poet. Readers can expect to encounter many visual and acoustic delights along the way, from internal rhymes to arresting images." - Trevor Cook, The Antigonish Review #196.

"In Grid..., Creighton's Brenda Schmidt turns a colder eye to the landscape than most other Canadian poets." - Jonathan Ball, Winnipeg Free Press. Read more.

"You can just feel the stones rattling off your undercarriage on this Grid." - Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix. Read more.

"Like the Prairies, this is not a collection that gives itself away: the true beauty of this book lies in subtleties that may not be obvious at first glance." - Emily McGiffin, The Malahat Review. Read more.

"In Grid, moments are approached in their apparent stability only to be swept away in song rife with interruption and fresh stimuli, lending a new perspective. It is as though the familiar ground is an eye glancing back and the reflection only a nodal-point, open to opportunity and play." - Justin Dittrick, SPG Book Reviews. Read more.

"There is grit in these poems, so much that it seems unfair to think of them as nature poems; like the best nature writing, they undo our expectations of nature rather than uphold them." - Tanis MacDonald, Arc Poetry Magazine. Read more.

"In her fourth collection Grid, Schmidt’s wry humour transcends what we have watched heap up in Canada for more than a century—nature poems—balancing in canola fields between the beautiful lure of nature and our curious urge to separate ourselves from disappearing allotments of our own solace. We have wandered “off the grid” but fortunately Schmidt is an entertaining and insightful guide who can still find Li Po in a Dark-eyed Junco, if she has to." - Garry Thomas Morse, Jacket 2. Read more.

"These supple, witty, and incisive poems delineate our relationship to grids and systems both visible and invisible, natural and political." - Judges' citation, Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry nomination. Jurors: Shawna Lemay, Barbara Nickel, Sharon Thesen.