I have read an unbelievable amount this year. I must admit that many were short works of poetry, some were children’s books, maybe even for the first time some graphic novels. To be truthful, I shy away from longer books that require more investment of my time. I almost always have a book of fiction and a book of nonfiction going at the same time. Some of the better books I digested this year include (Not in order of their greatness):



How to Baptize a Child in Flint, Michigan: Poems by Sarah Carson

Chevy in the Hole by Kelsey Ronan

Stepping Into the River Once by Danny Rendleman

Atlas: Short Stories by Connor Coyne

Because God Loves the Wasp by Elisabeth Blair

That's My Moon over Court Street: Dispatches from a life in Flint by Jan Worth-Nelson

A Girl Who Was His House by Sarah-Jean Krahn

Lenny Bruce: The Comedian As Social Critic and Secular Moralist by Frank Kofsky

I Wrote this for You, Me and Anyone Trying to Fucking Move on by Robert Drake

Fuck Poems an Exceptional Anthology by Vincent Cellucci

The Wedding Cake in the Middle of the Road: 23 Variations on a Theme by Susan Stamberg

Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington

Prelude to a Million Years and Song Without Words: Two Graphic Novels by Lynd Ward

The Art of Recklessness: Poetry as Assertive Force and Contradiction by Dean Young

Moving by Jan Worth-Nelson

Sappho by Sappho

Champavert: Immoral Tales by Petrus Borel

Devotion by Patti Smith



The absolute WORST book I read this year and a great disappointment: Liarmouth by John Waters



Thank you to these amazing people who were willing to share parts of themselves to enlighten, entertain and enrich my life.



Lastly, I purged my library to make room for more. He he he. So there are now only about 400 books hidden in my nooks.

Roy Richard
January 2024