95 Books In 2006, George W. Bush read 95 books. We will do better.

53. Decompositions by Ken Belford

I like this book quite a bit. Am working on a little thing about it for the Talonbooks website, so I won’t say any more about it here. But will add the link once I’ve written my review.

54. Bardy Google by Frank Davey

I didn’t have the same problems with this book as ryan. Sure the book copy would have us believe that Davey “reinvents these formal boundaries within the frame of our wired world,” but isn’t that typical of book jacket copy? We can complain all we want about publicity tactics, but publisher are in the business of selling books. In any case, I found it an enjoyable if at times disconcerting read, reflective as it is at times of “the public’s” concerns and lack of care towards language.

55. The Rose Concordance by Angela Carr

Of fountains and vanities and font and avail to avail to no avail. This is what contemporary lyric poetry should be. Carr translates and organizes lines in the keyword index to the 13^th century poem, Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris. It is beautiful, elegant, complex and playful. I’ll be putting this one on the bedside pile to return to again and again.

56. feria: a poempark by Oana Avasilichioaei

I read feria right after it was launched in Vancouver in 2008, but wanted to revisit it in light of Hastings Park’s Centennial and the planned redevelopment of Hastings Park/PNE. Read my review/read of feria over on Lemon Hound.

57. The Age of Briggs and Stratton by Peter Culley

I haven’t yet read Hammertown, arguably the precursor to this book, and wish that I had read them “in order,” as there seem to be intertextual references that I know I’m missing. But it’s a fantastic book, dense and complicated in a good way, and now that I’ve read it once I’m going to start it over again. 

-Nikki