The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Cool task! I just need a tiny piece of clarification: Does the poetry need to be a poetry-poetry book (Emily Dickinson, etc.), or can it be a book written in poetry form (Ellen Hopkins, etc.)?

Sara wrote: "Cool task! I just need a tiny piece of clarification: Does the poetry need to be a poetry-poetry book (Emily Dickinson, etc.), or can it be a book written in poetry form ([author:El..."

That's what I was wondering too! :)

Nicole, do you have any limitations to the rhyming words, other than exact rhymes? I'm using the rhyming dictionary over at rhymezone.com to double-check, but I didn't want to make a bad assumption. Current plan is to rhyme LOVE and OF, but I didn't know if it had to be a more substantive word than OF.

Sara wrote: "Cool task! I just need a tiny piece of clarification: Does the poetry need to be a poetry-poetry book (Emily Dickinson, etc.), or can it be a book written in poetry form ([author:El..."

I would like it to be poetry-poetry.

Abigail wrote: "Nicole, do you have any limitations to the rhyming words, other than exact rhymes? I'm using the rhyming dictionary over at rhymezone.com to double-check, but I didn't want to make a bad assumption..."

I would prefer the words be more substantial so let's say no articles and words of at least 3 letters.

I was thinking about this...most poem books that are not selected or collected works are under 100 pages. I was going to say that as long as it is okay with Cynthia, you can have a poem book with under 100 pages for my task, since you are also going to be reading a novel for it!

I like both (poetry-poetry and poetry form). Anyone have a favorite book of poetry?

I have some favorite poets:

Edna St Vincent Millay
Billy Collins
Wallace Stevens
Sylvia Plath
Emily Dickinson
William Carlos Williams
Denise Levertov
Sharon Olds
H.D.
Anne Carson (highly recommend Glass, Irony and Godnot only because it is great, but also because the title offers two good rhyming word opportunities)

Nicole, would Crank count for the poetry half of the task? Thanks!

Nicole, would you accept Ogden Nash for a Poet choice?

I am so excited about this task. I have been wanting to read Ella Minnow Pea, and pea rhymes so well with sea (a great word when looking for poetry books). Another off my TBR shelf! Thanks Nicole.

Rachel - I'm so glad I read your post. I have been trying to come up with something from my TBR list that rhymes with Tree, and forgot all about Ella Minnow Pea.
YAY. Thanks for reminding me.

Would Haiku be acceptable? I'm looking into reading Zombie Haiku Good Poetry for Your...brains Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry.

I'm also looking at Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (b/c I love, love, love SONG OF MYSELF)

Oh, another great poet is T.S. Eliot, he wrote The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock which is my favorite poem ever.

If we can use a book under 100 pages for the poetry task, will there be a separate page limit for it? I just got a poetry book I had on special order, but it's only 60 pages which seems really little...Not sure if that'll work.

In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo. :-) Love T.S. Eliot. Four Quartets was good, too. I'm going to read The Waste Land and Other Poems if books under 100 pages are approved for this task. (With The Stand maybe?)

As an alternative, do you think it works to rhyme Hughes, as in Selected Poems of Langston Hughes, with news?

BTW, Nicole, what a fun task this is!

Nicole wrote: "I have some favorite poets:

Edna St Vincent Millay
Billy Collins
Wallace Stevens
Sylvia Plath
Emily Dickinson
William Carlos Williams
Denise Levertov
Sharon Olds
H.D.
Anne Carson (highly recommend..."

I'm going to read Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins...so everyone I work and live with will stop telling me to read Billy Collins. As a bonus, it's really easy to rhyme a word that ends in -ing. I'll also be reading Bloodsucking Fiends.

I'd also like to know about the length of the poetry book ... I remember in a previous challenge we had to read a book of poetry and the one I really wanted to read was less than 100 pages, so I couldn't.

Alternatively, is a book of children's poems acceptable? (poems for and about children, not written by children) I'm thinking of Haven't You Grown! Poems About Families since it is sitting on my daughter's bookshelf ... and rhymes with Skin and Bone, which is sitting on my bookshelf!

Sam wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I have some favorite poets:

Edna St Vincent Millay
Billy Collins
Wallace Stevens
Sylvia Plath
Emily Dickinson
William Carlos Williams
Denise Levertov
Sharon Olds
H.D.
Anne Carson (h..."

I could be wrong, but bloodsucking and sailing are not exact rhymes which was specified in the task. I am sorry! How about trying to rhyme "room"?

Petra wrote: "Nicole, would you accept Ogden Nash for a Poet choice? "

Of course! My list was recs I could think of off the top of my head, not a set list!

Julie wrote: "Nicole, would Crank count for the poetry half of the task? Thanks!"

I specified that it should be a poetry collection (or poetry-poetry as we have been calling it).

Kristina wrote: "If we can use a book under 100 pages for the poetry task, will there be a separate page limit for it? I just got a poetry book I had on special order, but it's only 60 pages which seems really litt..."

personally, 60 pages probably means over 100 poems and poems are challenging to read. Unless Cynthia tells me I can't take it, I am taking it. I will message her and get back to you guys with an official minimum.

Katie wrote: "In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo. :-) Love T.S. Eliot. Four Quartets was good, too. I'm going to read The Waste Land and Other Poems if books und..."

That is fine!

April wrote: "Would Haiku be acceptable? I'm looking into reading Zombie Haiku Good Poetry for Your...brains Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry.

I'm also looking at Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitm..."

Of course! Any style of poetry!

SuzieR wrote: "I'd also like to know about the length of the poetry book ... I remember in a previous challenge we had to read a book of poetry and the one I really wanted to read was less than 100 pages, so I co..."

children's poems are poetry, so yes!

I used rhymezone as well and want to make sure my choice is an exact rhyme. I'm going to use great/state or possibly great/eight.

Okay HELP please : 0 I don't read poetry and the poetry I was forced to read in high school, please dont send me there

i want to use something on my tbr list, YEAH RIGHT LOL since this challenge started about 50 books i have added lol

Ellicpise
keepsake
something ending ing OR the actual title is Changeling

something ending in even OR actual title is Even

I found a poetry book caled Slang but nothing on my tbr list

Feel free to suggest away NO CLASSIC poety, would love children/teen/juveline, or slam poetry

You can look at my tbr and make suggestions that match too

Thanks in advance eresa

Teresa, you might want to double-check, but I'm pretty sure you could find a book full of poems by Edward Gorey. Since Nicole used Silverstein in her example, he'd fall in the same category -- except much more macabre. Definitely NOT classic poetry, even though most of it was written decades ago. Or you could just use Silverstein. They're longer, but quick!

Does a book of poetry commentary work? I'm considering Break, Blow, Burn Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems, which includes poems, but the bulk of the book is criticism/analysis.

Anyone have recommendations for a poetry collection along the lines of "poems everyone should know"....?

There are loads of collections like that in the poetry anthology section of the huge chain bookstore where I work (not naming names;). Most of them have names like 100 Best Poems or Best American Poems. Dover makes a really good one for $1.50: 100 Best-Loved Poems. Harold Bloom also has a really good one about English language poetry: The Best Poems of the English Language From Chaucer Through Robert Frost. Some good rhyming words in that one!

Teresa wrote: "Okay HELP please : 0 I don't read poetry and the poetry I was forced to read in high school, please dont send me there "

I know we can use audiobooks for other tasks, so if that's OK for this task, you might try something like
Poetry Speaks, Expanded Edition. It comes with a cd where all the poets are reading their work aloud. I'm not very good with poetry, so I find that reading it aloud (or hearing it) makes it a lot easier.

Hey Nicole, would you consider the words 'light' and 'frostbite' to be exact or is that too far off? My brain isn't functioning properly this morning, so I thought it best just to ask :)

Teresa wrote: "Okay HELP please : 0 I don't read poetry and the poetry I was forced to read in high school, please dont send me there

i want to use something on my tbr list, YEAH RIGHT LOL since this challe..."

Hi Teresa,

I tried checking your TBR list, but your profile is set to private.

Just a suggestion: You might have an easier time of this choosing novels with words that are simple to rhyme. Or choosing the poetry book first, since you are a little apprehensive about that part of the task.

Alice Walker got me into poetry when I was in High School. Most of her poems are easy reading, to my recollection. (I read them all about 7-8 years ago...I couldn't get enough.) She's written lots of poetry books. Check her Wikipedia page for a list. Words Like good, night, see, more, look, blue, etc. might be easier to rhyme that eclipse(?), changeling and keepsake! :-)

Also, Nicole did write that she wants an exact rhyme, so I don't think matching -ing will be enough. (You would have to rhyme changeling with -angeling.) My two cents.

Amanda wrote: "Ok and if the Odyssey works, would a play work for the other part of the task? I was thinking of doing the Odyssey and then The Tragedy of Richard II by Shakespeare...?"

That would be an interesting combination if you consider Shakespeare free verse, but you still have to rhyme a word in the titles--and the Odyssey would be a challenge for that part of the task. (I'm not sure she'd accept Odyssey and Tragedy as exact rhymes, but I've been wrong before.)

Nicole, you would consider Not Quite What I Was Planning Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure to be a collection of poetry?

Bonnie wrote: "I used rhymezone as well and want to make sure my choice is an exact rhyme. I'm going to use great/state or possibly great/eight. "

yes those rhyme exactly!

Liz wrote: "Does a book of poetry commentary work? I'm considering Break, Blow, Burn Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems, which includes poems, but the bulk of the book is ..."

It needs to be just a book of poetry.

Candace wrote: "Hey Nicole, would you consider the words 'light' and 'frostbite' to be exact or is that too far off? My brain isn't functioning properly this morning, so I thought it best just to ask :)"

I am sorry Candace- not an exact rhyme.

Amanda wrote: "What about the Odyssey or the Illiad, or Chaucer? Those are reallllllyy long poems, aren't they? Or are they novels? I just don't know... :)"


I cannot think of anything that would rhyme with the works you named, but let me know if you come up with something. I was intending a collection of poems- not epic poems or a novel comprised of poems.

Kate wrote: "Nicole, you would consider Not Quite What I Was Planning Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure to be a collection of poetry?"

I am going to say no, since they are intended as 6 word memoirs and don't seem to be formatted as poems.

Since poetry is meant to be spoken aloud and heard, audiobooks are definitely accepted (although I think it would be cool to read along as well)!

I have two questions, Nicole:

1) I want to read The Tell-Tale Heart as my poetry book. Is this acceptable?

2) If so, I want to read Well-Schooled in Murder as my fiction rhyme book (tell/well). Is it okay that I'm using one word from a hyphenated compound to rhyme with for both these books?

Nicole - would you consider 'poems' and 'homes' to rhyme? the way I pronounce them both, they would...

Deirdre wrote: "I have two questions, Nicole:

1) I want to read The Tell-Tale Heart as my poetry book. Is this acceptable?

2) If so, I want to read Well-Schooled in Murder as my ficti..."

I will take it and since I am taking it
I will take it back and say that Liz you can use your book if a significant amount is poetry and not just criticism. If the full poems are not included, I would say no. Does that make sense?

Nicole wrote: "Candace wrote: "Hey Nicole, would you consider the words 'light' and 'frostbite' to be exact or is that too far off? My brain isn't functioning properly this morning, so I thought it best just to ..."

Thought so, I'll keep searching! Thanks :)

I'm guessing we can't rhyme a word with itself?

Sara wrote: "I'm guessing we can't rhyme a word with itself?"

Maybe if its like a homophone? 'Write' and 'right'?

Theresa, Bum Rush the Page by Louis Reyes Riveriea is a book of slam poetry. It's a compilation of poems by poet who were on HBOs Def Poetry Jam. It's excellent :-)

Candace wrote: "Sara wrote: "I'm guessing we can't rhyme a word with itself?"

Maybe if its like a homophone? 'Write' and 'right'"

Homophones, maybe. But probably not 'light' and 'light.' That's okay though. I have it figured out. I'm going to read Where the Sidewalk Ends, and pair it with either Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (where/there) or A Kiss Between Friends (ends/friends).

Assuming Still and Kill will work?

I think I'm going to go with A Light in the Attic and The Book of Night Women (light and night being the rhyming words).