Exciting and Fun Reads For 2024

I ended 2023 reading some great books thanks to the Publishers Weekly (PW) Grab a Galley promotion. I was happily surprised by the books I won. Just Snow Already! is available now: the others are available for pre-order. My links are amazon associate links. I give each of these books Five Stars!!

Children’s books

Just Snow Already! by Howard McWilliam

I received a digital copy of this adorable picture book from Flashlight Press. This book is so fun. It has a great premise of a child wanting it to snow so badly that he doesn’t notice all the other fun things happening outside. The illustrations are so vivid and active readers and those being read to will have fun exploring all the details again and again.

The Mighty Onion by Mark Crilley coming April 2, 2024.

I received a physical copy of this fun kids book. It’s about a middle schooler who wants to create a comic but isn’t great at drawing, so he learns about the ins and outs of collaboration. The format is great, switching between the kid writing in his notebook, and the comic book pages along with notes from other students and teachers. It’s a fun, meta approach to the daily struggles of a young comic book creator.

Adult Graphic Novel Memoir

Ai Weiwei’s Zodiac: A Memoir coming January 30, 2024. I received a digital copy from Penguin Random House. This graphic memoir organized with each chapter as a year of the Chinese Zodiac, combines myth and story as well as politics and philosophy to explore an artist’s experiences and thoughts. It cohesively weaves all of these aspects to show the reader the importance of free expression and the power of art to fight oppression. Though I may not agree with every view expressed, the freedom to have different viewpoints and express them is the point of the book.

The graphics, not done by the artist but by Italian cartoonist, Gianluca Costantini are consistently engaging and lively, creating a contrasting feeling of wanting to linger with the images, but wanting to continue reading the story that will make you want to read this book more than once.

Poetry

I also received my favorite poetry collection I read this year as an Early Reviewer from Library Thing. It came out on December 5th and is available now.

The Infinite Loop by Oneyda González is an intriguing collection that explores life’s dichotomies and contradictions in ways I found very exciting. I received a physical copy of this book from Akashic Books.

If you read Experience Writing very often, I think the list of “projects” from the section “Facing the Mirror” will tell you why I love this book:

  1. Opposites that meet
  2. Exercise of expression
  3. The journey, the impulse: darkness and blazes
  4. Stillness: its good and its evil
  5. Equilibrium
  6. The value of work
  7. I no longer work; I merely accumulate resonances

Reading this collection, I felt like I found someone on the same path of study and discovering, coming to similar conclusions about what makes life (and poetry) interesting.

I also really enjoy having the original Spanish poem next to the translation for comparison and learning. I highly recommend this book. I am so glad I “won” it from Library Thing. I’ll be re-reading it into the new year and beyond.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Thank you for coming to Experience Writing

and Happy Reading and Writing!

The Thoughts of Christmas Animals Around the World

Santa’s Kangaroos by Maria L. Berg 2023

Today’s Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub inspired me to try two animal shape filters I haven’t made before. The penguin and the kangaroo. The poetry prompt is to write from the perspective of animals that have been linked with Christmas but don’t really have anything to do with it.

This Kangaroo’s Christmas Hullabaloo

He chose me years ago
when his reindeer needed rest
surfing to clear his mind
and problem solve
he saw me leap
over the tall grass

I thought him odd
as he donned his suit
and asked me to gather my mob
but with eyes atwinkle
he wrinkled his nose
and when we leaped
his sled rose

We bounced so high
we didn’t touch down
until a rooftop
covered children dreaming
I finally knew a purpose more
than any possible scheming

It was hard to leave the reigns
to the rested reindeer
whence they came
but the joy of purpose lasts all year
if only in blurry moments
of time’s tear.

Holiday Penguins by Maria L. Berg 2023

Here’s a Christmas Penguin song from my childhood:

and here’s another odd Christmas animal, the moose:

and here’s an Australian Jingle Bells

Snow is Beautiful Danger

Reflections in the Snow by Maria L. Berg 2022

Today is Quadrille Monday at dVerse Poets Pub and the prompt word is “snow.”

Snow is beautiful danger

like a sleeping cat’s claws. It masks the world soft, hiding sharp objects.
It entices us into the blinding white to freeze.

A snowflake confuses the eye, appearing to float, barely falling as it holds our attention
while thousands fall and accumulate into barricades.

Winter Wonderland by Maria L. Berg 2022

And speaking of beautiful danger, here’s a creepy song about snow by Claudine Longet:

The Thirtieth Day of Impatient Patience

Patience in Impatience and Impatience in Patience by Maria L. Berg 2023

This month each day’s study of contradictory abstract nouns has been synonyms of my personal Big Five contradictory abstract nouns. These last five days are the Big Five. Today I’m out to capture the patience in impatience and the impatience in patience. I reviewed its synonyms on the fifth: endurance and shortness; the tenth: hastiness and restraint; the fifteenth: disquietude and composure; the twentieth: resignation and rashness; and the twenty-fifth: sufferance and irritability.

Impatience in Patience and Patience in Impatience by Maria L. Berg 2023

2023 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 30

Today’s final prompt is to write a last night poem.

The MTB prompt at dVerse is to write a Cherita as a mirrored two part form of one, two, then three lines, and three, two, then one line stanzas.

This last night

hours slipping
from endings to beginnings

the twinkling stars
inviting frost
to coat the world in white

the deck sparkling
under my slippers
feels like an ice rink

what will the new day
bring once it has melted?

face the changes

Happy Reading and Writing!

The Twenty-ninth Day of Worthless Value

The Value in Worthlessness and The Worthlessness in Value by Maria L. Berg 2023

This month each day’s study of contradictory abstract nouns has been synonyms of my personal Big Five contradictory abstract nouns. These last five days are the Big Five. Today I’m out to capture the value in worthlessness and the worthlessness in value. I reviewed its synonyms on the fourth: significance and insignificance; the ninth: appraisal and neglect; the fourteenth: purpose and uselessness; the nineteenth: importance and unimportance; and the twenty-fourth: desirability and repulsion.

The Worthlessness in Value and the Value in Worthlessness by Maria L. Berg 2023

2023 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 29

Today is a title prompt “(Blank) Free.”

Worry Free

Through this blurry flurry
we scurry in a hurry
risking injury and fury
too weary to worry

Happy Reading and Writing!

The Twenty-eighth Day of Creative Actuality

The Creativity in Actuality and The Actuality in Creativity by Maria L. Berg 2023

This month each day’s study of contradictory abstract nouns has been synonyms of my personal Big Five contradictory abstract nouns. These last five days are the Big Five. Today I’m out to capture the creativity in actuality and the actuality in creativity. I reviewed its synonyms on the third: artistry and incapacity; the eighth: imagination and reality; the thirteenth: genius and ignorance; the eighteenth: ingenuity and materiality; and the twenty-third: originality and fact.

I find it interesting that on the majority of these days I focused on clear plastic filters. Today I compared two of my new plastic filter techniques. I colored two filters with similar patterns and cut a shape out of one, then I cut the same shape out of foil and put it on the other.

The Actuality in Creativity and The Creativity in Actuality by Maria L. Berg 2023

2023 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 28

Today is two for Tuesday.

  1. Write a seize the day poem, or…
  2. Write a survive the day poem.

For the Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub, Merril invites us to celebrate #GivingTuesday by writing a giving poem.

This Day of Giving

I. Glad to be of service
I like to feel appreciated
Valued for my skills
Indeed you honor me
Needing me to help, but
Good deeds never go unpunished

II. Gifts are always awkward
Inventions of disappointment
Voluntary expense and risk
Imagining creating happiness
Never the actual dismissal
Guard your heart

III. Generosity is vulnerability
Interrupted selfishness
Visualized understanding
Imagined empathy
Negating actuality
Go. Click the button. Feel Good.

Happy Reading and Writing!

The Twenty-seventh Day of Determination in Reluctance

The Reluctance in Determination and the Determination in Reluctance by Maria L. Berg 2023

This month each day’s study of contradictory abstract nouns has been synonyms of my personal Big Five contradictory abstract nouns. These last five days are the Big Five. Today I’m out to capture the determination in reluctance and the reluctance in determination. I reviewed its synonyms on the second: perseverance and indolence; the seventh: resolve and hesitation; the twelfth: dauntlessness and timidity; the seventeenth: resoluteness and disinclination; and the twenty-second: stubbornness and irresolution.

I’m excited to look at some of these filters again. I really like the bricks cut, and the combined shapes for inclination and timidity.

The Determination in Reluctance and The Reluctance in Determination by Maria L. Berg 2023

2023 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 27

Today’s prompt is to write a remix poem. For today’s poem I printed out each of the five poems from the days that were synonyms for Reluctance and Determination. I cut up those poems and put the short phrases in a bowl. Then I pulled out the phrases and put together one long poem. This poem is a selection from the longer poem.

Reluctant Determination

I’ll never know
a request for flesh
it’s become a cliché
more when seen less

This sketch reveals
if there was a big change
and it spins and spins
and it springs back
and you push

And it is dauntless—
interpreted as blame
and we were all saved
watching from a town
with nowhere to go

Who attests to blinders
given the biggest chance:
a subconscious lingering memory
like a watery soup most unwanted
or the deer in headlights?

You fetch and balance
as much as the corkscrewed metal
The turning begins
its exact arrival
as he dissolves
and it whirs into a tone
to change one small thing:
the volcano’s shadow
in its circle

And you push, and push
fireworks on changing pallor
making the idea
controlling a body
and now you’ve had enough



Happy Reading and Writing!

The Twenty-sixth Day of Doubt in Certainty

The Certainty in Doubt and the Doubt in Certainty by Maria L. Berg 2023

This month each day’s study of contradictory abstract nouns has been synonyms of my personal Big Five contradictory abstract nouns. These last five days are the Big Five. Today I’m out to capture certainty in doubt and doubt in certainty. I reviewed its synonyms on the first: inevitability and ambiguity; the sixth: conviction and disbelief; the eleventh: surety and conviction; the sixteenth: validity and invalidity; and the twenty-first: credence and denial.

I really enjoyed the variety of approaches and palettes: straight lines, spirals, vispo, outside lights, inside lights, the neighbor’s security light. So how does it all fit together to express the certainty in doubt and the doubt in certainty? I really like the long, slightly jagged line created by the blue and white overlapping shapes on day one. I think I’ll try that in the mirrorworld and attempt to add the blue depth effect.

The Certainty in Doubt and The Doubt in Certainty II by Maria L. Berg 2023

2023 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 26

Today’s prompt is to write a time poem.

Time is a Certainty

I am certain that with time
this rose will wilt and die
and I have no doubt
that given time
this bread will mold
as will this cheese
and these blueberries
Time is a thief
of the fresh
and the vibrant
leaving the brittle
rotting and putrid
as it passes

I reached my 50,000 word goal this morning. What I’ve written is no where near a coherent first draft, nor is it finished. But I did reach the goal even with a terrible cold for half the month, so I’m pretty proud of my effort. I’m going to continue writing every day until I get to the end of the draft, because if I stop on this one, I may never come back to it.

How’s your novel coming? Getting excited for November to end?

Happy Reading and Writing!

The Twenty-fifth Day of Sufferance in Irritability

Sufferance in Irritability by Maria L. Berg 2023

Today I’m out to capture sufferance in irritability and irritability in sufferance. I continued to explore my new foil “windows.” I colored four clear plastic filters, two with jagged lines and two with spots to represent Irritability then I tried four different foil shapes. I liked the results with the jagged lines better than the spots though it may be that the spots made me more irritable 🤔.

Irritability in Sufferance by Maria L. Berg 2023

2023 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 25

Today’s prompt is to write a response poem.

Staring Into Space : A response to Looking At Each Other by Muriel Rukeyser

No, I was not looking at you.
No, I would not have recognized you.
No, I was not thinking of you.
No, you meant nothing to me.
No, I did not know of you then.
No, I was not looking at anyone.
No, my eyes were not focused on anything.
No, I was not even aware of my surroundings.
No, I had not noticed the flowers on the table.
No, I did not smell the coffee getting cold.
No, that day I was staring off into space.
No, when you looked at me, I did not see you.
No, my eyes did not see yours.
No, there was no connection.
No, there could not have been a beginning.
No pulses, no calling, no arousal.
No, I did not feel your longing.
No, I was not looking at you.


Happy Reading and Writing!

The Twenty-fourth Day of Repulsion in Desirability

Repulsion in Desirability by Maria L. Berg 2023

Today I’m out to capture repulsion in desirability and desirability in repulsion. Desirability is complicated: it includes worth, wanting, pleasure, excellence, and arousal. And what has desirability to one person may fill another with repulsion.

My morning started out with going outside to try my new “window” discovery with the outside lights a desirability, but I felt repulsion when I found my favorite net-lights had been pulled off half the bush and the wires pulled out in a section as if someone or something had become entangled in them and torn free. I took it as a sign, and took apart some of the lights and brought in my Halloween decorations. I couldn’t fix my net-lights and was going to throw them away, but over half of them still worked. I hung them in the mirrorworld and my repulsion left when I saw the desirability of the new set-up.

Desirability in Repulsion by Maria L. Berg 2023

2023 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 24

Today’s prompt is a title prompt: Home (Blank).

Home Made

needle and thread
kneading fresh bread
canning the jam
tilling the land

hammer and nails
clearing the trails
chopping the wood
the structure still stood

baseballs and skates
kissing the scrapes
wiping the tears
shooing the fears

folding the sails
weaving the tales
no need to roam
when you’ve made a home


Happy Reading and Writing!