A Dead Fish Museum, Bad Poerty and Invisable Alligators: The New Summer Reading

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend the Juniper Summer Institute for Young Writers at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. One of our activities that we got to partake in were evening readings, which was when Juniper Alumni or University of Massachusetts Amherst Alumni or just up and coming authors read us some of their works, or read us a new piece they were working on.

I initially only wanted to buy one or two books, thinking that since I hadn’t really ever heard of any of the other authors, I wouldn’t be purchasing any of their goods. Well, after the first night when Charles d’Ambrisio and James Tate read to us, let’s just say that I had to limit myself to buying only one book per author. The authors were phenomenal. We had everyone from Pulitzer Prize Winner James Tate to up and comer Rachel B. Glaser to wildly inappropriate Steve Almond. All were incredible authors who brought their own unique voice to each of their works.

My New Favorite Book

I ended up purchasing a variety of books (the quantity shall remain ambiguous), and would highly encourage all of you to check them out. Unfortunately, they are not the most mainstream books, so popping over to Barnes and Noble is not an option to pick up these treasures. I would suggest amazon.com or perhaps even eBay. Here are a few of my favorites:


James Tate: The Zoo Club (specifically look up “Invisible Alligators”)


Noy Holland: What Begins with Bird


Joy Williams: The Quick and the Dead


Charles d’Ambrosio: The Dead Fish Museum


Steve Almond: Bad Poetry and Letters from People Who Hate Me (wildly funny and self deprecating)


These are not chick lit (like, romantic comedies in literature) nor would I call these "beach reads", but if you want interesting books that make you pause and wonder at the meaning behind the words, definitely check these out. You will be pleasantly suprised how much you will love these books.