I thought I'd share with you what I've got in my reading pile at the moment. I seem to be dipping in and out of a few books as the mood strikes me. I scored In Other Words by Jumpha Lairi at a books sale along with Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing. Impulse buys, I haven't done that for years - I've been a faithful library borrower and money saver instead. 

I've been aware of Cohen on the periphery of things for a while now but am only just discovering his work after a fellow poet put me on to this excellent tribute of his life. His poetry has a style and density I'm not used to and find I need to read a single poem and sit with it for a while. 

Lairi's book is in both Italian (the love of her life) and in English. Lairi wanted to learn Italian so she moved to Rome and only spoke and wrote Italian. She wrote this book in Italian about her experience and had someone else translate it into English. An incredible undertaking and fascinating story. She shares why she writes and what it means to her. She writes to understand the world and to make her existence. It lead me to think about why exactly I write. Why I feel compelled to spill ink and capture thoughts. I'm still mulling over it.

Of course there's always a stack of poetry books on the go. The current selection looks a little like this.  But Is It Art? by David Munro, Footsteps by Greg Rochlin, Tailwind and Other Poems by Rohan White, Margin Doodles vol 1 by Waffle Iriongirl, Museum of Space by Peter Boyle and Hollowed Out Lungs by Joel McKerrow.  Most of these titles are by authors I've met or heard speak. How lucky am I?

This list is a bit of a departure from my comfort reading of recent years. I'm starting to venutre once more into the terrain of difficult and challening. I'm relishing it! 

What's on your reading list?