Summertime, and the reading is easy
Bret Anthony Johnston Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser Director of Creative Writing This summer I’m going to read W.B. Yeats and Elizabeth Bishop, and “Wynne’s War,” a new novel by Aaron Gwyn about special forces on horseback in Afghanistan. I’ll also read a collection of essays by Italo Calvino and stories by Mark Chiusano, a former student who graduated so recently that I still expect to see him in the Barker Center halls. I’m also starting to wade into a couple of new projects, which will require ample research on picking locks, chupacabras, cults, and the 1993 tragedy at the Koresh compound in Waco, Texas. I’m looking forward to all of this reading. And I’m also thrilled about the reading that isn’t yet planned. I’m eager to happen upon unexpected used bookstores, tag sales, and library fundraisers, where I often buy books outside of my typical reading inclinations. In those places, where books are spilling out of moldy and...