in my last move, i ended up shipping 9 small boxes to my parents, each full of books. 3 never arrived, likely broken in transit. as i realize and remember them, i will update this list.
Iliad: translated by Robert Fagles. owned since 2010. carried the notes of my sister, my mother, and i. marked passages on ants, weaving, fate. penguin paperback. softest edges. spine never broke.
Draft No. 4: by John McPhee. hardback with creamy, pebbly dustjacket. a gift from my father when i began teaching composition. read on several plane rides across the country. fantastic chapter on the shape of an essay.
Confessions of the Fox: by Jordy Rosenberg. paperback in purple cityscape. bought for a class on surveillance. highlights inside in purple. one of the few i kept from class.
Jane Eyre: by Charlotte Bronte. introduction by Joyce Carol Oates. a paperback from the running of the lockers at the end of 2013. previous student was told to annotate every page. god love it, she was a little dumb. my notes scribbled in between hers in the margins. annotations from two grad classes.
Poems: by Elizabeth Bishop. plain navy paper cover with yellow type. a collection i bought for a master's exam that never happened. gorgeous poetry. read exclusively on the horrid scratchy tan carpet in my first apartment.
Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica: by Zora Neale Hurston. paperback with a rooster on the cover. one of my roommate's books before she moved home. read on the plane home and back, where a curious and talkative boy asked what it was about and seemed bored by my answer after showing me all of his apps on the ipad.
the Saga of Hrolf Kraki: translated by Jesse Byock. a penguin classic with a woodcarving on the front. bought for a class on jrr tolkien's inspiration. read it in Lincoln, Nebraska at my first conference. while reading, received the call i was accepted at a master's program 1800 miles from home. wrote her name and number with pencil on the back page in the lobby.
The Underground Railroad: by Colson Whitehead. Paperback cover with red background and railroad tracks. I first read it while at work in summer 2019, but i bought this copy for the surveillance class. highlights in red.
Pale Fire: by Vladimir Nabokov. paperback with lavender cover. bought for a master's exam that never happened. kept it for the footnotes and format.
all my fellows books: i was in a great books program in college. every one of them, from plato's republic to augustine's confessions to hobbes' leviathan to kierkegaard's fear and trembling, is gone. i had a dream of having them in my office one day.