JADE


Welcome! This is Jade's pick page. Please, enjoy. I'm Skylight Books's Poetry Guy, which means that I recommend poetry books and events to have in the store. I, also, mind the poetry and chapbook sections. If you ever wanna talk about poetry, come by the store, I love a good discussion. In this pick page, I'll tell you about some of the books (both poetry and other) that I really like.

Poetix
LA/Southern California poetry calendar.
$13.00
ISBN-13: 9781933633787
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Melville House, 09/01/2009

If you are a fan of Lin’s work, then you will be pleased by this dry, humorous, and autobiographical novella. If you are not, or have never heard of him, please read this anyway. I read this straight through in one sitting, which is not something I normally do. It reminded me of High School in the way that the story moves without focus or plan—it moves simply because it wants to, and there is beauty in that. Whether you enjoy this style or not, it is something to experience. I had a great time reading this and I wouldn't be surprised if it became a classic embodiment of this generation.


Einstein's Dreams (Paperback)

$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781400077809
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 11/01/2004

This is my favorite book. It's listed as fiction, but I would go so far as to say that it's "epic narrative poetry". The story centers around the dreams of Einstein while he writes his theory of relativity. His dreams deal with the different possibilities of what time is. With such a complicated subject, you might figure it would be above your head. Absolutely not. The book is so accessible and simple, even Steve from Skylight Books could read it.
The only way you will truly understand is if you read it. Pick it up, read a page or two. Flip to the middle, it's OK, I won't tell anyone. This book is too beautiful to keep a secret. Everyone must read this. It will change your life.


B Is for Bad Poetry (Hardcover)

$9.95
ISBN-13: 9781402767876
Availability: In the Warehouse (Usually ships to store or customer in 2-7 days. Call for time-sensitive orders)
Published: Sterling, 10/01/2009

Fantastic! Please, do not be fooled by the title. This is some of the best poetry I’ve read in a long time. It feels like it was written by the bastard child of Richard Brautigan and Dorothy Parker. It’s razor sharp one minute, low-brow the next, and passionately sorrowful in the minute that follows, but by the end you will be vomiting in hysterics. A great read and a great gift for anyone that can read.


$12.95
ISBN-13: 9780809117543
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Paulist Press, 01/01/1972

This book has no age limit. The story and the language may seem simple, but it speaks of the inevitability of change in all of our lives. The plot centers around two caterpillars meeting, falling in love, and then searching for purpose in their existence. The themes that this book deals with make this a perfect gift for a child entering adulthood, a teenager graduating from high school or college, even a wedding present. Plus, there's a caterpillar pillar...it's something to see.


Say Uncle (Paperback)

$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780802137173
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grove Press, 08/01/2000

Witty, dense, lyrical, philosophical, and cutting. This book will float around after you long after you stop reading. It will follow you into your car. It will bump into you while you’re at lunch. There is a reason why Kay Ryan is the Poet Laureate of the United States. This is a good book.


The Human Line (Hardcover)

$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781556592553
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Copper Canyon Press, 06/01/2007
This book is astonishing. It moves effortlessly through ordinary and extraordinary moments and imaginations revealing refreshingly accessible poetry. This book takes you through the death of the poet's mother, her marriage, her children, and her daydreams about four-letter words. It's written with such wit and brilliants, that often you may forget you're reading a book of poetry. Still, there is no doubt that this work IS poetry - the levels of meaning, metaphor, and condensed language is as dense as any work of Blake.

$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781891386695
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Plain View Press, 01/01/2007
Using math as a metaphor, Cohen touches deeply into issues of grand struggle and lovely minutia of living. In each poem she crosses the equal sign on many levels, beginning with visible points, lines, and numbers, crossing over to life's invisible-yet-tangible delights and frustrations and crossing back again with insights gleaned from these reflections. Even if you despise math with a passion, reading this book will make you see its beauty and connectivity.

$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780375726491
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 08/01/2001
In a string of essays that make up an unforgettable memoir, Jonathan Ames tells his most intimate and humiliating secrets. In the first chapter, "Pubertas Agonistes" Ames talks about hitting puberty at the age of 16 and showing his mother how he masturbates. In the chapter, "I Shit My Pants In The South Of France" Ames talks about, well, just that. But there's more to these stories than just embarrassment and scatological humor-as you read on, you realize that there is something so beautiful and relatable to this "character" Jonathan Ames. He is a perfect collision of R. Crumb, Larry David, and David Sedaris. I laughed, I cried.

$39.99
ISBN-13: 9783822845011
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Taschen, 12/01/2008
This is my favorite erotic photographer. What he does isn’t pornography, but rather he draws your attention to the line between art and pornography. Perhaps this is because the term “pornography” tends to carry with it all sorts of connotations of plastic, airbrushed, make-up heavy, Barbie and Ken women and men, but this book goes in a completely different direction – it uses artistic photography to address different things that turn us on - sometimes without us even wanting to.

Letters to Guns (Paperback)

$17.95
ISBN-13: 9781597091381
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Red Hen Press, 02/01/2009

In this collection by L.A. poet, Brendan Constantine, we hear the letters inanimate objects write to guns. Some are hilarious and profound, like the letter from the sword, some are touching and beautiful, like the letter from the soldier's boot. In between these poems, Constantine brings personal poems into the mix - all the while maintaining a sense of jubilant wonder. These poems apply and read well in their contemporary setting, but they remind us of the poems that were read hundreds of years ago, when people danced over fires and the air smelled of spirits and poets shouted and flapped their arms like holy lunatics.