FOMP Book Club

10/24/09: Popular fiction for literature nerds--The Anthologist is hilarious! The narrator is a poet named Paul Chowder who is supposed to be writing an introduction to an anthology of poetry, but he can't seem to do it. Instead,he tells us everything he does--from sitting in a white plastic chair in his driveway, to cleaning out his office, to pining over his girlfriend, who moved out after growing impatient with him, to explaining to the reader everything he knows about poetry, expounding his opinions and defending his stances. His voice is pitch-perfect, and his fantasies of the exchanges he would have with dead poets (at the laundromat!) made me laugh out loud. Iambic pentameter comes under some serious scrutiny...as do the work and love habits of a wide range of poets...can you tell this book is not for everyone? But it's an easy read, and funny, and Chowder sure knows how to write, even if he is blocked!