miserabilia

This collection of poems by Richard Siken describes and tries to make sense of the making and being of things. Frequently, Siken ruminates on the meaning of painting things, of giving them existence within the context of a painting's landscape. He also describes people as having birds inside them, living things that are thrashing inside of each and every one of us. Siken's work has always been a massive inspiration to me, so reading this is giving me ideas of what poetry can be. Every poem inside is connected in some way, whether that's through Siken's usage of similar motifs, words, or composition. I'd give this collection five stars each and every day.

Conclave is a personal look into the dramatics of a papal conclave, the process by which the Roman Cardinals elect a new man to fill in the role of Pope. Robert Harris is not a cardinal himself, but was invited to the Vatican to oversee the general admin of how the Vatican and Roman Catholic church operates. The book is a, possibly, dramatized version of the conclave that recently took place. Here, Cardinal Lomeli, the Dean of the Cardinal College, is tasked with ensuring that the Holy Spirit guides the cardinals to the proper man that will be God's mouthpiece and the head figure of their church. Secretly, despite being the hands at work for the conclave, Lomeli has had doubts about his place in the Church. He cannot find communion with God. This makes the conclave all the more difficult. How is Lomeli expected to run the conclave when he himself believes the Church and God to be as far away from him as possible? The movie adaptation of this book was absolutely phenomenal, so I knew I had to pick up the original text. So far, I'm loving the details we get in the book that simply aren't available in the movie. The dialogue written is just as great, though. I am looking forward to finishing it and updating my selected quotes.