First Review of Cloud Pharmacy on Goodreads

When I was in third grade my teacher, Miss Schiavo, suggested I keep a notebook of all the books I read. My father gave me one of his brown spiral cast offs with most the pages ripped out but there were just enough left to keep me happy. 

In these notebooks (volume 1 and volume 2) I reinvented myself. Here I had the power to give a five star review to Harriet the Spy and yet the Oxford Book of Children's Verse received only three. For each entry I added title, author, number of pages read (!) and a capsule review, including stars. It was my first step into the world of book reviewing. Later in life I wrote reviews for the Eugene Weekly, and then Library Journal. In other words I have a deep respect and excitement surrounding book reviews.

I am especially grateful for this review of Cloud Pharmacy because of Elbe's emphasis on the slightly surreal in my work. It feels wildly good for a reader to see what's newly intended. Thank you so much to Susan Elbe for taking the time to read Cloud Pharmacy and then praise it, I couldn't have asked for more. 

"This is a beautiful book. There's no other way to say it. Susan Rich is a deep, mindful thinker and a lover of language. Put those two things together and you have Cloud Pharmacy. Not only do I love the title, I love what's between the covers. She writes many ekphrastic poems, using art as a vehicle to write her "one blue life." There's a surreal quality here too, which for me is a delight--not your usual fare. As Rich herself says, "here the interior world opens/lightly." But it doesn't stay that way--she attaches herself "line-by-line-/break to this radiant quarrel,/this pocket-sized, revolutionary pen." Once you enter here, you won't put it down. Highly recommended."

                                                                                    Susan Elbe

And for a couple of more days --- exactly two days --- White Pine Press is hosting a giveaway of Cloud Pharmacy at the Goodreads site. You can enter here.