On Becoming a Poet is a collection of essays written by (and interviews with) 25 poets, edited by Susan Terris.

I looked forward to reading the book, but it didn’t live up to my expectations. I found my attention wavering. However, flipping through and looking at what I underlined, and rereading segments, I acknowledge there’s a lot of good stuff here.

What caught my attention on the first read-through were the poetry anthologies that poets mentioned were influential to their early desires to write poems. Denise Duhamel’s essay was particularly delightful, and caused me to order one of her books. I also ordered one of Jane Hirshfield’s, because her name was the only one of the 25 poets that was familiar to me, and I realized I’m not familiar with her work. I’m sorry to admit I have not read either of those books yet, but they are in my TBR closet.

One of the reasons why I review books is because it helps me decide which to keep and which to give away. (My home is stuffed with books. I can’t keep them all. Especially because I keep ordering more.) I expect I will be rereading On Becoming a Poet at some future date. It is a worthwhile read; maybe not an essential one, but a keeper at least for now.

Church Ladies’ Quilts is not what I’d hoped it would be. The author, Ann Hazelwood, is a former quilt shop owner, a quilt appraiser, and the former president of the National Quilt Museum’s board of directors. With her expertise, I was expecting that quilts and quilting would be the stars of the story. The American Quilter’s Society thinks very highly of her, having published 23 of her quilt fiction books.

Instead, Church Ladies’ Quilts is more of a cozy mystery/chaste romance. The fifth and final installment in the East Perry County series, its plot centers on Kate Meyr, who has moved into a second home in the town of Borna. She’s divorced from Clay, has been seeing Clark, and is getting a lot of attention from a man named Cole. (Apparently, she’ll date anyone who has a C and an L in his name.) She has a son named Jack, and a neighbor named John who likes to flirt with her. She has a friend named Ellen and another friend named Ellie. For some reason, I had trouble remembering who was who and had to keep going back to earlier chapters to figure it out.

I was tempted to read this book because I used to quilt with a group of ladies at a local church. Our quilt ministry made baptism quilts for babies and children, as well as crib quilts for an area crisis pregnancy center and comfort quilts for church members with health issues or life transitions; also quilts that were raffled or auctioned to raise money for the church. These quilters were dynamic women as well as skilled quilters, and we had lots of fun together, as well as learning from each other.

In contrast, the quilters at Concordia Lutheran Church in Borna took in quilts to be hand-quilted, quilting bee style, to raise money for their church. They seemed a bit subdued compared to my group. Some were critical of other members’ skills. And some of them were short tempered and made others uncomfortable (including me, and I was just reading about it).

But Ruby, the leader of the group, has a secret. One quilt that should have been quilted by now is missing.

The book has 118 chapters, most just 3 pages long. Many begin in the morning and end in the evening and tell what Kate did that day.

It may just be that Hazelwood had a deadline for the book, but I feel like it lacks craft. It’s the first book of hers that I’ve read, and I probably won’t buy another. But she is a popular author. As a series junkie myself, I know part of the pleasure of reading series is you get attached to the characters and you want to know what they’ve been up to since the last volume. It may be that she’s a wonderful writer, and this book is just not up to her usual standards. I don’t know. But I don’t recommend Church Ladies’ Quilts as an introduction to a new-to-you author.