Shelf Life: Maggie Smith
4 min readWelcome to Shelf Life, ELLE’s books column. In this ongoing series, authors share an assortment of their most memorable reads: the books that have shaped their lives as writers and as human beings. Every month, ELLE will feature authors with a new and upcoming release of their own, asking them which stories have impacted their work most—and which stories they recommend you pick up next. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to move you, calm you, or change you, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.
“Got a lot of thoughts going on up there, missy.” That’s how Maggie Smith’s 17-year-old daughter, Violet, reacted when her mother caught her reading the author’s latest book of poetry, A Suit or a Suitcase. (As Smith later joked to ELLE, “Now that’s a blurb.”) A Suit or a Suitcase is indeed stuffed with heady thoughts in small packages, though Smith warns readers never to let the size of a poem misguide them. Poems are, in fact, “the perfect containers for life’s big questions.”
Smith’s fifth poetry collection, A Suit or a Suitcase, is so named for its titular poem, written in a frank free verse that’s a signature style of Smith’s, no less lovely or astute for its accessibility. She asks herself what she will miss of this life (“Everything but cruelty, I think”) and what purpose her body is meant to serve: “Do I wear it, or does it carry me? Is the body a suit, or a suitcase?” The surrounding poems similarly question the ties that bind a corporeal self with its mind, soul, and heart. What makes an identity? What separates a present self from a past self? What does it mean to change ourselves, in the wake of a loss or in pursuit of a goal? What does it look like to be alone, by yourself, but at peace? “Each collection of poetry reflects what I was thinking about, obsessing over, grieving, and celebrating during the years when I was writing those poems,” Smith tells ELLE. “A Suit or a Suitcase grapples with time, memory, and the self,” she agrees, “but above all, these poems look at what it is to be human.”
Smith, 49, is based in Ohio; is the award-winning, bestselling author of books of prose as well as poetry, including the memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful and the craft guide Dear Writer; went viral in 2016 for her poem “Good Bones”; is the host of the poetry podcast The Slowdown; runs a Substack, For Dear Life With Maggie Smith; earned her bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and her MFA from Ohio State University; thinks it’s important for creative people to “boldly swerve out of their creative lanes as much as humanly possible”; considers “questions…for which I will never have answers” her “greatest creative influence”; and doesn’t believe in “guilty pleasures.”
Dive deep into her book recommendations below.
The book that:
…first taught me to love reading:
The 1977 edition of Dean’s A Book of Fairy Tales, illustrated by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone. Both the stories and the illustrations captured my imagination.
…helped me become a better writer:
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I was given a copy when I graduated from high school, more than 30 years ago, and it showed me that writers were people. They could make mistakes—swing big, miss plenty of times, and try again.
…I wish I’d written:
Song by Brigit Pegeen Kelly. I think it’s a perfect poem—staggeringly beautiful and original—and a perfect book.
…I’m most eager to read this year:
I’m so excited to read The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. Given my own obsessions with life’s mysteries, I know I have a lot to learn from a physicist!
…has the best central mystery:
The Need by Helen Phillips. No spoilers, but that story still haunts me, and the prose is gorgeous.
…helped me through a breakup/loss/difficult experience:
When my marriage ended, a poet friend mailed me a copy of Pema Chödrön’s When Things Fall Apart, and it was a good companion through the thick of it.
…made me weep uncontrollably:
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, most recently. I cried so hard reading the book that I wasn’t sure I could see the film. (I did, and I sobbed in the theater, too! And then watched it again!)
…I’d like to see turned into a TV show or movie:
The Wildwood series by Colin Meloy, which is being adapted into a film. These were my son’s favorite books when he was younger, so we’re excited to see the film together this fall.
…made me feel better about the world:
The People’s Project, which I coedited with my friend Saeed Jones. The poems, essays, and art in that anthology, from writers like Kiese Laymon, Alexander Chee, and Imani Perry, made me feel something that can be hard to come by these days: hope.
…has the greatest ending:
I am really enjoying the poetry anthology Breaking into Blossom: Poems with Extraordinary Endings, edited by Luke Hankins and Nomi Stone. Not a single ending but many compelling, resonant endings!
Bonus questions:
The literary organization/charity I support:
The ACLU.
My ideal reading experience:
A cabin in the woods, a cozy chair, a fireplace, tea or coffee, and dark chocolate.