00:00Do people assume maybe that I'm a little crazy? Maybe, who knows? It is interesting and that's
00:06all I'll say. Hello everyone, my name is Orion Carlotto and today I'm going to be giving Marie
00:11Claire a look into my now extensive home library. This is Shelf Portrait and this is my cat,
00:20Lolita, who loves attention. Now my bookshelf is kind of split up in strange ways. It's my own
00:31kind of Dewey Decimal System in a way. Right over here in this section I have, obviously I have some
00:37art books, but I have a little section of some children's books, you know, along with all fiction
00:43and here we have my art books as in magazines. I love Kim Folk, I love Vogue and, you know,
00:52here are
00:53more the poetic and prose stories that really reminisce in my life, you know, not only as an
01:00adult but as a young adult growing up and reading as well. So as a disclaimer I must admit that
01:09I am
01:10one of those people that frequently gives away their books to their friends. That being said,
01:15a lot of my favorites are not on my shelf right now because they're in the hands of those who
01:19I
01:20love. One of my favorite books that is not on my shelf at the moment is one by Alan Watts
01:25called
01:26The Wisdom of Insecurity. That is one book that I frequently find myself coming back to to read.
01:31It is just kind of a gentle reminder in life of, you know, all of your insecurities and the things
01:37that you kind of deep down already know, but kind of gives you some sort of reassurance like a hug
01:43you're reading from an old friend or a mentor of sorts to kind of get you through life.
01:51If you didn't already know, I'm also a writer and poet myself and actually one of my favorite books
01:56right now, No Shame is my book Film for Her, which is, you know, a collection of my life over
02:02the past
02:03three years, instances and moments that were put together through poetry, prose, short story, and film
02:11photography. And it really is about the mundane in life and all the in-betweens because I think
02:17a lot of us tend to focus on our highs and our lows that we seldom reminisce on the moments
02:24that
02:24we didn't think to be as special in our lives. But this is a book that is a collection of
02:32that.
02:37One of my other favorite books that I actually started reading during quarantine is one called
02:41My Year of Rest and Relaxation. And that, I must admit, was probably one of my most interesting reads
02:49during quarantine simply because it kind of coincide with being in quarantine. It is about a woman who
02:56is, you know, dealing with her own set of mental health issues and problems and ties hand in hand with
03:03a not so good psychiatrist and she takes it upon herself to sleep for an entire year. It was one
03:10of
03:10those books where I could not put down. I was certainly, like, stuck to it for an entire day and
03:15I
03:15finish it an entire day. It was very, very, very good. So my favorite childhood book, I think,
03:21comes as no surprise to anyone. It was pretty much anything by Shel Silverstein, but I had a copy
03:28of Where the Sidewalk Ends. This was, you know, obviously your first introduction to poetry as a
03:33kid and it's very imaginative and that's what I loved so much about Shel Silverstein is it was fun
03:38and funny and just all sorts of madness that was going on. I always have a soft spot in my
03:44heart,
03:44Shel Silverstein, through and through.
03:50Another book I read during quarantine is this one by Ocean Vuong, On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous.
03:56One thing I love about this book is how I can relate to it in some way or another. Ocean
04:01Vuong
04:02wrote this about his own life. He is a writer, a child of immigrants, and he is also queer and
04:07this is
04:08just kind of a letter to his mother who cannot read or really understand English. So it's almost
04:16unsure if she'll ever read it, but it's kind of like this personal memoir into his life growing up
04:22and these instances that kind of made him into the person he is today. And it was not only well
04:28written
04:28and just extremely put together, but you can find parts of yourself in this story that I did not expect
04:37to find myself in. My favorite genre of book, which is surprising that I didn't mention any of them,
04:43is books by French poets. I think it is very important as a writer to obviously read up on
04:51the subject of what I do, but really try to understand as to why poetry is so important to people
04:57and I find
04:58that that beauty comes a lot from French poets and I can only hope and wish one day that I
05:05could
05:05amount to that greatness, but until then I will just read them to life on my bookshelf and hope for
05:11the best.
05:12Now the next book is something that I read when I was in high school and it kind of reintroduced
05:18me to
05:18my love for poetry and it is Bluets by Maggie Nelson. Here she is. Maggie Nelson is one of my
05:26favorite
05:26writers and she is just this profound poet and Bluets was my first book that I've ever read by her.
05:32So there are 240 reasons in this book why the color blue is so significant in her life and it
05:36is just
05:37poetic profoundness and something that I also like to reintroduce into my life every once in a while.
05:44A good friend of mine introduced her to me and I haven't looked back since. Now who am I to
05:50say
05:50that I'm a poet if I did not introduce obviously the love that I have for Patti Smith. As we
05:59all know
05:59Patti Smith is someone who is just so in touch with her own life and her own experiences and she
06:06has you
06:06know the most interesting life story growing up in New York City and we're all familiar with Just Kids
06:11in the M train but one book that stood out to me the most was The Coral Sea. I read
06:16this actually when
06:17I was on a trip to Portugal with my father and it is filled with you know excerpts, poetry and
06:24prose
06:25you know her life and it kind of also goes hand in hand with Just Kids talking about Robert Maplevork
06:31who
06:31was her then boyfriend and also this iconic photographer who we all know and love.
06:41Thank you guys so much for watching my shelf portrait and if you are interested make sure to
06:45check out my new book film for her. This is my second book of poetry that I've ever written. My
06:50first one
06:51was one titled Flux and this is very very special and important to me and I hope maybe one day
06:57it'll find
06:57this spot on your library at home and don't forget to subscribe to Marie Claire down below. Bye!
