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339th Virtual Poetry Circle

January 9, 2016 by

Welcome to the 339th Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s book suggested.

Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

This poem is from Bei Dao, read by Kurt Milberger:

New Year
Translated By David Hinton and Yanbing Chen

a child carrying flowers walks toward the new year
a conductor tattooing darkness
listens to the shortest pause

hurry a lion into the cage of music
hurry stone to masquerade as a recluse
moving in parallel nights

who’s the visitor? when the days all
tip from nests and fly down roads
the book of failure grows boundless and deep

each and every moment’s a shortcut
I follow it through the meaning of the East
returning home, closing death’s door

What did you think?

Filed Under: virtual poetry circle Tagged With:

2016 War Reading Challenge

January 8, 2016 by

warbirdIn the interest of timeliness; we’ve decided to let the War Through the Generations Reading challenge be empty this year.

Instead, we want to invite everyone to join Becky’s Book Reviews‘ World at War Reading Challenge.

Click on the image below and find out the details. There’s bingo and a wide variety of ways to participate.

Have fun in 2016 with this challenge — I’ll be joining (not sure which books yet).

We’ll see you again in 2017!

Filed Under: announcements, challenges Tagged With:

2016 Poetry Challenge

January 7, 2016 by

In 2015, you were challenge to read 1 book or poetry or 20 individual poems.

This year, I wanted to provide a couple options.

  • Haiku Level: read 1 book of poetry or 20 poems
  • Cinquain Level: Read 2 books of poetry, including Wet Silence by Sweta Vikram or a collection of poems by Emily Dickinson
  • Sonnet Level: Read 3 books of poetry, including Sweta Vikram, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, or Ted Kooser
  • Rondeau Level: Read 4 books of poetry, including Sweta Vikram, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Ted Kooser, or haiku poems
  • Villanelle Level: Read 5-10 books of poetry, including 2 of the following: Sweta Vikram, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Ted Kooser, haiku poems, Yusef Komunyakaa, Walt Whitman, John Amen, Arlene Ang, or another poet you’ve always wanted to read.

PoetryChallenge

Grab an image below for your blog:

 

 

 

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PoetryChallenge_Med

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to your signup post in the comments!

 

 

Link your reviews here:

 

Have a great time this year!

Filed Under: challenges, Poetry Reading Challenge Tagged With:

2015 Challenge Wrap-Up

January 6, 2016 by

Every year, I check my blog to see if I met my reading challenge goals.  I was a little late in doing so this year, but I did want to see how I did.  Some years I am better at keeping track throughout the year, but this was not one of those years.

I’ll list the books for each challenge and link to the reviews below.

2015 Poetry Reading Challenge (Goal is to read 1 book or 20 individual poems):

  1. Joy Street by Laura Foley (review)
  2. Silent Flowers: A New Collection of Japanese Haiku Poems edited by Dorothy Price (review)
  3. WET by Toni Stern (review)
  4. Crow-Work by Eric Pankey (review)
  5. Doll God by Luanne Castle (review)
  6. Paradise Drive by Rebecca Foust (review)
  7. The Robot Scientist’s Daughter by Jeannine Hall Gailey (review)
  8. Pictograph: Poems by Melissa Kwasny (review)
  9. Vessel: Poems by Parneshia Jones (review)
  10. Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor’s Poetry of War by Frederick Foote (review)
  11. Banned for Life by Arlene Ang (review)
  12. Free Air: Poems by Joe Wenke (review)
  13. Remember the Sun: Poems of Nature and Inspiration by Melanie Simms (review)
  14. The Antigone Poems by Marie Slaight (review)
  15. Looking for Potholes by Joe Wenke (review)
  16. Double Jinx by Nancy Reddy (review)
  17. Pride & Prejudice: Retold in Limericks by Seamus O’Leprechaun (review)
  18. Lost and by Jeff Griffin (review)
  19. The Book of Goodbyes by Jillian Weise (review)
  20. Ohio Violence by Alison Stine (review)
  21. Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko (review)
  22. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine (review)
  23. Changes: A Child’s First Poetry Collection by Charlotte Zolotow (review)
  24. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (review)
  25. Red Sox Rhymes: Verses and Curses by Dick Flavin (review)
  26. Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown (review)
  27. Wet Silence by Sweta Srivastava Vikram (review)
  28. Dark Sparkler by Amber Tamblyn (review)
  29. The Same-Different: Poems by Hannah Sanghee Park (review)
  30. The Uncertainty Principle: Poems by Roxanna Bennett (review)
  31. Strange Theater by John Amen (review)
  32. Teacher’s Pets by Crystal Hurdle (review)
  33. All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson (review)
  34. Underdays: Poems by Martin Ott (review)
  35. National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom! by J. Patrick Lewis (review)

2015 War Through the Generations – Read Any War (read any # of books about any war):

  1. After the War Is Over by Jennifer Robson (review) WWI
  2. War’s Trophies by Henry Morant (review) Vietnam War
  3. The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson (review) WWII
  4. The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War by Tim Butcher (review) WWI
  5. Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor’s Poetry of War by Frederick Foote (review) Iraq Wars
  6. The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah McCoy (review) U.S. Civil War
  7. The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck (review) U.S. Civil War
  8. The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna (review) WWII
  9. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (review) War in general
  10. The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War illustrated by Jim Kay (review) WWI
  11. Mireille by Molly Cochran (review) WWII
  12. Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans (review) WWII
  13. The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff (review) WWII
  14. The Race for Paris by Meg Waite Clayton (review) WWII
  15. The Small Backs of Children by Lidia Yuknavitch (review) Bosnia War
  16. Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North (review) WWII

2015 New Authors Challenge (read 50 New-to-Me Authors):

  1. Jewel Kats
  2. Henry Morant
  3. Deborah Johnson
  4. Mallory Ortberg
  5. Andy Miller
  6. Tony Stern
  7. Lorna Schultz Nicholson
  8. Dora Levy Mossanen
  9. Tim Butcher
  10. Rebecca Skloot
  11. Luanne Castle
  12. Mallory Kasdan
  13. Danielle Paige
  14. Jan Hahn
  15. Rebecca Foust
  16. Melissa Kwasny
  17. Parneshia Jones
  18. Frederick Foote
  19. Joe Wenke
  20. Melanie Simms
  21. Natural History Museum
  22. Marie Slaight
  23. Greil Marcus
  24. Nancy Reddy
  25. Jeff Griffin
  26. Seamus O’Leprechaun
  27. Erika Robuck
  28. Abigail Samoun
  29. Jillian Weise
  30. Jo Nesbo
  31. William Todd Rose
  32. Alison Stine
  33. Lisa Pliscou
  34. Paul B. Janeczko
  35. Claudia Rankine
  36. Charlotte Zolotow
  37. Jacqueline Woodson
  38. Richard Torrey
  39. Jo Baker
  40. Richard Fairgray
  41. Jonathan Lethem
  42. Margaret Peot
  43. Jim Kay, various
  44. Mi-ae Lee
  45. Ae-hae Yoon
  46. Judith Fertig
  47. Robert C. O’Brien
  48. Cassie Premo Steele
  49. Maria Grace
  50. Hee Jung Chang
  51. Molly Cochran
  52. Bryan Ballinger
  53. Lissa Evans
  54. Matthew Jervis
  55. Kim Norman
  56. Dick Flavin
  57. Gillian Flynn
  58. Geert de Kockere
  59. Susan Andra Lion
  60. Rachel Simon
  61. Meg Waite Clayton
  62. Lidia Yuknavitch
  63. L. Shapley Bassen
  64. Amber Tamblyn
  65. Hannah Sanghee Park
  66. Roxanna Bennett
  67. Bella Forrest
  68. Nuala O’Connor
  69. Anna Llenas
  70. Lauren Redniss
  71. Lisa Maggiore
  72. Martin Ott
  73. Joe Hill
  74. Anne Margaret Lewis
  75. Catherine Bailey
  76. Maggie Stiefvater
  77. Jean P. Moore
  78. Linda Ashman
  79. Beau North
  80. Terry Border
  81. Kate Louise
  82. Clement C. Moore
  83. Kimberly Knutsen
  84. Ree Drummond
  85. Alexander McCall Smith
  86. Jussi Adler Olsen

That’s it for me in 2015; now I have to really start thinking about 2016 challenges.

There will be a poetry reading challenge announcement soon!

Filed Under: 2015 War Through the Generations - Read Any War, announcements, challenges, New Authors Challenge, Poetry Reading Challenge Tagged With: , ,

The 5-Minute Brain Workout for Kids by Kim Chamberlain

January 5, 2016 by

Source: Sky Pony Press
Paperback, 416 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The 5 Minute Brain Workout for Kids by Kim Chamberlain, illustrated by Jon Chamberlain, is a great activity book for kids ages 7 and older, and includes games, puzzles, and teasers that will keep kids brains active and developing outside the classroom.  But what’s great is these activities don’t feel like school work, even though they will be learning new words and how to spell them, learning how to concentrate, and establish their own goals.  However, the book also can be used as a fun additional activity in the classroom and with family.  From alliteration to spelling and definitions, kids will learn new words and how to use them and when.   As kids, parents, and teachers move through the levels (1-10) in the book, the games and puzzles will get harder.

Puzzles in the book are those with specific answers, while games are those activities that may have more than one “right” answer, allowing users to be creative and to do games more than once.  The book contains 37 types of exercises and three bonus puzzles at the end, and the answers are in the back of the book to help parents and teachers.  Throughout the book, kids will notice a blue-tongued lizard named Ra, which is based on the authors’ pet lizard at home.

Although this book is aimed at kids older than my daughter, we had fund giving some of the games and puzzles in level 1 a try.  One of her favorites was the “Word Line” where she was given a saying from Kermit the Frog to follow in the word jumble using only 1 line.  It was fun to teach her how to look at the phrase and look for each letter in each word and follow it to the end.  She liked how it made a “snake line.”  The simple anagrams were tough for her, as she’s only learned how to recognize a few words.  We did the train words together, and she seemed to enjoy discovering new animal words in the jumbles.

The 5 Minute Brain Workout for Kids by Kim Chamberlain, illustrated by Jon Chamberlain, is a book I’ll be holding on to for her when she’s in Kindergarten this fall.  We’ll start again, and as she goes through school, I’m sure she’ll be doing more of these puzzles on her own.  It will be a good way to see how she’s developing.

About the Author:

Kim Chamberlain has been writing and creating activities, games, and puzzles since childhood. The author of Five-Minute Brain Workout as well as communication skills and activity books, she has a master’s in linguistics. She worked with teenagers for many years and is a volunteer reader/writer for college students. She is an award-winning international professional speaker and was founding president of a professional speaker’s association chapter. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with her husband, Jon, their two children, and their pet lizard.

About the Illustrator:

Jon Chamberlain has been drawing for a long time, collaborating with his wife on several book projects and for his own enjoyment. He worked exclusively in inks and watercolor until recently, when he acquired a drawing tablet and consequently relearned how to create digitally. He is a professional IT geek, comic book aficionado, and collector of old science fiction novels. He resides in Wellington, New Zealand.

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2016, Reference, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Mailbox Monday #356

January 4, 2016 by

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

Lost in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick for my daughter from my cousin.  Thank you!

A colorful springtime tale of trust, patience, and waiting for one’s time. Woodland creatures are concerned for a newborn fawn they believe is lost. Lost in the Woods: The Movie is now available on award-winning DVD.

 

Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson for review from William Morrow in January.

It’s the spring of 1924, and Lady Helena Montagu-Douglas-Parr has just arrived in France. On the mend after a near-fatal illness, she is ready to embrace the restless, heady allure of the City of Lights. Her parents have given her one year to live with her eccentric aunt in Paris and Helena means to make the most of her time. She’s quickly drawn into the world of the Lost Generation and its circle of American expatriates, and with their encouragement, she finds the courage to pursue her dream of becoming an artist.

One of those expats is Sam Howard, a journalist working for the Chicago Tribune. Irascible, plain-spoken, and scarred by his experiences during the war, Sam is simply the most fascinating man she has ever met. He’s also entirely unsuitable.

As Paris is born anew, rising phoenix-like from the ashes of the Great War, Helena realizes that she, too, is changing. The good girl she once was, so dutiful and obedient, so aware of her place in the world, is gone forever. Yet now that she has shed her old self, who will she become, and where, and with whom, does she belong…?

What did you receive?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme Tagged With: , , , ,

338th Virtual Poetry Circle

January 2, 2016 by

Welcome to the 338th Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s book suggested.

Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

This poem is from Naomi Shihab Nye, read by Maeve Hannah:

Burning the Old Year

Letters swallow themselves in seconds.
Notes friends tied to the doorknob,
transparent scarlet paper,
sizzle like moth wings,
marry the air.

So much of any year is flammable,
lists of vegetables, partial poems.
Orange swirling flame of days,
so little is a stone.

Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,
an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.
I begin again with the smallest numbers.

Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,
only the things I didn’t do
crackle after the blazing dies.

What did you think?

Filed Under: virtual poetry circle Tagged With:

In 2016, the Most Anticipated Book…

January 1, 2016 by

First things first!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Out of the 178 books I read in 2015, nearly 50 of them were 5 star reads for me, which I think is unprecedented.

My one caveat about that is that some of those books were children’s books, for which the ratings are based on both my viewpoint and my daughter’s reaction to them.

For 2016, there are so many books published each year, which can be tough to keep up with.

However, there is always that one book that everyone wants to read, and then there is the book I’m most looking forward to.

My most anticipated book in 2016 is:

This Is the Story of You by Beth Kephart, which publishes in April (so far away!), and I’ve already pre-ordered it.  Kephart’s books rarely receive less than 4 stars from me, and I cannot sing her poetic praises enough.  Her books range from memoir to young adult and adult fiction.

While I still hope for a poetry collection from her someday, I’ll keep reading her books no matter what they are.

During a most-devastating event, reminiscent of Superstorm Sandy that swept away much of the Northeast’s coastline — changing it forever — Mira Banul and her friends, who live on barrier island Haven year round, are forced to deal with the unknown.  A friend obsessed with vanishing disappears and Mira’s mother and brother become stranded.  I expect nature to become a force to be reckoned with here, and I expect Mira’s strength to become a rival, if not champion, over this force of nature that has turned her world upside down.

I want to know about the books you are most excited about.  Please leave the titles and a little bit about why you want to read them in the comments.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: , , , ,

The Best Books of 2015

December 31, 2015 by

Bestof2015

I hope everyone’s 2015 ended with some great reading, family, friends, and fantastic food.

Of those I read in the year 2015 — those published in 2015 and before — these are the best in these categories:

Best Series:

Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle (The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue)

Best Children’s Book: (TIE)

Best Memoir:

Displacement by Lucy Knisley

Best Nonfiction:

LOVE: A Philadelphia Affair by Beth Kephart

Best Short Story Collection:

The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War 

Best Young Adult Fiction:

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Best Reference:

How to Entertain, Distract, and Unplug Your Kids by Matthew Jervis

Best Women’s Fiction:

French Coast by Anita Hughes

Best Historical Fiction: (TIE)

Best Fiction:

Best Poetry: (TIE)

Here is the list of BEST BOOKS PUBLISHED in 2015:


  1. Wet Silence by Sweta Vikram
  2. The Race for Paris by Meg Waite Clayton
  3. Vessel by Parneshia Jones
  4. LOVE: A Philadelphia Affair by Beth Kephart
  5. The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck
  6. The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah McCoy
  7. Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor
  8. One Thing Stolen by Beth Kephart
  9. The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson
  10. The Sound of Glass by Karen White
  11. Mistaking Her Character by Maria Grace
  12. Earth Joy Writing by Cassie Premo Steele, PhD


What were your favorites in 2015?

Filed Under: announcements, Best of 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen (audio)

December 30, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Audiobook, 12 CDs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen, narrated by Steven Pacey and translated by K.E. Semmel, is the second book in the Department Q series — though you don’t have to read the previous one to follow along with this one — and Detective Carl Mørck is leading the new department with his assistant Assad in Copenhagen, Denmark.  This department’s focus is cold cases, reopening them to find new clues with fresh eyes, and what Mørck finds is a little more is disturbing.  Reviewing a case of murders from 1987 that involved a gang of young men and women, the detective, Assad, and his new assistant Rose Knudsen are forced to reassess their world view and the motivations of killers.

Adler-Olsen creates a set of murders that are not only over-the-top, but the perpetrators are as well.  Their hyped-up sense of pleasure from beatings, killings, and torture is reminiscent of the television show American Horror Story.  Some of these killers come from the upper echelons of society, and like those before them, they believe they are untouchable because of their place in society and what they have accomplished.  It’s clear that these accomplishments are not enough to sustain their attention or satisfaction; these are men and women who are dissatisfied with their success and are seduced by the dark side (pun intended).  Despite these absurdly crazy characters, and the absent one from the murderous gang who seems to stay enough on the radar to attract the attention of Detective Mørck but not her cohorts, the story has great tension and a layered revealing of events that keep readers hooked.

The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen, narrated by Steven Pacey and translated by K.E. Semmel, is a well paced thriller with bits of comedic banker between Mørck, Assad, and Rose that will leave readers wondering about what they missed in book one if they start here.  This seems like a series readers will get sucked into without really knowing how.  The unusual characters, the foreign setting for U.S. readers, and the noir quality of the situations will entice readers to enter Adler-Olsen’s world cautiously.

About the Author:

Author Jussi Adler-Olsen began in the 1990s to write novels after having followed a comprehensive career as publisher, editor, film composer for the Valhalla-cartoon and as bookseller.

He made his debut with the thriller “Alfabethuset” (1997), which reached bestseller status both in Denmark and internationally just like his subsequent novels “And She Thanked the Gods” (prev. “The Company Basher”) (2003) and “The Washington Decree” (2006). The first book on Department Q is “Kvinden I buret” (2007) and the second “Fasandræberne” (2008). The main detective is Deputy Superintendent Carl Morck from the Department Q and he is also the star of the third volume, “Flaskepost fra P” which was released in the fall of 2009 and secured Adler-Olsen ”Readers’ Book Award” from Berlingske Tidende-readers, the Harald Mogensen Prize as well as the Scandinavian Crime Society’s most prestigious price ”Glass Key”. The fourth volume in the Department Q series, “Journal 64” was published in 2010 and he was awarded the once-in-a-lifetime-prize of “The Golden Laurels” for this in 2011”. In December 2012 the fifth novel was published, “Marco Effekten”.

Photo Credit: Eric Druxman

About the Translator:

K. E. Semmel is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in Ontario Review, Washington Post, World Literature Today, Southern Review, Subtropics, and elsewhere. His translations include books by Naja Marie Aidt, Karin Fossum, Erik Valeur, Jussi Adler Olsen, Simon Fruelund and, forthcoming in winter 2016, Jesper Bugge Kold. He is a recipient of numerous grants from the Danish Arts Foundation and is a 2016 NEA Literary Translation Fellow.

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell

December 29, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 72 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell, intertwines the fairy tales of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, and in this beautifully illustrated book, these fairy tales come to life.  In beauty and with courage, these young royals must beat back the darkness with cunning strategy.

Gaiman’s prose mimics the fairy tale language of these tales and he drops hints as to the identities of the queen and the princess.  Younger readers and their parents will enjoy these stronger role models, who do not wait around to be rescued but rescue themselves.  Rather than simply marry as expected, can a queen choose another path for herself, something unknown but more satisfying?  Should a princess wait for another queen to rescue her, or use her own mind to puzzle out a solution that can save her life and defeat the darkness?

While there are not seven dwarfs, but three, and they tend the queen with beautiful textiles, rather than jewels, these dwarfs are inquisitive and adventurous.  The detailed descriptions of the townspeople and their sleeping postures, alongside the illustrations, provider readers with a well-rounded picture.  The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell, is gorgeous both in visual beauty and in substance, mirroring the strong royals in Gaiman’s tale.

Other Reviews:

About the Author:

Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, and is the recipient of numerous literary honors. Originally from England, he now lives in America.

Find out more about Neil at his website, find all his books at his online bookstore, and follow him on Facebook, tumblr, and his blog.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, graphic novel, Harper Collins, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Mailbox Monday #355

December 28, 2015 by

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

Falling for You by Jill Mansell from Anna for Christmas — Thank you!

As a teen, Maddy Harvey was a bit of an ugly duckling. Luckily she’s blossomed since then, and Maddy thanks God for this small miracle when a tall, handsome stranger comes to her rescue one starry summer’s night.

Instant attraction turns to disaster-in-the-making when Maddy learns the identity of her superman: Kerr McKinnon. Of all the colorful residents of the small Cotswold town of Ashcombe, why did it have to be him? Because as family feuds go, the Montagues and the Capulets have nothing on the Harveys and the McKinnons.

 

The Arranged Marriage: Poems by Jehanne Dubrow from SantaThing.

With her characteristic music and precision, Dubrow’s prose poems delve unflinchingly into a mother’s story of trauma and captivity. The poet proves that truth telling and vision can give meaning to the gravest situations, allowing women to create a future on their own terms.

 

 

The Emperor of Water Clocks by Yusef Komunyakaa from SantaThing.

“If I am not Ulysses, I am / his dear, ruthless half-brother.” So announces Yusef Komunyakaa early in his lush new collection, The Emperor of Water Clocks. But Ulysses (or his half brother) is but one of the beguiling guises Komunyakaa dons over the course of this densely lyrical book. Here his speaker observes a doomed court jester; here he is with Napoleon, as the emperor “tells the doctor to cut out his heart / & send it to the empress, Marie-Louise”; here he is at the circus, observing as “The strong man presses six hundred pounds, / his muscles flexed for the woman / whose T-shirt says, these guns are loaded“; and here is just a man, placing “a few red anemones / & a sheaf of wheat” on Mahmoud Darwish’s grave, reflecting on why “I’d rather die a poet / than a warrior.”

Through these mutations and migrations and permutations and peregrinations there are constants: Komunyakaa’s jazz-inflected rhythms; his effortlessly surreal images; his celebration of natural beauty and of love. There is also his insistent inquiry into the structures and struggles of power: not only of, say, king against jester but of man against his own desire and of the present against the pernicious influence of the past.

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg, which I got from SantaThing for a second time.

The prophetic poem that launched a generation when it was first published in 1965 is here presented in a commemorative fortieth Anniversary Edition.

When the book arrived from its British printers, it was seized almost immediately by U.S. Customs, and shortly thereafter the San Francisco police arrested its publisher and editor, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, together with City Lights Bookstore manager Shigeyoshi Murao. The two of them were charged with disseminating obscene literature, and the case went to trial in the municipal court of Judge Clayton Horn. A parade of distinguished literary and academic witnesses persuaded the judge that the title poem was indeed not obscene and that it had “redeeming social significance.”

Thus was Howl & Other Poems freed to become the single most influential poetic work of the post-World War II era, with over 900,000 copies now in print.”

Emma got me this great bag for Christmas too!  Thank you!

What did you receive?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme Tagged With: , , , , , , ,