Scan barcode
traceculture's reviews
381 reviews
The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems by Pablo Neruda
5.0
If you enjoy poetry, if you're prone to being knocked sideways by a simple group of words perfectly formed, expressing a thought or feeling - then you've got to stop what you're doing and get your hands on a copy of this book! This was a no-brainer for me, I LOVE Neruda, his twenty love poems rendered me speechless. But the poems in this collection are sublime. I guess so much is lost in translation (I'd nearly learn Spanish just to read Neruda's words exactly as he wrote them) but Mark Eisner, Alastair Reid et.al. have done outstanding work here. I have read some Neruda translations on-line that didn't have the same potency for me and I didn't understand why, until I read the same ones translated here, and once again I became spell-bound by Neruda's passion. You can't help but fall in love with him and with poetry in general. There are a handful of poems from Veinte Poemas - 'Leaning into the evenings I throw my sad nets to your ocean eyes' - beautiful. From Estravagario; Plenos Poderes and Memorial de Isla Negra which includes one of my all time favourites - Poetry 'And it was at that age ... poetry arrived in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where it came from, from winter or a river' - magical! Honestly, if its possible to feel at home, to feel safe and secure and loved by a book, then this is the one, its like the great man is right there with you, helping you to inhabit every line.
How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch
4.0
I love pretty much everything about this book - it’s rich in content with an inspiring message, there are introductions to new poets, treatises on life and the poetics of living it. Hirsh is beginning to lose me a little in the glossary, I’ve made it to H - haiku, but think I’d better start writing about the pleasure I’m getting from this book before becoming completely befuddled.
The poet and critic Edward Hirsh just has a lovely way about him. From chapter 1, Message In A Bottle, he had me hooked. I think it’s his absolute adoration for the alchemy of poetry that is so infectious. How he relates rhythm to the ‘pulse, the heartbeat, the way we breathe. It takes us into ourselves; it takes us out of ourselves’, this kind/way of writing really attracts me. The soulfulness, the heart, the sincerity of it - like when he speaks about Apollinaire’s calligramme’s, ‘the writer puts the rain down on the page, the reader lets it fall’. In chapter 7, Beyond Desolation, he talks about how the despair and lonliness of the writer can be changed into a relationship with a future reader, he says ‘the poet disappears into the poem, which stands mute, like an idol, until the reader breathes life back into it. And only then does it shimmer again with imaginative presence.’ How beautiful is that?
I do love poetry and am pleased that I’ve read work by about 70% of the poets he examines, from Whitman to Neruda; Szymborska to Borges; Hikmet to Akmatova, but there are many I’ve never heard of. Hirsh, helpfully, includes a catalogue of all the writers mentioned in the book however, from Asia to Europe to North & South America.
For anyone new to poetry, anyone wondering what all the fuss is about, then this book is a treasure trove, it contains all sorts of information about what poetry is, who writes it and why, about the processes involved and what your responsibility is as a reader. There is no question that you will fall in love. :)
For anyone already loved up and feeling all the benefits of a poetic relationship, this book serves as an endorsement, a confirmation that you couldn’t be in a better partnership, that poetry will never let you down, will always be there for you, whether in Whitman’s Midnight or Salinas’ Day, in good times and bad, poetry is the fire that feeds our lives.
Highly recommended.
The poet and critic Edward Hirsh just has a lovely way about him. From chapter 1, Message In A Bottle, he had me hooked. I think it’s his absolute adoration for the alchemy of poetry that is so infectious. How he relates rhythm to the ‘pulse, the heartbeat, the way we breathe. It takes us into ourselves; it takes us out of ourselves’, this kind/way of writing really attracts me. The soulfulness, the heart, the sincerity of it - like when he speaks about Apollinaire’s calligramme’s, ‘the writer puts the rain down on the page, the reader lets it fall’. In chapter 7, Beyond Desolation, he talks about how the despair and lonliness of the writer can be changed into a relationship with a future reader, he says ‘the poet disappears into the poem, which stands mute, like an idol, until the reader breathes life back into it. And only then does it shimmer again with imaginative presence.’ How beautiful is that?
I do love poetry and am pleased that I’ve read work by about 70% of the poets he examines, from Whitman to Neruda; Szymborska to Borges; Hikmet to Akmatova, but there are many I’ve never heard of. Hirsh, helpfully, includes a catalogue of all the writers mentioned in the book however, from Asia to Europe to North & South America.
For anyone new to poetry, anyone wondering what all the fuss is about, then this book is a treasure trove, it contains all sorts of information about what poetry is, who writes it and why, about the processes involved and what your responsibility is as a reader. There is no question that you will fall in love. :)
For anyone already loved up and feeling all the benefits of a poetic relationship, this book serves as an endorsement, a confirmation that you couldn’t be in a better partnership, that poetry will never let you down, will always be there for you, whether in Whitman’s Midnight or Salinas’ Day, in good times and bad, poetry is the fire that feeds our lives.
Highly recommended.
The Collected Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
5.0
Really enjoyed this.
Bought this book in college. Some of Mrs. Parkers best stories and poems are collected here - Frustration, Lullaby, LoveSong and Resume, all the greats! Dorothy Parker (nee Rothschild) was a witty writer and a woman of excess. Her star rose in the heady 1920's when she hung out with other writers, actors and critics of the New York set known as the Algonquin Round Table.
You've got to take your time with this book, I think most people would enjoy the poetry, many of her stories are autobiographical and some of her play and book reviews are absolutely scathing. A great collection, interesting lady and gifted writer.
Bought this book in college. Some of Mrs. Parkers best stories and poems are collected here - Frustration, Lullaby, LoveSong and Resume, all the greats! Dorothy Parker (nee Rothschild) was a witty writer and a woman of excess. Her star rose in the heady 1920's when she hung out with other writers, actors and critics of the New York set known as the Algonquin Round Table.
You've got to take your time with this book, I think most people would enjoy the poetry, many of her stories are autobiographical and some of her play and book reviews are absolutely scathing. A great collection, interesting lady and gifted writer.