What Happened In 2022

I got a little upset with social media and the internet this past year. I started avoiding my social media and my blog. I was the victim of hacking/phishing with one of my accounts. It was a personal account too, full of pictures of my children. I wrote a whole big, long, angry rant, but I'm leaving it unpublished. Instead, I'd rather focus on happier things.

I have a novel. Completed. That I've started querying. It's scary, but I'm doing it anyway.

What I really want for my blog is to reflect the creator I am, regardless of whether anyone reads blogs anymore (from what I hear, the answer is, no).

I also got my Goodreads year in books. I read A LOT this year. I can probably get another book or two in this year. The audio book for Michelle Obama's The Light We Carry just came in for me at the library. I'll probably be listening to that this evening.

What's next for me? More reading. More writing. Some more cute animes on Netflix. Marvel shows. More time with my children. What does 2023 have in store for any of us?

Last Week A Lot Went Down

A lot happened last week. COVID-19 infection rates are increasing more and more. Though, two people I know have already been vaccinated. There was an attempt to overthrow the government at the US Capital. As I may have mentioned before, I'm a fan of the late night talk shows. I think both Stephen Colbert's and Seth Meyers' takes on what happened are worth the watch. So, last week, I watched. I also watched more news than normal, in general. It was announced that children in Ontario will be home until the 25th of January. However, based on all the other information I've come across, I feel like my children will be home for a couple months. 

Last week, I started reading The Stand again. I actually started it in the summer, but it stressed me out, so I stopped. I've been starting and stopping with this book for a while. When I picked it up, I really wanted to read it, and when I am reading it, I am enjoying it. Then I get to a part about how the survivors of the Super Flu are treating each other, and I have to take a break. For the last couple weeks, in between bouts of The Stand, I have been reading Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2016 and The Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. Two vastly different works, but they both speak to me.

Besides political commentary, I re-watched The Matrix and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now that our daughter is a little older, my husband has started taking her on a tour of some of his favourite movies. After a few minutes, he started poking holes in Raiders and I called him "Amy Farrah Fowler" and he laughed. 

I also watched Netflix's Best of Stand-up 2020 and realized I need to watch the specials from Jack Whitehall, Hannah Gadsby, Michelle Buteau, and Bert Kreischer. I'd already watched a few of the 2020 standups, but not these ones. (I like stand up specials.)

That's it for me. Did you watch or read anything good? I'm always adding to my TBR and Watchlists. 

What I Read Last Week #2

  

3 poems from Edgar Allan Poe. Not his most famous (I've already read those). I really enjoyed To Isadore, The Village Street, and The Forest Reverie. As I read The Village Street, I kept thinking that this would make an eerie short story. Every so often, I read a bit from Poe's complete works. I enjoy his poetry, but sometimes I can only take so much creepy.

Serpent & Dove was a book I couldn't put down. It definitely did a good job of distracting me from EVERYTHING. I'm very excited to read the sequel, Blood & Honey when it comes out later this year. - I'm hoping the release date doesn't get pushed back.

Wasted Words was my now weekly (?) Romantic Comedy. It was cute and sad, and had a great ending. It's interesting how the events of our teen years can affect us as adults. Even when rationally, we know we're acting "crazy".

I finally read The Search, the second series of graphic novels from Avatar: The Last Airbender. My daughter rewatched the series on Netflix and it was hard to pull myself away when it was on. Reading this book satisfied the itch for more Avatar. If you want to know what happened to Zuko's mother, this is the book you need to read.

Blog post from the Write Practice. It's short. Kind of helpful. Mostly it made me feel better that in my WIP, I occasionally have scenes that are 350ish words.

A reminder to myself that I only need to read so much about Coronavirus and COVID-19.

The Sun and Her Flowers

I'm so glad that I picked up The Sun and Her Flowers. I've slowly been reading more poetry over the last couple years. I had, of course, heard of Milk and Honey. It was on the Bestseller's list, bookish people were talking about it, my cousins were talking about it. Then, Rupi Kaur published another book. People were excited. When I saw The Sun and Her Flowers looking up at me from a display table, I felt I had to read it. I hadn't heard much about the new book yet, as it had not been as hyped as the first. Though since purchasing, I've been seeing more and more about it.

I connected with The Sun and Her Flowers, enjoying the words, the structure, the images. I've read that people are not sure that it is actually a book of poetry. I can see why they might think that. Rupi Kaur writes about being the child of immigrants, relationships, and discovering herself. They could easily be topics or sections in a memoir. There is memoir in Kaur's words. To me, however, The Sun and Her Flowers is poetry, even if you count the entire book as one long illustrated poem, the poem of her life.

There kept being short passages, moments, that I had to share. So, I Instagrammed them. They connected with me, the whole book did, the struggles that Kaur goes through. How often do we compare ourselves and our paths to others? I know I do all the time. As a mother, friend, daughter, writer, reader, and so many other ways, I have compared myself to others. How can I be there for my children more? Is my husband happy with me? Why aren't I writing more? Why can't I read as much as all these other people?

Kaur reflects on immigration, focusing much on the journey of her mother. It made my wonder about my own parents, particularly my mother (though both from Trinidad, my parents met here in Canada). From the stories they've told me, my father did all right. It was still difficult, but he wasn't sheltered the way my mother had been. My mother was the youngest and a girl. I also wonder about the difficulties her mother faced. She was a single mother bringing her children to a new country, leaving a place where, from what I can tell, her husband had been beloved (he died in a car accident when my mother was seven). They are powerful words indeed to make me thing about all these things.

The Sun and Her Flowers is a book I can see myself coming back to over and over again. It is a book I could just let live at my bedside or on my desk. A book where I can just randomly open a page and read a few words. A book full of words to meditate on, consider, question and inspire. I look forward to reading more of Kaur's work.

Blast from the Past #9 - A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Ten years ago, I shared my favourite poem, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal, by William Wordsworth. It's still one of my favourite poems. It's up there with The Raven (which I will blog about soon, I think) and Rime of the Ancient Mariner. A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal doesn't tell a story the way the other two do, but there's mystery in it. It's a beautiful, haunting poem, so Romantic in its evocation of emotion. I remember studying it in school, trying to unlock its secret. Sometimes, that make me like poems and stories less, but with this one, I just loved it more.

So, here we are again:

A slumber did my spirit seal; 
I had no human fears: 
She seemed a thing that could not feel 
The touch of earthly years. 

No motion has she now, no force; 
She neither hears nor sees; 
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, 
With rocks, and stones, and trees. 

Emily Dickinson - Three Series

Emily Dickinson - Three Series is the collection of Emily Dickinson's poems, which I had to read as an ebook, since I could not find a complete printed collection in store.  Also, the complete ebook was free. Not a bad deal, right? I wrote a bit about my reading experience last week. I decided to include it on my Spin list, even though I started it a while ago, because I needed the motivation to finish it. Reading one or two poems in between novels was not cutting it anymore. Plus, I've been wanting to share what I've been reading. 

It's just so difficult to talk about all the poems, but I feel like I should, like each one deserves a moment of its own. They deserve more than just the glimpse into her work that I'm going to give here.

I think most literary people (any many non-literary people) are familiar with Dickinson's The Chariot:

Because I could not stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me;

The carriage held but just ourselves

And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,

And I had put away

My labor, and my leisure too,

For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,

Their lessons scarcely done;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,

We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed

A swelling of the ground;

The roof was scarcely visible,

The cornice but a mound.

Since then 't is centuries; but each

Feels shorter than the day

I first surmised the horses' heads

Were toward eternity.

I remember reading this poem more than once during university, for various classes. Something about it must have stuck with me, because now I've read all of her poems. All those poems and all that reading has left me with eight pages of notes and highlights that I want to go back to and read again as I read the poems.

I decided to read the poems slowly. Many of the poems are short, some are only four lines, so I decided reading them like a novel would be a waste. I wanted to take my time, think, feel each poem. I may not write about each poem, but I can go through the eight pages of notes and highlights and pick a few things to share.

The poem titled in the collection, In A Library, is great.  It starts:

A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is

To meet an antique book,

In just the dress his century wore;

A privilege, I think,

I just love it! The entire thing is an ode to books and libraries. It spoke to me.

As light as this poem was, there are many that have darkness, that come from some deep, solitary place. There are also others that seem to be observational, looking at the beauty of nature especially. There are times when I feel like she's talking about herself and others where I feel as though she is reacting to the outside world.

The Lonely House stood out for me as poem with a bit of a story. It had a good creep factor too, a poem for Halloween maybe.  The third stanza

How orderly the kitchen ’d look by night,

With just a clock,—

But they could gag the tick,

And mice won’t bark;

And so the walls don’t tell,

None will.

The walls don't tell what? Who's in my house? Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

I want to talk about The Mystery of Pain, but instead I'll just include the link. I'm nervous about looking too deeply at it.  There's pain there and maybe Dickinson wanted to solve the mystery of her own.

This one also stood out for me:

Death is a dialogue between

The spirit and the dust.

“Dissolve,” says Death. The Spirit, “Sir,

I have another trust.”

  

Death doubts it, argues from the ground.

The Spirit turns away,

Just laying off, for evidence,

An overcoat of clay.

I don't even know what to say about this one, I just want people to read it.

But for a new part of the emotional journey:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

This is actually the second time I've posted this poem on my blog. I think it's my favourite in the entire collection. 

There are just so many, too many. 

This one, near the end of the collection, almost had me crying:

We never know we go,—when we are going

  We jest and shut the door;

Fate following behind us bolts it,

  And we accost no more.

I read it shortly after the deaths of Alan Rickman and David Bowie, as well as news of the death of the oldest person in the world.  Rickman and Bowie were 69, but the former oldest person was 112. The poem just made me think that we never know when we are going to go, 69 or 112, sooner or later. I don't even know if that's what this poem is really talking about. 

Many of the titles (all?) are arbitrary, added posthumously. Some aren't even the same across all collections. Most of the poems are just numbered. I suppose that is because she only published handful of them in her lifetime. I wish she had published more in her life, but I suppose that's what many people have wished. I think that I might start re-reading the poems, just always have them on my tablet and between novels and stories, when I want a little clarity or burst of emotion, read one of her poems, a cycle from beginning to end and around again, always with me. Is that crazy? I don't know. I just find the idea comforting and isn't that what you want from what you read.

I don't think there is enough time in my world for an in depth study of her work, maybe back when I was studying in University. Let's just say, I recommend her work, from the well-known to the lesser-known and that Dickinson's work is something I see myself continually returning.

Ebooks and Emily

The Poems of Emily Dickinson – Three Series Complete....

It just ends. Bam, it’s over. So much time invested and there was no preamble, just the last poem, then the index of first lines. That’s it.  The index takes up the last 15% of the ebook. So I thought I had 15% more poems… or at least 10%. I’ve come to realize that the last few “pages” of ebooks are often ads for other books (by the author or similar authors) or acknowledgements or something. I knew there was an index at the end, but I didn’t think it would be so big.  I guess I should have checked. That’s been my one consistent complaint about ebooks, sudden, expected endings. It was just so abrupt, I feel thrown.

So, if anyone decides to read the complete works of Emily Dickinson, remember that any ebook edition potentially (and the Kindle edition specifically) ends at 85%.

Emily Dickinson!

The Classics Club Spin number is 19!  That means Three Series (aka the poems of) Emily Dickinson. I actually started reading this some time ago, like over a year. I read the first series over the course of a few months, but then I slowed down. It is a lot of poems, like A LOT. I still read them, but it has been down to a few every month, usually inbetween whatever novels or short stories I'm reading. Whenever I've made a Classics Club Spin list the past few times, if Random.org comes up with Dickinson's number, I include it.  I want to finish the poems.  I want to finish them before my list becomes due.  With the past few spins, I've hoped to get Dickinson, because I know it will be the motivation I need to finish the complete poems. I think I can do it. February 1st. Ya, sure. No problem.

Lady Lazarus

Lady Lazarus is a violent poem, if poems can be described as violent. It is one of the most famous poems by Sylvia Plath. For my Classics Club list, I do not only read novels, but other classics as well, like poetry.  I have read The Bell Jar and thought it was fantastic.  I could have re-read The Bell Jar, but my interest in poetry is growing and my affection for Sylvia Plath's only novel has never waned.  I knew that Plath's poetry was going to be rich and deep.

Lady Lazarus is a dark poem, full of visceral emotion. Plath uses Nazism as a metaphor for oppression. The speaker feels watched, studied; she isn't free.  As the poem's title evokes, there is death and rebirth. "The sour breath/Will vanish in a day." There's exposure, nakedness in the rebirth. She feels at home in the earth and wants to stay there. 

The oppression throughout the poem connected to me.  I appreciate poetry that has a story to it. Though subtle, there is a story here.  The speaker talks about each of her deaths and the value that others place on her.  By the end of the poem the speaker finds her strength. She warns the doctors who keep bringing her back, she "will eat men like air."

Reading Lady Lazarus has definitely made me interested in reading more of Plath's poetry. Lady Lazarus is part of Ariel, Plath's collection of poetry, published posthumously by her husband.  It is said to be her definitive work and if the other poems in Ariel are anything like Lady Lazarus, I can see why.  In one poem, I was saddened, moved, and given hope.

Favourite Poetry - The Classics Club Meme

I don't usually do the Classics Club Meme, but I couldn't resist October's topic.  Classic poetry!  My long-time favourite poem is by Romantic, William Wordsworth:
 

A slumber did my spirit seal;  I had no human fears: She seem'd a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force;  She neither hears nor sees; Roll'd round in earth's diurnal course  With rocks, and stones, and trees.

It is lyrically beautiful, while also being so very sad.  I first read this poem in University.  It has stayed with me since. 

 

I went through poetry overload after University.  I took an entire course on poetry, plus there was poetry in other classes as well.  I spent so long dissecting classic and contemporary poetry that I couldn't read it anymore, just for the enjoyment.  A couple years ago that slowly started to change with Disney Princesses, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner (which for some reason I never read in University.)  Since, I have kept up with reading poetry here and there.  I also decided that there were some classic poems and poets I had to read.  This past spring, I started reading the complete works of Emily Dickinson.  I decided to do it slowly, as so many poems would just blend together if I read it all at once and I wanted the opportunity to savour each poem.  From the collection, I have two favourites so far:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

 

and

Death is a dialogue between
The spirit and the dust.
“Dissolve,” says Death. The Spirit, “Sir,
I have another trust.”

Death doubts it, argues from the ground.
The Spirit turns away,
Just laying off, for evidence,
An overcoat of clay.

 

I know that The Chariot is Dickinson's most well-known poem, and I do think it is wonderful, but I can't have the same favourite as everyone else.  As soon as I read Hope it stuck with me and I think it might be like Wordsworth's classic, a poem I will think of for years to come.

He Giveth His Beloved Sleep

He Giveth His Beloved Sleep is a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She is better know for Sonnets from the Portuguese and specifically the poem, How Do I Love Thee?. Browning is a poet who seems focused on death and the end of her life. I found death running through some of the Sonnets and I find it here as well. The poem was interesting and engaging. I liked it and will likely re-read it (it is not very long). It was just a bit depressing for this time of year and I could use something for uplifting.  I really liked the edition I read. It was an ebook, but it seems like it was scanned from an edition published in 1880.  The illustrations were quite interesting.  It was published in the style of a storybook, with plenty of illustrations.  For anyone interested in Browning's work, I recommend reading He Giveth His Beloved Sleep in this type of edition.  The more I read from Browning, the more I want to read from her.

Soak

Kerri Cull seems like she'd be an interesting person to know in real life.  I'm not thinking this just from the poems in Soak, but also from the "Discussion Questions" and the "Recommended Soundtrack" found at the end of the collection. I might like those things at the beginning of the book or maybe a contents page indicating they are included at the end of the book.  It would give the reader something to look out for or listen to as they read the poems.  One day I can see myself rereading the poems with the questions in mind and some Tragically Hip playing in the background...

I won Soak from The 49th Shelf, a bookish website that is all about Canadian literature.  Though it took a while to get here, I'm glad that I won this little book of poetry.  It was a great and quick read. I think it's another positive step towards me reading poetry again regularly.

Each poem in Soak seems to be an event in the author's time line, her life.  Is it all her?  Are these the poems of a character she has created?  Could be either.. or both. I find the idea interesting and I liked that the poems together told a story.  I'm not sure if I'd have felt the same impact if I wasn't reading the collection as a whole.

I also felt that many of the titles of the poems seem more like the first line, but not all of them. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Maybe I'd like consistency since the collection tells a story.

If you want to sample Kerri Cull's poems, and I recommend you do, click the link below.  You will get to read a poem from each of the three sections (stages of life).

http://saltyink.com/2012/03/14/a-perfect-introduction-to-kerri-culls-soak-from-kerri-herself/

I'm very glad I won Kerri Cull's collection of poems.  I think they're great if your not sure about reading poetry or if you're not sure where to start.  The poems form a narrative that's easy to enjoy.

Digging, by Seamus Heaney

"Between my finger and my thumb  
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun."

I'm always pleasantly surprised when I find myself connecting to poetry.  I don't know why this surprise still lingers.  Initially, it was because I had studied it so much, poetry had lost much of its magic for me.  This last year and a half, since I read The Disney Princesses, I've been finding myself drawn more and more to poetry, whether a classic, like Rime of the Ancient Mariner or Digging.

I came across Digging by chance.  I had been flipping through my Norton Anthology of Poetry and I stopped on a page with poems by Seamus Heaney.  I recognized the name since I read Heaney's The Cure At Troy a few (like 11!) years ago.  I stopped and my eyes fell on the first lines of Digging.  I was hooked.  I sat and read the rest of the short poem.  It was lovely, an ode or homage maybe, to the narrator's father and grandfather.  The father and grandfather spent their lives with spades, working with their hands, but the narrator can not dig, he instead holds the "squat pen" to write.  It was a lovely, interesting poem.  Though short, it told a story.  I might read the rest of Heaney's poems in my Anthology.  I might re-read The Cure At Troy too. 

There are potatoes in the poem.

Sonnets From The Portuguese

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets From The Portuguese might be her most famous work.  It contained the poem of hers I was most familiar with, Sonnet 43:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height 

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. 

I love thee to the level of everyday's 

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. 

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; 

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. 

I love thee with the passion put to use 

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. 

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose 

With my lost saints!---I love thee with the breath, 

Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose, 

I shall but love thee better after death.

I can see why it's her most famous.  The collection is brilliant, but Sonnet 43 stands out among them.  She initially didn't want to publish this collection.  Her husband, Robert Browning (who the poems are about) encouraged her to do so.  He apparently said they were the best sonnets since Shakespeare.  Since my hubby thought I was reading Shakespearean sonnets, maybe he was right.

Another favourite for me was Sonnet 14:

If thou must love me, let it be for nought

Except for love’s sake only. Do not say

“I love her for her smile—her look—her way

Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”—

For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may

Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,

May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,—

A creature might forget to weep, who bore

Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!

But love me for love’s sake, that evermore

Thou may’st love on, through love’s eternity.

I think her take on love is pretty modern and refreshing. I didn't know about the darker quality of Browning's "love" poems until I read the first one.  It certainly grabs you, as love gets a "death grip" on you.  I loved the unexpected end of the first Sonnet.  I looked up some information about it online (without spoiling anything for myself.)  Sonnet XVIII has a morbid way of bestowing a token of love (giving a lock of hair that was the last place your mother kissed you before she died.)  I found Sonnet XXXII relateable because it talked about insecurity in a relationship; something everyone feels at one time or another, I believe.  I'm not sure I like the final Sonnet in the collection.  It's not as passionate as some of the others. Maybe because it comes after How do I love thee; that's a tough comparison.

I'm really glad I downloaded an ebook with no introduction.  I haven't been liking introductions lately.  I find that too often, they either give away part of the plot/spoil the ending or they tell you how you're supposed to react to whatever it is you are about to read.

I have to admit, though, I'm not as much a fan of Browning's self-deprecating poems, which are most of the first quarter of the sonnets.  There's a lot of "I'm not worthy of this man".  I suppose I can relate to the feeling of "I can't believe I'm so lucky" as I am married to an amazing man.  I guess, I like the love has gripped me idea more.  (Not that the poems aren't lovely.)

I haven't read a lot of poetry since I left University.  I took classes on poetry, changing how I looked at poems.  I can be overly analytical.  The last couple years, however, I've been allowing myself to enjoy poetry without having to dissect every single syllable.  I thoroughly enjoyed Sonnets From The Portuguese.  I look forward to reading more by Browning and more poetry.

This counts as #2 for the Classics Challenge!  Yay!

Classics Club

I’m a moody reader.  I read a variety of books, at different levels, in different genres.  Because of this, I don’t join challenges.  If I feel forced to read a book, I’ll avoid it and continue to avoid it, until I grudgingly pick it up.  Joining the Classics Club, however, has been something I’ve thought about for a while.  I wasn’t sure about joining because of the pertinent question: what constitutes a classic?  I follow several bloggers who are part of the Classics Club and after reading their reviews, I think I have a good idea of what the Club considers classic.

My list consists of “Modern Classics” and “Old Classics”.  There are some genre books, some short stories, some children’s books and some poetry.  There are even a couple books that can be debated about whether they are actually classics.  There will be a few re-reads, but it will be mostly new.  These are all books I already own.  On the Classics Club website, they describe the list we submit as a living list.  While I’ve put 60 titles on this list (to make it a little more challenging, since I'm including children’s stories, short stories and novellas), I’m not guaranteeing that I’ll read all these particular books.  Like I mentioned previously, I’m a moody reader.  If I can’t finish something or another classic catches my fancy, I’ll change the list.  The only thing I plan on guaranteeing is that I’ll finish this list in five years - January 3, 2018 (I'll be so old!).

In alphabetical order, 60 classics I plan on reading by January 3, 2018:

1. Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, by Hans Christian Andersen

2. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

3. Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood

4. The Big and The Little, by Isaac Asimov

5. Emma, by Jane Austen

6. Lady Susan, by Jane Austen

7. Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen

8. Northhanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

9. The Watsons, by Jane Austen

10. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

11. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Brontë

12. Villette, by Charlotte Brontë

13. Sonnets from the Portuguese, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

14. Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

15. Appointment with Death, by Agatha Christie

16. Lyrical Ballads, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth

17. The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

18. Discourse on Method, by Rene Descartes

19. A Tale of Two Cities, by Dickens

20. Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens

21. A Selection of Poems (1. Life), by Emily Dickinson

22. Sherlock Holmes #1: A Study In Scarlett, by Arthur Conan Doyle

23. Sherlock Holmes #2: The Sign of Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle

24. Medea, by Euripides

25. Middlemarch, by George Eliot

26. Grimm's Fairy Stories, by Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm

27. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

28. Daisy Miller, by Henry James

29. The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James

30. The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence

31. The Man Who Loved Islands, by D.H. Lawrence

32. Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

33. Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

34. Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery

35. Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery

36. Anne of the Windy Poplars, by L.M. Montgomery

37. Anne’s House of Dreams, by L.M. Montgomery

38. Anne of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery

39. Rainbow Valley, by L.M. Montgomery

40. Rilla of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery

41. Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro

42. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

43. Lady Lazarus, by Sylvia Plath

44. The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe

45. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter

46. The Cat In The Hat, by Dr. Seuss

47. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

48. Queen Mab/The Daemon of the World, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

49. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

50. Dracula's Guest, by Bram Stoker

51. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy

52. Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

53. From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne

54. The Weapons Shop, by A.E. van Vogt

55. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

56. Under The Knife, by H.G. Wells

57. The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams

58. Kew Gardens, by Virginia Woolf

59. Solid Objects, by Virginia Woolf

60. The Waves, by Virginia Woolf

I will have a page listing each of these books, with links to reviews once I finish them.

*SIDE NOTE: I’ve been considering creating some reading projects for myself.  For example, I want to read every Margaret Atwood and Stephen King book.  I also want to read more Canadian authors and more immigrant literature.  Should I create these self-imposed projects, or will my moodiness negate my success?  Thoughts?

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Select Poems

"It is an ancient Mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three.

'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?'" (lines 1-4)

I recently read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  I was feeling the need for something classic.  I've also been feeling lately that I've been neglecting my poetry needs.  I read the Kindle edition of Rime of The Ancient Mariner, which comes with "selected poems" and a very lengthy introduction.

A quick note on "Introductions", the ones with the capital "I".  I don't often like them.  I find them mostly at the beginning of classics. Sometimes they are utterly boring.  The ones that aren't boring sometimes give away the plot!  It makes me mad.  After learning my lessons, I've started skimming “Introductions,” then after the book (or poems in this case), I go back and read the parts I’m actually interested in. Sometimes they do offer an insight into the story, sometimes I'm bored to tears and I just skip it again.  The Introduction to this collections various poems were good (though not necessary).  I found they did help, but I recommend reading the specific poem discussions after you've read the actual poem instead of before.

I read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner first about 11 or 12 years ago.  I remember really liking it.  As with a lot of poetry at the time, I found The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to be a story told in verse.  It's all about the Ancient Mariner and the curse he has brought down upon himself and his crew by killing the lucky Albatross.  It's a ghost/paranormal/angels & demons sort of story.  It would probably make a very scary movie (if done right).  It has one of my favourite lines of all time:

"Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turn’d round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread." (lines 446-451)

It gives me chills. Coleridge could certainly turn a phrase. If you like giving yourself the creeps and you like poetry, then The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is for you.

In the collection were several other poems by Coleridge.  I'm not going to talk about all of them, just a quick blurb on two.  The first is, Kubla Khan.  If I didn't mention it, I'd be remiss.  Kubla Khan is full of vision and everything you can imagine during an Opium trip.  It's a beautiful poem that will continue to endure the test of time and fascinate generations of scholars.

One of my favourites (I liked it better than Kubla Khan), is Christabel.  It's another creepy story.  It's lovely and again, full of supernatural elements.  It is also unfinished, though it has a conclusion.  Coleridge wrote that he considered it unfinished.  What else did he need to say though?  You should not pick up strange women after praying in the woods at night.  Why would you pray in the woods at night?  Crazy nobles.  

After reading these poems, I've come to realize how much I enjoy poetry that tells tales. I’m also reminded of how much I enjoyed studying the Romantic era during school.  I think I’ll be looking up one of my favourite Romantic poets (and Coleridge’s friend), William Wordsworth.  If you’re hesitant about reading poetry, I think something like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a nice place to start.  It’s easy to follow what is happening and though it’s a “long” poem, you can easily read it in one sitting.