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.

Random List: Books I Probably Wouldn't Have Read If Not For Required Reading

Inspired by a post I saw on a blog I can't remember (sorry), I decided to create this little list.  I was then reminded I hadn't finished it when I saw The Broke and The Bookish's A Cocktail and Conversation. I decided to post some of my favourite books that were required reading.  I'm not saying I would have never read these books, but way back in my school days, I probably wouldn't have picked them up by choice.  These required books, from both high school and university have stayed with me over the years.  They have led me to favourite authors and enriched my reading life.

1. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

2. Coming Through Slaughter, by Michael Ondaatje

3. A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal, by William Wordsworth (I know it's a poem, but I had to include it.)

4. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

5. The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham

6. Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare

7. David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens

8. Kindred, by Octavia Butler

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

10. Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder

I decided to stick with ten, a nice round number.  I should mention though, that I would never have read Ethel Wilson, Edith Wharton, Henry James or Thomas Hardy without required reading... and probably a whole slew of other fantastic authors.  I know required reading is often dreaded, but so many times I didn't need to worry.

Amazing Books From Long Ago

This week The Broke and The Bookish have asked what are my Top Ten Favorite Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger. The only trouble I had with this list is remembering which books I read before I was a blogger.  I've been blogging since 2006 and that's a lot of books.  Then, I also had trouble narrowing it down to ten.  But here are ten favourites that have stayed with me over the years.  I plan on re-reading some (all) of them eventually.

1. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

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

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

4. Kindred, by Octavia Butler

5. The Lord of The Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein

6. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

7. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

8. Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro

9. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

10. Haroun and The Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie

I'm going to sneak in an honourable mention of books 1-6 of the Harry Potter series.

What books did you love before blogging?

I Want More!

First my post published before it was ready, then it was deleted altogether.  I also can't get rid of the background...  This post did not go smoothly...


The Broke and The Bookish really made me think this week.  I wasn't sure if I could make it, but here are the Top Ten authors I wish would [have] write[n] more. Except for the first book, they are in no particular order.

1. Harper Lee - She wrote one of the best books of the twentieth century, To Kill A Mockingbird. She's in her eighties now, with no plans to ever write a second book.
2. Lauren DeStefano - Oh, wait...  After I read Wither, I was so sad that there was nothing else by her, now I'm eagerly waiting.
3. Khaled Hosseini - It has been five years since A Thousand Splendid Suns was published, one of my favourite novels. 
4. J.R.R. Tolkien - He wrote some literary criticism and started other things, but nothing like Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit.
5. Emily Brontë - Love it or hate it, Wuthering Heights is an English classic.  It is a dark, moody story and I would have loved to see what else this Brontë sister could have created.
6. Alice Sebold - It has been five years since, The Almost Moon. The Lovely Bones was intense. She' only 48, What's next?
7. J.K. Rowling - How difficult must it be to even begin something new after the massive success of Harry Potter?  I do hear there is something new in the works, but who knows when that will come out.
8. Douglas Adams - I loved the Hitchhicker's series. I should read The Salmon Doubt, my husband owns a copy.
9. Stieg Larsson - I think the only mystery writer I like.
10. Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar was amazing. She also wrote brilliant poetry, but I can't help that she wrote more novels.


Who do you wish wrote more?

Not Quite Right: Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was as difficult as last week’s. I tend to buy editions with attractive/interesting covers, even if they’re a little more expensive. There are a few covers though, that popped to mind, but most I had to work to find. I decided this week that I’d include not just the book title and author, but the publisher too. The publishers, from what I understand, have the final say on the book covers. Sometimes I want to ask them what they were thinking. In no particular order, the Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign.

1. New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer, published by Little, Brown. – Why is it a bloody flower? Shouldn’t it have something to do with, I don’t know, a moon? I understand that all the covers have the deep red theme going on, but maybe a bloody moon to represent the large wolf presence in this story would have been better.

2. Self, by Yann Martel, published by Vintage Canada. – When I ordered the book, I thought I was getting the cover with the purple flower shaped smudge. Instead I got this weird white statue thing.

3. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, published by Faber and Faber - I thought I was getting a cover with a flower on it (sorry, can’t seem to find a picture), but I got a morose looking girl instead. It fits with the story, but I thought the girl was obvious, where the flower would be symbolic.

4. The Dark Tower: Treachery, by Stephen King, published by Marvel. – This was an amazing graphic novel. The art is spectacular. The problem I have with the cover is that it’s of a girl I’ve never seen before and have no idea who she is. The title is “Treachery” so you think she’s the traitor, but it doesn’t really work out that way. I just wish the cover was more telling of the story, something with Roland and his mother maybe.

5. The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of Calla, by Stephen King, published by Scribner. – (Sorry Dark Tower, you know I love you.) There are two covers that I like and two that I don’t. They don’t seem to go with the other books in the series. Can you guess which they are?

6. Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective, by Donald Davidson, published by Clarendon Press. I know it’s a book about philosophy of the mind, but the cover doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s not mental enough.

With the next two on the list, the book covers have already been re-designed since they were first published and thank goodness. The old ones were terrible, the new ones are much better. They made it easy to dismiss the quality story-telling in these fantasy novels. I’m not including the pictures of these covers since there are five books in #7 and four in #8. The links will take you to the old covers if you’re interested.

7. The Cleric Quintet, R.A. Salvatore, published by Wizards of the Coast. It could have been worse. Maybe.

8. Legacy of the Drow Series, by R.A. Salvatore, published by Wizards of the Coast. I know Drizzt is around 60 in these books, but that’s Drow years. Drow live for hundreds of years. They should have drawn him as though he was in his late 20s or early 30s.

9. And 10 and 11 and 12…. Any book with the movie poster as the cover. Example of why I don’t like it: Confessions of a Shopaholic. The movie had almost nothing to do with the book. It was so unlike the book; I had to go into watching it, thinking it was something completely different, just so I wouldn’t hate it.

I can wait to see what book covers other people have come up with.

The Book Mine Set: The Great Wednesday Compare #5- Louisa May Alcott VERSUS Sylvia Plath

The Book Mine Set: The Great Wednesday Compare #5- Louisa May Alcott VERSUS Sylvia Plath