Tag Archives: books

A poem to read in the bath… ‘Sometimes and After’

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I am making a point of reading poets I am unfamiliar with, and wanted to share this poem by American poet Hilda Doolittle.

Hilda Doolittle

[photo: Wikipedia]

‘Sometimes and After’
Yet sometimes I would sweep the floor,
I would put daises in a tumbler,
I would have long dreams before, long day-dreams after;

 
there would be no gauntleted knock on the door,
or tap-tap with a riding crop,
no galloping here and back;

 
but the latch would softly lift,
would softly fall,
dusk would come slowly,

 
and even dusk could wait
till night encompassed us;
dawn would come gracious, not too soon,

 
day would come late,
and the next day and the next,
while I found pansies to take the place of daisies,

 
and a spray of apple-blossom after that,
no calendar of fevered hours,
Carthago delenda est and the Tyrian night.

Doolitte died in 1961. I love the transitory passing of time in this poem. And no, I didn’t understand the last line. Google Translate tells me ‘Carthago delenda est’ means ‘Carthage is destroyed’ in Latin, which I didn’t study at school. ‘Tyrian night’ still mystifies me, can anyone else help?

For more about Hilda Doolittle at the Poetry Foundation website, click here.

Hilda Doolittle

 

‘Collected Poems’ by Hilda Doolittle [New Directions] 

Read these other excerpts and find a new poet to love:-
‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost
‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney
‘The Cinnamon Peeler’ by Michael Ondaatje

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
A #poem to read in the bath: ‘Sometimes and After’ by Hilda Doolittle http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1yt via @SandraDanby

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#BookReview ‘The Shadows in the Street’ by Susan Hill @susanhillwriter #crime

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After a spell of reading historical books, I needed a comfort read, something familiar. A pageturner, but well-written. So I picked up The Shadows in the Street, fifth in the Simon Serrailler detective series by Susan Hill. And I tweeted about it. Susan Hill replied with the question: “Comfort?!!” Susan HillI know what she means; a crime thriller should not be comfortable reading. I replied: “Okay, discomfort with familiar characters.” I finished the book that same day, but sat back and considered what made me feel comfortable with this series of books. Firstly, the quality of the writing. Hill’s detective Serrailler is a literary gem, he is distinctive but believable, seems ordinary but is extraordinary. And he is surrounded by a close-knit family whose stories I also follow from book to book. Hill is particularly good at creating mood – a skill also used in her ghost stories – and her description of place is minimal but so effective. For example, “It was a damp, mild October night with a thin mist drifting away over the black water of the canal like a spirit departing a dead body. The air smelled green.” And there is depth to her writing, literary and cultural references there for you to delight in recognising but which don’t matter if you don’t get them.
In Lafferton, two prostitutes are murdered. Simon Serrailler is on sabbatical leave on a remote Scottish island. A librarian takes food parcels to the prostitutes, one of whom is beaten up by her boyfriend. As usual with Hill’s books, each new chapter makes you want to devour the book in one sitting as she lays out first one possibility then another. Of course nothing is as it first seems.

Read my reviews of the other novels in the series:-
THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN #1SIMONSERRAILLER
THE PURE IN HEART #2SIMONSERRAILLER
THE RISK OF DARKNESS #3SIMONSERRAILLER
THE VOWS OF SILENCE #4SIMONSERRAILLER
THE BETRAYAL OF TRUST #6SIMONSERRAILLER
A QUESTION OF IDENTITY #7SIMONSERRAILLER
THE SOUL OF DISCRETION #8SIMONSERRAILLER
THE COMFORTS OF HOME #9SIMONSERRAILLER
THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT #10SIMONSERRAILLER
A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE #11SIMONSERRAILLER

And also by Susan Hill, HOWARD’S END IS ON THE LANDING

If you like this, try:-
‘The Farm’ by Tom Rob Smith
‘Or the Bull Kills You’ by Jason Webster #1MAXCAMARA
‘Last Light’ by Alex Scarrow #1LASTLIGHT

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SHADOWS IN THE STREET by Susan Hill @susanhillwriter http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1z1 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Housekeeping’ by Marilynne Robinson #classic #Americanwriters

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Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson had been on my shelf for a while, bought because of reputation, and anticipated. Perhaps I expected too much of a first novel because, though it has amazing reviews, I struggled to connect with the story. The writing, however, is beautiful, poetic, elegiac. Marilynne RobinsonIt is the story of Ruth and Lucille, orphans, who grow up beside a haunting lake in the vast open countryside of mid-America. The lake dominates the life of everyone who lives around it, it floods every year, and floods the house where the two girls live, first with their grandmother and then with their Aunt Sylvie. We see Sylvie’s attempts at housekeeping dwindle as the house floods each winter, as her care for the house fails, so the two girls are uncared for. Not abused, but not clean, not sent to school, not disciplined. It is a novel about the failure of housekeeping in this house, and in the family, and it is the two who girls who suffer.
The sad story moves at a slow pace, and until halfway through I had no clear picture of how the two girls were different. It is Ruth who narrates, much of which is description of the house which lays at the heart of the story.
All the description, though, is poetic. Ruth’s grandmother in her elderly years “continued to settle and began to shrink. Her mouth bowed forward and her brow sloped back, and her skull shone pink and speckled within a mere haze of hair, which hovered about her head like the remembered shape of an altered thing.”
This is not an easy read, often obscure. There was no strong thread to pull me through the book, to keep turning the pages.

Read my reviews of Robinson’s other novels:-
GILEAD
HOME
JACK

Try the #FirstPara of GILEAD here.

If you like this, try:-
‘A Thousand Acres’ by Jane Smiley
‘Summertime’ by Vanessa Lafaye
‘Barkskins’ by Annie Proulx

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview HOUSEKEEPING by Marilynne Robinson http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1zG via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland #historical #art

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‘The front cover of Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland features a painting by Dutch master Jan Vermeer called ‘The Painter in his Studio’. In it we see the back of a painter, brush in hand, studying a young girl in blue, holding a book, who stands by a window.  This real painting was the inspiration for Vreeland’s novel. Susan VreelandScene-by-scene  the story takes you back in time, following through the centuries the owners of the painting which author Susan Vreeland imagines Vermeer was painting . First, we meet a maths master who has a secret. A painting, inherited from his father, which came to him in the Second World War. The painting is passed from owner to owner, sometimes as an inheritance or gift, sometimes as payment of a debt, sometimes stolen. Vreeland tells us the story of each owner, what the painting meant to them and how it affected their lives: for some it means quick money, or guilt, or beauty, or a hidden secret. Effectively this is a series of short stories, linked by the painting.
It is a charming tale, set mostly in the Holland of dykes, poverty and farms. The painting illuminates the lives of everyone who owns it, no matter how briefly. A charming story about how a painting is viewed differently by everyone who sees it, starting with the artist’s intentions as he conceives and executes it. Vermeer says: “A man has time for only a certain number of paintings in his lifetime… He’d better choose them prudently.”
If you enjoyed Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring or Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist, you will enjoy this.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Glassmaker’ by Tracy Chevalier
‘Disobedient’ by Elizabeth Fremantle
‘The Figurine’ by Victoria Hislop

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE by Susan Vreeland http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1mi via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Forever Fredless’ by Suzy Turner @suzy_turner #romance #chicklit

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Forever Fredless is a sunny ‘what if…’ story by Suzy Turner about a girl who longs for a dream, not recognising that her life is offering her something better than that unattainable dream. It is a reminder to appreciate what you have rather than covet something out of reach. Suzy TurnerKate Robinson falls instantly in love when she is 12. She doesn’t know the boy’s name, they exchange a glance but not a single word, before being whisked away by their parents, destined never to meet again. As Kate grows older, no man matches up to ‘Fred’, as she thinks of him, until a surprise inheritance changes her life and shows her that there are other possible loves in her life than the unknown ‘Fred’.
Forever Fredless is a fast-moving chicklit novel which I read quickly on a flight going on holiday. Exactly the book to pack in your suitcase. It’ll teach you about the perils of celebrity, that money isn’t always a blessing, and that teenage dreams are made of clouds… but are still worth believing in.

Here’s my review of STORMY SUMMER, also by Suzy Turner.

If you like this, try:-
‘A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting’ by Sophie Urwin
‘Butterfly Barn’ by Karen Power
‘The Art of Baking Blind’ by Sarah Vaughan

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview FOREVER FREDLESS by Suzy Turner @suzy_turner http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1rN via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Humans’ by Matt Haig @matthaig1 #humour #contemporary

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I irritated and intrigued by husband by my constant chuckling while reading The Humans by Matt Haig. I wish I had read it sooner, it was a breath of fresh air. I read it in two sittings over a weekend. If you feel a little jaded with your reading, this is my prescription for you. Matt HaigProfessor Andrew Martin is not feeling himself. He has been walking naked through the street and finds humans really odd-looking. That is because the real Andrew Martin is dead, and the human who looks like him is really an alien. The alien has come to earth to delete the mathematical breakthrough achieved by Professor Martin before it does damage to humankind. The alien Andrew just does not get humans, in fact his first source of information on human behaviour is from Cosmopolitan magazine.
This is a funny book with a serious message about mental health, about our acceptance of others for what they are, the expectations and selfishness of modern society. Bit by bit, the alien Andrew discovers humans are not as he has been warned; they can in fact be generous, charitable, empathetic and brave.
Here’s a small excerpt. Alien Andrew is recovering from his period of temporary insanity by watching television:
“The term ‘news’ on Earth generally meant ‘news that directly affects humans.’ There was, quite literally, nothing about the antelope or the sea-horse or the red-eared slider turtle or the other nine million species on the planet.”

Read my reviews of these other Matt Haig novels:-
HOW TO STOP TIME
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

If you like this, try:-
‘The Diary of a Nobody’ by George & Weedon Grossmith
‘The Blessing’ by Nancy Mitford
‘Trio’ by William Boyd

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE HUMANS by Matt Haig @matthaig1 via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1zD

Great opening paragraph 68… ‘A Change of Climate’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“One day when Kit was ten years old, a visitor cut her wrists in the kitchen. She was just beginning on this cold, difficult form of death when Kit came in to get a glass of milk.”
Hilary MantelFrom ‘A Change of Climate’ by Hilary Mantel

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Dance Dance Dance’ by Haruki Murakami
‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy
‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote 12

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara A CHANGE OF CLIMATE by Hilary Mantel via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-10z

#BookReview ‘Inflicted’ by Ria Frances #WW2 #holocaust

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Theo is sixteen, and unhappy. He stumbles into the life of an elderly neighbour, Anna. Together they share their secrets and Anna, by telling the story of her own life as a teenager, helps Theo face up to his difficult emotions. Inflicted is the debut novel of English author Ria Frances and, despite the unflinching approach to a difficult subject, is I think aimed at teenagers. Ria FrancesIt tells the story of Anna, a teenager in the Second World War, on the run with her parents from the German army. Her mother dies and Anna is separated from her father as they are taken to Theresienstadt, the city-turned-ghetto run by the Nazis. Anna’s story of hardship is a difficult emotional read, the author does not sweeten the hardships, but the central message is one of hope, courage and love amidst suffering.
I wanted to know how Anna’s story ended, even though the adult Anna was telling her own story, because I was curious about her journey from the Czech village of Lidice, to Theresienstadt, Berlin and finally to Sussex in 2010. Curiously, it was Anna’s story which drew me on not Theo’s.
I found the ending rather rushed and difficult to follow, perhaps in the author’s effort to tie-up all the loose ends. But I don’t mind some loose ends at the end of a novel, it leaves the story fresh in my mind and gives me something to consider.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Little Red Chairs’ by Edna O’Brien
‘The Bone Church’ by Victoria Dougherty
‘All The Broken Places’ by John Boyne

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview INFLICTED by Ria Frances http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1q8 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Kings and Queens’ by Terry Tyler @TerryTyler4 #family #romance

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Kings and Queens is the first novel by Terry Tyler that I have read. It is the rollicking story of property developer Harry Lanchester. A property developer you may think, hardly your usual hero type? But he is not just any Harry, he is King Henry VIII updated to modern times. Terry TylerI started reading this after a heavyweight novel and in need of light refreshment, having already started then discarded one book on my Kindle after two pages. This provided the page-turner my weary brain required, the story race along and is an ideal read for holidays, a long train or plane journey, or just when you want to cosset yourself.
If you like Tudor-set novels, you will have fun with this. It is easy to work out that that Cathy is Catherine of Aragon and Annette Hever is Anne Boleyn, but I enjoyed recalling my Tudor history – and reading of Philippa Gregory novels – to work out the Tudor equivalent of the modern characters. Of course, as we know the story of Henry and his wives, we can work out what happens to Harry and his, though Tyler puts a modern twist on each story that draws you in. I found myself comparing her writing style to the ultimate page-turner Jilly Cooper. I wonder if Ms Tyler has written about polo?
Just one small criticism: I found the beginning a bit underwhelming and almost stopped reading, I am glad I didn’t.

Read my review of LAST CHILD, second of the two Lanchester books by Terry Tyler.

If you like this, try:-
‘Dark Aemilia’ by Sally O’Reilly
‘The Other Eden’ by Sarah Bryant
‘The Fair Fight’ by Anna Freeman

And if you’d like to share a link to THIS post, try:
#BookReview KINGS AND QUEENS by Terry Tyler @TerryTyler4 via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1yT

Great opening paragraph 67… ‘American Psycho’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“Abandon all hope ye who enter here is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Misérables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn’t seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five dollars to turn up the radio, “Be My Baby” on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so.”
Bret Easton Ellis From ‘American Psycho’ by Brett Easton Ellis

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘After You’d Gone’ by Maggie O’Farrell
‘To Have and Have Not’ by Ernest Hemingway
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara AMERICAN PSYCHO by Brett Easton Ellis via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-10w