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Bookworms Carnival: Poetry

Rebecca Reid — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:57:10 +0000

I am delighted to welcome the Bookworms Carnival to my site for a special carnival of POETRY.

As you probably know, Savvy Verse and Wit has been sponsoring a month-long National Poetry blog tour! In addition to the poetry links below, make sure you check out that link for a detailed listing of all the ways that poetry has been honored this month around the blogosphere.

P.S. A Special thanks to Nicole at Linus’s Blanket who did the previous Bookworms Carnival, about out-of-our comfort zone reads. I loved her format and I’m imitating somewhat in this post. Due credit is due!

Nonfiction and Other Resources

Teresa at Shelf Love wrote about The Ode Less Travelled by Steven Fry, a light-hearted look at how to write your own poetry. You’d better go read Teresa’s own poetic creation, thanks to Steven Fry’s lessons. About the book, Teresa says:

The point, says Fry, is to have fun, whatever you choose to wax poetic about. Fry’s goal is to give potential poets familiarity with poetic tools and techniques and some practice using them. And he does so in a way that is both fun and informative (even if it didn’t make me into the next John Donne or Gerard Manley Hopkins). Read more at Shelf Love

Valerie at Life is a Patchwork Quilt read Wildly Romantic by Catherine M. Andronik, which is about the lives of the English Romantic poets. Valerie writes:

Many of these poets had messy personal lives — drug addiction (mainly to opium), sexual entanglements, children out of wedlock, bouts of poverty. The author does not shy away from covering these issues; not for salacious reasons, but rather to show that these poets were all too human. And yet they managed to write poetry that has stayed with us to this day. Read more at Life is a Patchwork Quilt

Monnibo at Monniblog wrote about a number of online poetry links for Canadians, but surely we can all enjoy Canadian poetry, even from other locales! One thing that really interested me was The League of Canadian Poets:

[It is] a great place for news and author lists. One great feature is that you can sort poets by province of residence. Read more at Monniblog

Teaching Poetry

I wrote about an anthology of poetry for children, with an audio CD of the poets reading their own poetry: Poetry Speaks to Children.

As a mother, I wish this is a book I owned. It is a wonderful way to introduce poetry to children. … Of course, he also likes to read, but the added dimension of sensory experience made this book fun. Read more at Rebecca Reads

Zee from Notes from the North wrote about teaching poetry in the high school classroom, and I wish I sat in her class. She says:

Poetry, I maintain, can be fun, exciting and incredibly informative and entertaining. … You can easily cover everything from sonnets, to epics, to haikus, to humour, to U2 lyrics in just a few weeks of classes. Read some sample poems and more thoughts at Notes from the North

Favorites

A Bookshelf Monstrosity shares some of her favorite lines from her favorite poets. I was struck by her quote from e.e. cummings, because I’ve never read or appreciated much of his, but this is beautiful:

yours is the light by which my spirit’s born:
yours is the darkness of my soul’s return
-you are my sun,my moon,and all my stars
e.e. cummings
Read more at A Bookshelf Monstrosity

Amy Reads shares her one of her favorite poems, “Rain Towards Morning” by Elizabeth Bishop. I think Amy explains well why the poem is so enjoyable!

It always brought to mind Spring and the hope of new love. Every time I read this it makes me happy and hopeful. Read the poem and read more thoughts at Amy Reads

Classic Poetry

Chris at book-a-rama wrote about Robert Burns’ poem, “To a Mouse.” She also embeds a Youtube video of someone reading the poem, rightly insisting you should listen to it! The Scottish accent it just great. Here’s what she says about the poem:

To A Mouse is a poem Burns wrote after he overturned a mouse’s nest with his plow. He has sympathy for this little creature. Read the poem, listen to the poem, and read more thoughts at book-a-rama

Chris at book-a-rama wrote about Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese. She liked it when she was younger, but unfortunately it fell flat fro her this time. I love her attitude aout it though:

Either my heart turned to a hunk of coal or I’ve lived with an engineer too long (How do I love thee? Let me draw up a schematic) but I didn’t find these poems romantic. In fact, they reek of desperation. Read a poem and more thoughts at book-a-rama

Amateur Reader at Wuthering Expectations wrote about Stephen Mallarmé. I’m really intrigued the Mallarmé layout choices; it looks quite bizarre. Amateur Reader includes a few images of the poem “Dice Thrown Will Never Annul Chance.” He writes:

I have seen jazz compositions that look not unlike Mallarmé’s poem. … I think violins followed by brass. Assuming one reads the words in order. Mallarmé allows the reader to follow the size of the words, or the spacing; to read across the page, or down it. The trick, actually, is to try to juggle two or three meanings at a time. A story emerges - a sea captain, at risk of shipwreck, rolls dice – or doesn’t. I splash through the jumble of words, or simply look at the stars. Read more at Wuthering Expectations

Modern Poetry

Jeanne at Necromancy Never Pays makes a connection between “Rope” by Alison Hawthorne Deming and her own life as a packrat. She says:

Years from now I expect, we’ll look at some of those things–the wallet and badge, the eyeglasses–and think about this play, and how the strands of our family life were still together, even in the inevitable process of being pulled apart. Read the poem and read more thoughts at Necromancy Never Pays

Nymeth at Things Mean A Lot writes about the collection Red Bird by Mary Oliver. She loved the “Wordsworthian wonder” with which Mary Oliver wrote and I loved this description of her reaction to the poems:

I find that I read poetry much like I listen to music: it’s through repetition that I make it mine. So I’ll read a favourite poem and listen to a favourite song again and again, until I know their every detail and can call them my own. Mary Oliver’s simple language and her vivid, immediate evocation of a particular scene mean that you don’t need to read her poems repeatedly to make sense of them, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to be gained by doing so. Read a poem and more thoughts at Things Mean a Lot

Amateur Reader at Wuthering Expectations wrote about Fred Chappell’s volume of poetry, shadow box. He says that “the poems imitate the title,” and he enjoys the end effect:

They may be the results of experiments. Now, they’re just poems, good ones. Chappell had a concept that he turned into real poems. The concept, once created, is available to everyone. Read a sample poem and more thoughts at Wuthering Expecations

Amanda at The Zen Leaf writes about eleven-year-old Maya Ganesan’s impressive debut collection, Apologies to an Apple. The sample poems are quite impressive! Amanda writes:

Maya Ganesan’s understanding of the world is magnificent. She observes things around her are in a way that reminds me of my own childhood (she turned 11 the week she put the finishing touches on this book). Though I wrote stories and was never any good at poetry, I understand what it is like to pick up little touches of the world around me and have to go write them down. Read some poems and more thoughts at The Zen Leaf

And finally, don’t say poetry that isn’t for you until you read about the modern poetry that Jesse at Literary Escapism recommends. Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum tells a story (with illustrations!) of a poet bitten by a zombie in the last days of a “Zombie Apocolpyse.” I have to say, the sample 5-7-5 haiku poems Jesse shares put a new spin on my idea of haiku, and um, what “meals on wheels” really means. Take his own haiku-word for it:

Cover to cover,
zombie book amuses me.
Buy Haiku right now
Read more about Zombie Haiku at Literary Escapism

Happy National Poetry Month! I hope this post has inspired you to keep reading poetry all year long!

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Recent and Upcoming Bookworms Carnivals

Rebecca Reid — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:00:59 +0000

In the past month, there were two great Bookworms Carnivals. The first one was about paranormal fiction, hosted here. I admit that I’m not interested in vampire books, but if you are, go check it out! The other carnival was all about local authors, hosted by Ali at Worducopia. This was lots of fun because it links to reviews for a variety of books from many genres.

A few more are upcoming, with at least one that you can definitely submit something too.

Edition 33 hosted by: the Bookworms Carnival
Deadline for submission: July 10 2009
Theme: Whatcha Reading? – Give me your latest review or your favorite
To submit a post, email: bookwormscarnival at gmail dot com

This upcoming edition is a free-for-all! What have you read lately that is noteworthy? Send it in (by Friday!) and then go visit the Bookworms Carnival site next week and find other’s reviews that might interest you. Carnivals are a great way to find new-to-you bloggers, and this carnival is a great random one to find bloggers of all types.

Edition 34 hosted by: Bella at A Bibliophile
Deadline for submission: July 24, 2009
Theme: YA Fantasy
To submit a post, email: bellalee.mc at gmail dot com

I don’t think I’ve read any YA Fantasy lately; I may have to go find something light and fluffy to add to my summer reading list. But I know many of you do read YA and/or fantasy. Send in one of your favorite reviews.

Edition 35 hosted by: Rebecca Reads
Deadline for submission: August 14, 2009
Theme: Really Old Classics (pre-Shakespeare)
To submit a post, email: rebecca at rebeccareid dot com

This is the edition I’m hosting. I’m looking for reviews of works that are really old, as in pre-1600s. I’ll have a post about it next week. If you’ve read something that might work, or if you are planning on finishing something in the next month, get it reviewed and send me the link! I really am hoping a few a number of entries. It should be fun. Make sure you put “Bookworms Carnival” in the subject line.

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The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman + Happy Halloween

Rebecca Reid — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:00:57 +0000

I admit: The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman is the first Neil Gaiman book I’ve read. And it is a clever one. While it’s clearly a children’s book, it has an element of spookiness to it and somber, spidery illustrations that make it just right for adults too.

The illustrations by Gris Grimly are not my normal preference. I tend to like more realistic illustration and these are fantastical, angled illustrations. But they were just right for this story. Nothing else would fit with this “piratical ghost story.”

I read The Dangerous Alphabet a few times before I got it. Why? Because I read it in between A to Z and In Between and Dr. Seuss’s ABC. The Dangerous Alphabet is not your average alphabet book. It fits somewhere in between the “Critical-Thinking Abecedaria” and the “Alphabet Storybooks” categories I discussed yesterday. The reader must think in a number of different ways as he or she reads.

First, as the foreword warns, the alphabet in this book “is not to be relied upon.” (For example, “C is the way that we find and we look,” an example of the play on words that makes this so delightful to the English major type in me.) There are a number of other “problems,” too.

Second, The Dangerous Alphabet is a definitive picture book: you must read the illustrations along with the text in order to follow the story. It is “spooky” and could “spook” children, but for one who doesn’t like Halloween because of the spookiness, I have to say this was alright with me.

The rest of you Neil Gaiman fans will love it, I’m sure.

So, for one who doesn’t usually read “spooky” stories, what Neil Gaiman do you recommend I read next?

Happy Halloween

I don’t normally like Halloween (because, as I’ve said before, I don’t like being “spooked”). But this year I’ve been reading some gothic literature and finding it delightfully not too scary for me. Here are some stories and a nonfiction book I’ve reviewed on Rebecca Reads that you also may enjoy:

Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories
Washington Irving’s short stories
Select Guy de Maupassant stories (“The Horla,” “Was it a Dream?”, and “Who Knows?”)
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

I’m a fairly new blogger, so I don’t have many reviews. But, thankfully, Becky recently hosted a Bookworms Carnival featuring Gothic literature, where you can find links to many more spooky books!

Happy Halloween!

For the rest of October, I’ll donate 10 cents to World Food Programme for every (non-spam) comment I receive on any post of Rebecca Reads. See most post on Blog Action Day 2008 here. I’m also donating any proceeds (4%) from my Amazon Store.

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Really Old Classics Challenge

Rebecca Reid — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:33:12 +0000

Children 2,000 years ago read and memorized Virgil and Homer, and Aesop’s Fables were common knowledge. Even 200 years ago these classics were widely read. Now, there are thousands of new books published each year. But what about those really old ones? Have we read those yet? Any of them?

That’s why I’ve decided to host the Really Old Classics Challenge (including classics from pre-1600s), a ten-month challenge (October 2008-July 2009). I myself haven’t read many of the really old ones (Homer, Virgil, Chaucer, Dante, etc.), so this is a project I’m adopting for myself primarily, in addition to my How to Read and Why personal challenge. But I thought we could all use a little motivation, a reminder, to pick one the old classics.

Also, I’m hosting the Bookworms Carnival in August 2009, and while I haven’t specified exactly what the subject for that will be, I’d like to make the theme somehow relate to classics.

So, what are Really Old Classics? I’ve compiled a list of some Really Old Classics that catch my eye, but of course, you could include anything that was written pre-1600 (pre-Shakespeare). In your own reading, you could also include works about those works, if you want (such as Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, which is about the Greek and Roman myths), although let’s not count Cliff’s Notes.

The Rules

Choose how many Really Old Classics you’d like to read by the end of July 2009, from 1 to 100.
Read that number of Really Old Classics by the end of July 2009. If you finish, pat yourself on the back.

That’s it.

If you want, you can choose which Really Old Classics you want to read before you begin. Or, you can choose a few that you may later choose from. If you have a blog, you can review them as you read them.

Joining the Challenge

If you want to sign up for the Really Old Classics challenge, leave a comment. You don’t need to have a blog to participate. If you’d like, you can tell us now how many Really Old Classics you’d like to read. Or you can write that on a specific post on your blog, a link to which you can leave in a comment here. We’d love to follow you as you reach your goals!

Sharing Your Reviews

I will have another post where you can return and leave links to your reviews. Leaving a link to your review is optional. I personally like having links to everyone’s review in the same place so I can follow and compare, and I’d love to have yours here on Rebecca Reads. But if you don’t like doing that, don’t feel you must.

If you don’t have a blog, you can leave your reading progress and/or thoughts of the work on that post.

In the mean time, here’s a clever button for you to use, if you wish.

Happy Reading!

Participants

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Bookworms Carnival: You Are Never Too Old

Rebecca Reid — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:00:51 +0000

The August Bookworms Carnival is up at The 3 R’s. This month’s theme is “You Are Never Too Old.”

I submitted my review of The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. I love Winnie-the-Pooh, and I look forward to rereading it many times with my son!

I also wrote a post recently about the picture book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I love that picture book!

I have also reviewed number of other children’s books and stories, but not all of them are books that I enjoy as an adult. View summaries of all of the children’s books I’ve reviewed on Rebecca Reads in the Child/Young Adult category.

I’m going to New Zealand for nine days! If all goes well, I have a couple of posts scheduled to appear. I probably won’t be visiting your blogs or responding to comments in the next few days. I’ll try to make up for it when I return!

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Bookworms Carnival: Relationships

Rebecca Reid — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:00:35 +0000

The July Bookworms Carnival is up at Mixed Metaphor. This month, it is about relationships. Jenn gives us a rundown of a number of books reviewed about relationships.

I submitted my post about The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, which discusses the relationship between husband and wife in the late 1800s in New York City. I loved this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Other books I’ve reviewed relating to relationships:

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman (memoi; father-son relationship, in the midst of learning the father’s Holocaust experience)
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (short stories; individuals’ lack of relationships, i.e., their isolation)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (novel; sisters)
March by Geraldine Brooks (novel; parent and husband)
Personal History by Katharine Graham (autobiography; wife to mentally ill man)

Trying to list works I’ve reviewed about relationships is hard; I’ve read so many more books, but I’ve only been reviewing online for a few months. I’ll get more books reviewed as time goes by!

Go check out the carnival for other relationship books.

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A Few Fairy Tale Reviews

Rebecca Reid — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:00:24 +0000

I loved the Bookworms Carnival on fairy tales, and I put so many books on my TBR list. After reading through HTR&W‘s prologue all about irony and metaphor, I’ve turned to some of these great fairy tales this week for an escape to the world of imagination.

My community library only has a few of the ones I wanted to read and books cost twice as much here in Australia than in the USA, so I was limited in which ones I read this week. Anyway, here’s what I read, with my six-word reviews.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

This is a Newbery Honor, young adult, fantasy novel. I saw the movie and let me tell you it’s nothing like the book. Recommended by Maw Books.

Cinderella beautifully retold; better than movie.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

This is another young adult, fantasy novel. A different book by this author was reviewed by Book Nut via Bookworms Carnival; this one was at my library, so it’s the one I read.

“Ugly” Snow White sings, eats apple.

Short stories by A.S. Byatt

Recommended by A Striped Armchair via Bookworms Carnival. I liked “The Story of the Eldest Princess” the best, although I liked them all. They were all somewhat odd fairy tales, which was refreshing.

“The Glass Coffin” (short story)

Seeking adventure, not riches, tailor awakens princess.

(I know that is seven words, but I couldn’t get it to six.)

“Gode’s Story” (short story)

Sailor betrays girl; now he’s haunted.

“The Story of the Eldest Princess” (short story)

Blue sky’s green; eldest princess quests.

“The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” (novella)

Djinn grants modern-day “narratologist” three wishes.

(I’m counting the hyphenated word as one…)

“The Day Boy and The Night Girl” by George MacDonald

This story is available online here, so I didn’t have rely on my library to actually have a book for me to read. “The Day Boy and the Night Girl” was recommended by In the Louvre via Bookworms Carnival. I just read the one story and I really loved it.

Night scares boy; day scares girl.

I want to read just about every other book from the carnival, but only two others are at my library and they are checked out. Yes, only two others are at the library. I will be the last person on earth to read The Goose Girl, among others.

If you’ve also reviewed one of these and I haven’t linked to your review, leave a comment and I’ll add your link to this post!

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Bookworms Carnival: Fairy Tales

Rebecca Reid — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:33:53 +0000

The Twelfth Bookworms Carnival is up at Things Mean a Lot. This time, it was all about fairy tales and fables.

I’ve just begun blogging, so this was the first Bookworms Carnival I was aware of. I have to say I really got excited about the idea of a theme to my reading and I’m still looking forward to reading more fairy tale books. There are so many reviewed at the Carnival, I’ll be busy for a while!

I submitted my first post right away and started reading more, submitting two more posts. I know now that I should wait until the end and submit my favorite post, because that is what it came down to! There isn’t space for all of them. I’m already looking forward to finding themes in my reading for the coming month.

Here were my submissions:

Aesop’s Fables
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Fairy Tales and Fables by Eric Carle

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