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Juliet wrote: "An excellent interview with one of my favourite authors! " |
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by Denise Levertov
excellent review, especially the part about structure in poems about chaos, I'll look out for the book. ]]>
bookshelves: poetry
The poems cover a variety of topics, music and dancing; war and the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. However for me the highlights are the poems that deal with nature. We have birds in the city, gulls and blackbirds and, my favourite birds, swifts, I'm glad to find I'm not the only poet whose:
......Summers
are filled with their presence
the wheeling cries
diving through tenement canyons
the boomerang shapes
rising to invisibility.
(from The Last Swift)
There are also poems of the Scottish islands, including Corncrake on Iona which captures wonderfully and humourously the search for this most elusive of birds. Humour also in Sheep:
No free thinkers here.
We go with the flock,
never stick our scrag ends out,
always do what's expected of us.
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bookshelves: novels
This is a beautiful, lyrical novel, set in an ancient Scotland where people were still living in tune with the rhythms of nature. A community are threatened by attacks from raiders and find a novel way to protect themselves by building a protector out of clay (like a golem, but Scottish). ]]>
Juliet Wilson
read and liked
Nell-lu's
review of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen:
"I couldn't decide whether this book was supposed to be a farce (which would explain the weak characterisation as intentional caricature) or a satire (which, again, might excuse the stereotypes – and the off-screen character whose only role is to di...more "
"I couldn't decide whether this book was supposed to be a farce (which would explain the weak characterisation as intentional caricature) or a satire (which, again, might excuse the stereotypes – and the off-screen character whose only role is to di...more "
bookshelves: novels
This is a big ambitious novel following the lives of people living in the poorer areas of Fort-de-France in Martinique. It is a novel full of life and inventiveness and insight into the history of the area, including the suburb of Texaco that starts as a squatters settlement on the land owned by the oil company. It's fascinating and engrossing. ]]>
bookshelves: nature, poetry
Since I first read some of Alison's animal poems over on her Myspace page, I've wanted to read more. So I was delighted to find out about Shadow, a pamphlet of Alison's animal poetry, published by happenstance - always nice to support a local small press too!
Shadow is a lovely book, full of beautiful poetry about birds, hedgehogs, horses, bees and cats. The poetry is finely observed and beautifully written:
Starling is numerous, holds in his throat
the many colours of his oily coat.
(from On the aerial)
This is poetry centred on the love of animals, injured hedgehogs rescued from the road, lost kittens and ageing horses. This is also poetry that is open to the sadness we find in the loss of so many animals from our landscapes. Lapwings is a wonderful poem about the decline in these birds, once so common in farmland in the UK, it would be such a loss if they were to disappear altogether:
And I forgot their massive arcs of wing.
When their raw cries swept over, my head spun
with all the billiance of their black and white
as though you cracked the dark and found the sun.
Any animal lover who also loves poetry will be delighted with this book.
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bookshelves: poetry
I really like this poet's voice and his ability to use words to best effects. However this is a really long book for a poetry collection and his voice can become a little bit same-y so I'm having a little break for now. I'll write a real review when I've finished the book. ]]>
Eve is a middle class New Yorker tired of her shallow life, so she decides to have the number of an Auschwitz prisoner tattoed onto her arm for her fortieth birthday present. She then uses this tattoo as a starting point to tell the stories of Auschwitz victims to everyone she meets. The stories she tells are heartbreaking and the novel is noble in its intent but sometimes comes across as preaching. I think it would have been more powerful presented as a series of short stories. ]]>
I often do book reviews on my blog, whether they're specific review copies or just books I happen to read that fit in with the themes of my blog. I have lost count of the times that people have said they're going to order these books from the library or buy them. From this tiny piece of research i would think giving books away is a good idea, but don't overdo it! ]]>