Kingdom of the Blind --by Louise Penny (Inspector Gamache series_

 Fiction / mystery

375 pages / 6643 KB

5 stars

 

Once again, I had a mini vacation to a fictional village, with fictional friends. As one of my t-shirts says, “Books make me homesick for places I’ve never been and people I’ve never met.” I do so enjoy my mini vacations to Three Pines and the surrounding areas. And to see what my friends are up to. A good cup of coffee, friendly gossip, and I’m good to go until the next book comes out.

 

This is the first book Ms. Penny wrote after her beloved husband died. It must have been terribly difficult, as well as rewarding.

 

Armand and Myrna and one other person unknown to them, have been chosen as executors to an estate of a woman they’ve never met. It doesn’t take long for a body to appear, in a most unorthodox place and manner. The “Countess” as she was known, has three adult children, why weren’t they chosen as executors? Why strangers with no apparent connection? How did one end up dead in his childhood home?

 

All good questions, and all questions will be answered by the last page. If you’re a fan of Gamache, I think you’ll enjoy this one, too. 

guillotine --by Eduardo C. Corral

Nonfiction / poetry

72 pages

5 stars

 

After reading one poem online, I ordered Slow Lightning and pre-ordered guillotine. I absolutely loved Slow Lightning, and as I try to do, succeeded in forgetting I had another of his books on pre-order. It arrived the other day. Christmas in August! I devoured the book in two nights. I could have done it in one, but I wanted to savor it, at least a little. I will reread it again, and again, and the next time, I’ll not only read it slowly, as is proper, I’ll have my Spanish dictionary beside me.

 

Yes, some poems are completely in Spanish, and many (most?) have Spanish in them. It is not necessary to read and understand Spanish to taste the beauty of the words or grasp the meaning.

 

The poems are gut-wrenchers in their beauty and their pain. The son of Mexican immigrants, he sings the celebration of surviving the Sonora Desert, of surviving life. He also sings the lamentations of the immigrant, those who are still in the desert, of the man different, of the self-inflicted pain seeking to give glory. 

 

Corral plays not only with words and notes, but with style and form. Some of the poems are out of focus, as if being read through tears. One is written in two loose columns that merge, separate, life, death. One poem is all names, out of focus, hard to read. I cried. 

Honey and Salt --by Carl Sandburg

 Nonfiction / poetry

110 pages

4 Stars

 

Although I liked several of the poems in this book, they are beautifully written and nicely constructed, I can only give it four stars. To be honest, I think it’s my personal bias. These poems were originally published in the late 1950s and poetry has morphed since then. I prefer the newer

styles.

 

Of the ones I liked, my favorite is Love is a Deep and a Dark and a Lonely. If not the poem itself, the title. 

 

I can see why Sandburg is the quintessential American poet. If you haven’t read him, I think you need to. Perhaps that is part of my bias, I came to him in my twilight years. 

You Must Revise Your Life --by William Stafford (Poets on Poetry)

Nonfiction /essay/poetry

136 pages

3 Stars

 

An interesting book by an interesting man. Basically, it’s how he wrote and taught. If you are new to the writing life, or contemplating it, I recommend reading this book. There are some insights you might find useful. The ones that strike a chord in your psyche, take and own. The others—leave in the book.

 

There was, as one reviewer noted, a smugness to the book that I think was neither needed nor intended. How his way of teaching was so much better than other ways. At least, I hope it wasn’t intended. Although I am not a teacher, I have participated in many workshops, and I found the ones that tempered criticism with a little praise, were the most helpful for me. I don’t think I would have enjoyed a class where neither was given. But, then, again…

 

The most fun was in misreading one of his poems. He wrote ‘map’ I read ‘NAP’. When I realized my mistrake, I re-read it. I like it better with nap.

School of the Arts: Poems —by Mark Doty

Nonfiction / poetry

128 pages

5 stars

 

A friend suggested I read Mark Doty. I bought this book, read the first few, and thought, “Yeah, they’re ok, but nothing to write home about.” Then I turned the page and was clobbered up the side of the head with POETRY! OMG! My friend was right!!!

 

Whereas I had planned on finishing it, and giving it to someone else, now that I’m finished, if anyone wants to borrow it, they will have to have clean hands, wear cotton gloves, and promise not to get greasy eye marks all over it.

 

Most of these poems are multi paged; however, there is a lot of white space, artfully placed. From Notebook/To Lucian Freud/On the Veil, “I love starting things // Fat and shadow, oil and wax / mobility solidified, / like cooled grease in a can—"//

 

Somehow, he has managed to paint his song with words in in both bright and subdued melodic colors. A great bedtime read. A great anytime read.

The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 (American Poets Continuum_ --by Lucille Clifton, author and Kevin Young, editor (plus 2 ore_

Nonfiction / poetry

720 pages, Hardback (2.7 pounds)

5x5 stars

My sister, a poet, insisted I buy and read this book. I’m so glad I listened. I whined a bit about the weight, but I learned, or relearned, to enjoy reading sitting up instead of horizontal in bed.

In all the poems, there was not one I did not like, and many I liked very much. Several times, something she said, the somehow of her saying it, flipped a switch in my mind, and I put the book down, and wrote poems because of her work. Not copies, not even similar, not even on the same topic, but her words, her beauty, spurred me to write.

I am so sorry I will not have the opportunity to meet her, to take a class from her, to tell her ‘Thank You’ for so much beauty, so much song, so much life, in person. When I grow up, I want to be Lucille Clifton. I am so grateful I have this wonderful book. Kevin Young did a marvelous job putting it together.

When I grow up, I want to be Lucille Clifton

A Rule Against Murder --by Louise Penny

Fiction / Armand Gamache Mystery (book 4)

313 pages 

5 stars

Armand and his wife, Reine-Marie visit their favorite ‘back woods’ lodge for a few days before their anniversary—the luxurious, isolated Manoir Bellechase. The Finney family are having their annual reunion, a month early, during the same time. The Finney’s are a dysfunctional family actually, quite nasty. Imagine the surprise when the late-comers turn out to be friends of the Gamache’s. Imagine the surprise of the Finney’s when one of their own is murdered, and it comes out that the polite and soft-spoken gentleman is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete Homicide and not a grounds man married to a housekeeper.

Ms. Penny uses a lot of French in her books, they are after all, set in French Quebec. However, she carefully lets those of us who don’t know French, know what the character’s say. 

Madame Dubois, who runs the lodge, has a rule against murder, and is none too pleased that the rule has been broken and one of her guests has been killed. I was fairly sure I had this one figured out, but, alas. I didn’t. I wasn’t even close. And very little of the book takes place in the village of Three Pines.