I learned about this one from BookPage. It sounds like a great resource for learning more about poetry in a very non-intimidating way. Seems like one worth thinking about during poetry month.
From the Back Cover
An essential primer to reading poetry that unlocks the keys to enjoying works from Lord Byron to the Beatles
No literary form is as admired and feared as poetry. Admired for its lengthy pedigree—a line of poets extending back to a time before recorded history—and a ubiquitous presence in virtually all cultures, poetry is also revered for its great beauty and the powerful emotions it evokes. But the form has also instilled trepidation in its many admirers mainly because of a lack of familiarity and knowledge.
Poetry demands more from readers—intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually—than other literary forms. Most of us started out loving poetry because it filled our beloved children’s books from Dr. Seuss to Robert Louis Stevenson. Eventually, our reading shifted to prose, and later when we encountered poetry again, we had no recent experience to make it feel familiar. But reading poetry doesn’t need to be so overwhelming. In an entertaining and engaging voice, Thomas C. Foster shows readers how to overcome their fear of poetry and learn to enjoy it once more.
How to Read Poetry Like a Professor examines a wide array of poems and teaches readers:
• How to read a poem to understand its primary meaning. • The different technical elements of poetry such as meter, diction, rhyme, line structures, length, order, and regularity, and how to learn to see these elements as allies rather than adversaries. • How to listen for a poem’s secondary meaning by paying attention to the echoes that the language of poetry summons up. • How to hear the music in poems—and the poetry in songs!
With How to Read Poetry Like a Professor, readers can rediscover poetry and reap its many rewards.
You may know Junot Diaz from his novels which include The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Drown and This is How You Lose Her. He has just published a piece, The Silence: The Legacy of Childhood Trauma, in The New Yorker Magazine. It is about his having been a victim of childhood sexual abuse, the profound impact of this, how he both avoided and tried to come to terms with the abuse and how it has impacted his life. This is a riveting, heartbreaking and incredibly important article about how we can create ways to seemingly survive when we are breaking on the inside and how we might slowly get better. You should not miss this one!!
Bill Bryson’s take on life in England is humorous and fun. This one is perfect for the curmudgeonly armchair traveler. If you enjoy Notes…, I would also recommend his more recent book, The Road to Little Dribbling. Yes, it is a real place in England!
I also enjoyed The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society when I read it years ago. I recall it as good women’s fiction with likeable characters. A blurb:
Date with Malice is the second book in Julia Chapman’s series, following on last year’s Date with Death which I read and enjoyed. Best in this novel are the recurring characters and the setting in the English countryside/Dales. This time, there are suspicious goings on at a residential community for seniors. Who is creating havoc and threatening the residents? Samson, a former undercover cop, and Delilah (yes, the names) are protagonists who spar, care for one another and have a history. Of course, there is a romance brewing. The mystery itself was not that hard to solve but all in all, this is an easy, pleasant novel for cozy lovers. Thanks for letting me read this NetGalley!
I have been spending time in Pecan Springs, Texas for over twenty years. Pictured are the first and last books of the series with over twenty novels in the middle. In these books, Susan Wittig Albert has created a place that feels real, peopled with characters that feel genuine, decent and real while also having a central mystery in each book. The characters grow over time as we learn more about their histories. China Bayles, the protagonist, is a Texas lawyer who did not want to pursue that career any longer. She moves to small town Texas where she opens an herb and plant shop. China meets a number of folks along the way, including the crystal reading Ruby who owns a shop nearby. There is also Mike McQuaid and his son, Brian along with their dog. Mike represents the police in the early books. Each of the novels has a self-contained mystery with the author bringing in enough information that you do not have to read the series in order (though I recommend reading in order).
Twenty-one Days is an offshoot of Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series. I read the first book, The Cater Street Hangman, in 1979. I can still remember not wanting to arrive at my destination on the subway because I wanted to keep reading.
I had bought this book a while ago but only started to look at it recently. The comics are adorable and gently hit on some home truths. Save this, or any other volume in the series, for when you need a sweet laugh with the great Peanuts gang.
Invitation to Sociology is the book that made me become a Sociology major . New to college, I had never even heard of the field. Peter Berger made the subject intriguing, applicable to every day life and a route to understanding more about the world. Many courses later, I still felt a fondness for this book.
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 