Mini-reviews: Nine Horses: Poems and The Diary of Pelly D

CarrieK | March 2, 2010

Title: Nine Horses: Poems
Author: Billy Collins
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: Random House
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from my personal library
I am an unabashed fan of Billy Collins, but this definitely wasn’t my favorite collection. It had a few memorable poems, but most I thought were just okay. Unusual for Collins – every other collection I’ve [...]

Bookish links for Saturday, January 30, 2010

CarrieK | January 30, 2010

Author links:
~ On Monday, Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, will be participating in a Twitter interview.
Discussion starters:
~ Debbie’s World of Books: What makes a great blog?
~ My Friend Amy: On being a public reader and The death of our writers.
Reviews that have me adding to my to-read list:
~ A Wish [...]

The Sunday Salon – January 24, 2010 (the “I’m adding two more reading challenges” edition)

CarrieK | January 24, 2010

Two new reading challenges were brought to my attention, and I have decided that resistance is futile. I know it may seem like this is just way too many challenges for one person – and they may be – but one of these requires reading poetry, which I’m doing anyway, and the other is too [...]

Links for Saturday, January 23, 2010

CarrieK | January 22, 2010

Discussion starters:
~ FleurFisher wants to know which Dickens she should read this year.
~ Tasha at Heidenkind’s Hideaway asks Who is the new Dickens?
~ Rebecca at Book Lady’s Blog talks about her addiction to reading all of the introductory and end matter in her books.
~ So many discussions this week about the latest white-washing disaster at [...]

Book Review: Questions About Angels: Poems by Billy Collins

CarrieK | January 4, 2010

Title: Questions About Angels: Poems
Author: Billy Collins
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from the public library.
First line: We do not speak like Petrarch or wear a hat like Spenser / and it is not fourteen lines / like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field / but the [...]

Mary’s Song

CarrieK | December 24, 2009

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast keep warm this small hot star fallen to my arms.
(Rest…You who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies the body of God sweetly.
Quiet He lies whose vigor hurled a universe.
He sleeps whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems no breath at all) [...]

Three mini-reviews: Where Water Comes Together With Other Water: Poems, Z for Zachariah, and Ethan Frome

CarrieK | December 23, 2009

Title: Where Water Comes Together with Other Water: Poems
Author: Raymond Carver
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: Vintage Books
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from the public library.
First line: Where this floated up from, or why, I don’t know.
Mini-review: Poetry centered on people and their stories – some I loved, some were just okay. Will post a favorite [...]

My ever-expanding list of books you must read

CarrieK | September 4, 2009

Update: I’m editing the title to indicate that these are books I think everyone must read, not books I’m listing for myself to read. I’ve read – and loved – all of these, that’s why I consider them must-reads. )
I have officially run out of genres in which I can list my favorites. [...]