After my productivity in January, I'm upset to discover I didn't blog at all in February! Too busy with gardening (new fence), coffee catch-ups, films and family. It's been go, go, go.... I'm happy to say that my reading this year has been much better than at the end of last year. Here are my thoughts on the books I've read so far. The Bee … [Read more...] about Books Read January – February 2024
Books
THE ILIAD
This arrived on my doorstep on the second of November last year and I started reading it shortly after. Having enjoyed Wilson's translation of The Odyssey in 2018, which I wrote about here, I had high expectations. My personal experience enhanced by the many positive reviews of this translation. I could quote from many and have attached them here … [Read more...] about THE ILIAD
Best Books of 2023
Rilke: The Last Inward Man, Lesley Chamberlain Shirley Hazzard, Brigitte Olubsas Super Infinity, Katharine Rundle Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life, Andrew Motion The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life In Books, John Carey The Speckled People, Hugo Hamilton RUNNERS UP The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams Only, … [Read more...] about Best Books of 2023
Final Books 2023
This is a very quick blog about the books I've been reading since my last book blog which was written 29th October 2023. Slim pickings indeed. In part because I have commenced reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Iliad which I am loving and really savouring, so not rushing. I read some of these before I started that, then a couple afterwards … [Read more...] about Final Books 2023
Philip Larkin Poems
Andrew Motion in his biography of Philip Larkin (see this post) says Larkin was popular because of the familiar language and syntax of his poems, their ambition to speak from and about 'ordinary life and their tendency to aspire to the condition of epigram. Which made them at once approachable and memorable. But at the same over-simplified them and … [Read more...] about Philip Larkin Poems
Latest Reading: September – October 2023
Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life, Andrew Motion Reading Andrew Motion's memoir, Sleeping on Islands (see this post) led me to this which I enjoyed very much. One way or another, mostly memoirs and books about literary circles and poetry, I've absorbed some knowledge about Larkin but I've not read much of his poetry. Motion was, along with … [Read more...] about Latest Reading: September – October 2023