Poetry

Review: Nature Poems to See By

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Cover image of "Nature Poems to See By" by Julian Peters

Nature Poems to See By

Nature Poems to See By, Julian Peters. Plough Publishing (ISBN: 9781636081748) 2026.

Summary: An anthology of great nature poems, organized by seasons and graphically interpreted.

Graphic works have rendered original stories in striking fashion for a new generation. And they have brought to life old stories in fresh ways. But can this work in the world of poetry, with its rich, dense, and often metaphorical use of language? This work, by comic artist Julian Peters, answered this question for me with a resounding yes. This is his second foray into this territory, having published Poems to See By in 2020.

As is obvious from these titles, Peters believes poetry is a means by which we see the world. He also believes poetry is a means by which we see ourselves and even greater realities than those we see with only our eyes. And he employs graphic art to aid us in the seeing.

This anthology collects twenty-four poems, including many familiar ones around the theme of nature. It opens with Langston Hughes poem, “Daybreak in Alabama, evoking both the red clay landscape of Alabama, and “the dream” of races reconciled. It closes with Gerard Manley Hopkins “God’s Grandeur,” concluding with a striking image of the final lines: 

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
     World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

There are six poems for each of the seasons of the year.

“Summer” includes an imaginative rendering of the rich imagery in William Blake’s “And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time” and an apocalyptic rendering of Gwendolyn Brook’s haunting “Truth.”

“Autumn” opens in a portrayal of Sylvia Plath’s proliferating “Mushrooms” and includes Emily Dickinson’s “There Came a Wind Like a Bugle” which eerily evoked reminders of a recent windstorm. Peters vividly renders “The Voice of God” which eludes all human pretensions to come in the small and the ordinary.

“Winter” includes a striking black and white rendering of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Then he follows by a monochrome rendering of Stevie Smith’s “Not Waving but Drowning,” with the concluding lines “I was much too far out all my life/And not waving but drowning.”

Finally, we come to “Spring,” opening with e. e. cummings “I Thank You God for Most This Amazing.” Also, this collection includes an op art portrayal of William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” I felt like I was back in the Sixties!

But some might object to the substitution of the artist’s imagination for one’s own engagement with the text. To address this, the text of each poem follows its graphic rendering. However, I personally found the graphic images encouraged me to pause and ponder the phrasing of each poem that a textual reading alone might gloss over. I found myself wondering why the artist chose particular ways of rendering. This both illuminated and highlighted the ways I was “seeing” the poem.

In conclusion, Julian Peters has created a wonderful doorway into poetry for those new to this world. Likewise, his renderings help us “see” old favorites in a new way. This was a delight to the eye and the eyes of my heart.

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

The Weekly Wrap: November 2-8

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The Weekly Wrap: November 2-8

Writing for AI

One of the articles I feature this week highlights one writer’s realization that those of us still writing may not only use AI to write but are likely writing for AI.

I know this to be true. My blog software tells me where people are referred from who don’t come directly to my site. On a near daily basis, people visit from ChatGPT and other AI large language models. That tells me that these LLMs regularly “scrape” my website and include it as a source in their answers. I find the text of these answers often reflect the source website. Often, that is all someone will read. I am writing for AI whether I wish to or not. In fact, various AI programs may be among my most dedicated “readers.” But perhaps I flatter myself!

How do I feel about that? Resigned is probably the best word I can think of. It’s one of the prices of posting material on the internet. I like it when it translates into people coming to my website. But I suspect 5-10 don’t for each who does.

The article writer explores how to leverage writing for AI. But I don’t think I want to devote too much energy to figuring out how to woo that black box. I pay attention to SEO and readability. However the writer mentioned one idea about writing that caught my attention. The material AI trains on shapes its “character.” I hope the ethos of goodness, truth, and beauty in books I’ve sought to put forward has at least some marginal effect. At very least I hope for this with a few of my human readers. If nothing else, it has for me.

Five Articles Worth Reading

So, the article to which I’ve been referring is “Baby Shoggoth Is Listening” by Dan Kagan-Kans, writing for The American Scholar. He does make me wonder if most human writing, even books, may be mediated through AI in the reading experience of most people. Tell me what you think.

Conservatives have been busy reasserting their vision of traditional masculinity. Things like empathy, vulnerability, and asking for help are out. They are too feminine. Leah Libresco Sargeant, a thoughtful conservative writer pushes back on this trend in a new book, reviewed in “A Conservative Rejoinder to the Manosphere.”

Among many readers I interact with, historical fiction is more popular than history. However, the question arises of how true the fiction is to history. In “Emma Donoghue on Populating Historical Fiction,” the writer explores these questions.

Then, in “At the Heart of Don Quixote,” James Como identifies a storytelling device that we may miss and that is important to the narrative.

Finally, NY Times critic A.O. Scott says “When I’m Sick of Doomscrolling, I Turn to This Poem.” He even reads it for us!

Quote of the Week

Albert Camus was born November 7, 1913. This quote underscores A. O. Scott’s point:

“We have art in order not to die of life.”

Miscellaneous Musings

A. O. Scott is not the only one who reads poetry online. Every Wednesday is “Bob on Poetry” day at my Facebook Page. Recording poetry is a great way to get it into one’s life. you rarely get it “right” in one “take.” One has to think about meaning, phrasing, rhythm and rhyme. I suspect like many things I do online, I profit as much or more than others!

I learned this week that Thriftbooks now has a special deal for AARP members. If you are in the over 50 crowd and a member, head over to their “Special Offer for AARP Members” and save 5% extra when you buy two or more books.

I’m reading Marce Catlett: The Force of a Story, Wendell Berry’s latest Port William novel. I hope Mr. Berry is with us a good while yet. But the book has a valedictory feel to it, as if Berry is speaking through grandson Andy Catlett, now old himself, about what was achieved for a time in the Port William membership, and what has been sadly lost.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: John U. Bacon, The Gales of November

Tuesday: A. C. Seiple, The Sacred Art of Slowing Down

Wednesday: Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic

Thursday: Rebecca Grabill, illustrated by Isabella Grott, One Star, Three Kings

Friday: Angie Ward, Beyond Church and Parachurch

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for November 2-8.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page

Review: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with The Pearl and Sir Orfeo

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Cover image of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" translated by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with Pearl and Sir Orfeo, Anonymous, translated by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780358724209) 2021 (first published 1975).

Summary: Tolkien’s translation of three 14th century poems, retaining rhyme, meter and alliterative schema.

You may not realize it, but the various stories of Middle Earth were not the only works of J.R.R. Tolkien. He also translated into modern English three fourteenth century poems, including an edition of the Arthurian poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He initially collaborated with E.V. Gordon on an edition in 1925. Tolkien also worked on translations of Pearl and Sir Orfeo. However, these were unpublished at his death, and the first to be published with the editorial work of Christopher Tolkien. This is a new edition of that work.

Sir Gawain is probably the most familiar. A Green Knight appears before the round table issuing a challenge, which Arthur accepts but then Gawain accepts to spare his king. The challenge is to strike a blow at the knight’s neck. But Gawain must then seek out the knight, appearing the following New Year’s Day, and allow the knight to do the same. Gawain beheads the knight, who then picks up his head, walks off, holding Gawain to his pledge. Most of the poem is Gawain’s quest to find the knight. By Christmas Eve, he still hasn’t found the knight but arrives at a castle where he can attend mass and stay over Christmas, since the Green Knight lives just two miles away. Gawain’s encounter with the Knight is a kind of anti-climax, the real trial is with the lady of the castle.

Pearl represents an allegory of the loss of what is precious, a young man’s quest, which reminds one of Pilgrim’s Progress where the quest for the Pearl, personified as a maiden takes on a spiritual character of repentance and salvation.

Sir Orfeo is another quest poem in which Sir Orfeo loses his wife Heurodis to a fairy king. He seeks her for many years in the forest where she was last seen. Finally, he spots her and by disguise, finds his way to the king’s court. But to win her and then to be restored to his own throne!

One of the distinctions of Tolkien’s translations is that he retains the meter, rhyme, and alliterative scheme of the original. An appendix on verse forms explains this. I have not read any other edition of these works so I cannot assess how successful Tolkien was. However, I can say that the translation flows and never bogs down the stories of these poems.

This edition also includes the text of the “W.P. Ker Memorial Lecture on Sir Gawain.” The lecture is helpful in appreciating the tension between courtly manners and the perfection of character with which Sir Gawain struggles.

All three poems concern quests. A common theme is that the formation of the character of the questor through the decisions he makes is perhaps even more significant than the object of the quest. We may think we are shaping our life quest when in fact it is shaping us.

The three poems are all treasures I am glad to have found. The translation and editing of the Tolkiens, father and son, is a bonus!

___________

Thanks for visiting Bob on Books.  I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Review: Love’s Immensity

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Cover image of "Love's Immensity" by Scott Cairns

Love’s Immensity, Scott Cairns. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640605886) 2020 (first published in 2007).

Summary: Reflections and prayers of mystics from St. Paul to Julian of Norwich translated and rendered in verse.

At a student leadership conference many years ago, one of our speakers made the distinction between knowing about God and knowing God. Yet I found as I went on in the Christian life that we were not always at ease with the latter. There was a great fear of subjectivity and “mysticism” was looked at askance. We wanted to “rightly handle” scripture, be “sound” in doctrine.

Yet, rather than choose one pole of this tension, I discovered that living in it was the better place to be. Amid reading great theology, I would find myself caught up in wonder, awe, and love. In both worship and witness, I found myself suddenly in the grip of fresh insight into the truth, the rightness of Christian belief. It was a bringing together of mind and heart in a knowing, passionate, and at times, beyond knowing experience of the love and greatness of God.

It was this that poet Scott Cairns discovered as he meditated upon, translated, and set in verse the writings and prayers of mystics from St. Paul to Julian of Norwich. In particular, he writes of noetic prayer. He found the idea of nous untranslatable. The best he could come up with is “the intellective aptitude of the heart.” However, Cairns does not spend much time on this, preferring to show through our encounter with these mystics, inviting us to join them. In Prologue, by the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, he asks us “to read slowly and thoroughly, tasting each word’s trouble.” And such an approach is wise in reading this profound collection.

Firstly, in so many of the works, the paradox of knowing the unknown is evident. An example is Nicholas of Cusa’s Within the Cloud. He writes:

"...For there, beyond all
reason, and above every bold ascent
--even there, where I glimpse that
with every intellect judges to be
most distant from truth, there 
You bide, my God, who remain
our absolute necessity."

To encounter God in this way, according to Meister Eckhart in The Prayer of a Heart Detached is to be both detached and one with God. One becomes detached from asking and wanting. Rather prayer is simply dwelling in the peace and uniformity with God.

Yet the encounter with God is not passionless, devoid of feeling. In The Depth of His Touch, Saint Claire of Assisi speaks of loving and touching God. God is one who excels in power, generosity, beauty, tender love, and gracious courtesy. It is love that catches her in an embrace, lays precious stones upon her breast and pearls upon her ears. The language is romantic, nearly erotic, and yet she speaks of chastity, purity, virginity. Ultimately, one senses that such a holy love is beyond eros.

Similarly, Saint John of the Cross’s famous Dark Night reads as if it were a lover’s tryst. First, he steals away unobserved by a household at rest. Then, unseeing in the darkness, “heartlight” guides him. The Beloved’s embrace transforms him. Finally, he swoon’s upon the Beloved’s breast, releasing all his burdens.” We find here an intimacy greater than any sexual union.

Origen, in All in All, indeed, speaks of consummation. In this case, it is the promised restoration of all things, in which we are caught up in the “All in All.” Finally, Saint Basil the Great, in Illumination reminds us that this is only possible through the Spirit. Only by the Spirit is the invisible manifest, the inexpressible beauty glimpsed.

But Cairns offers us so much more. In all, he includes thirty-seven saints. The translations rendered in verse enable us to meditate phrase by phrase. This is love poetry on a whole different level. I will treasure it!

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. People aren’t reading blogs like they used to, so I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Review: An Incremental Life

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Cover image of "An Incremental Life" by Luci Shaw

An Incremental Life, Luci Shaw. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609792) 2025.

Summary: Poems celebrating the daily moments offering glimpses of joy, growth, insight, and the quiet presence of God.

There are an abundance of ordinary moments between the “life events” we post on social media profiles, and celebrate with family colleagues, and friends. Much of the substance of our lives is found in the ordinary. Noticed and meditated upon, these become a rich tapestry that we call a life. But it is also in these moments that growth in character, and increasing “God-likeness” occurs.

Luci Shaw’s latest collection of poetry, An Incremental Life invites the reader into Shaw’s own practice of noticing and meditating upon the “moments” or “increments in her life. Reading a poem aloud with one’s eggs at breakfast is “Nutriment” for the ears, the voice, and the mind. Polishing a napkin ring with the initials of her father recalls his embrace, smell, and love for God. A return visit to the Grand Canyon reminds her of the Colorado River’s once raging torrent, now reduced to a trickle by “our consumer generation.” In “Estuary,” Shaw and her husband visit a newly formed tidal estuary. Then she reflects on the tides that have poured in and out of their shared lives. She describes “our old eyes viewing a celestial transaction as if for the first time.”

Many of her poems are filled with observations from the natural world. In “Garden Work” she considers how garden work continues when her work for the day is done. Thus, it is a blessing which may fill our lives if we recognize and receive it. “Ambush of the Heart” captures how both simply beauties and unearthed memories may ambush our hearts with wonder. In “Refresh,” a barefoot walk in the grass becomes an immersive experience of the blessing of God.

Other poems mark passages of seasons and the advance of years. “Coda or End-of-Summer Blues” reflects on hoped-for summer plans unfulfilled, regrets failure in the vegetable garden and the life of prayer, rejoices in the flourishing of love and family, and God who ever waits for our attention. She likens herself in one poem to an old cardigan, somewhat threadbare. She acknowledges her want of vigor, sapped of energy by pain and her fights against it. Finally, she fastens it to the shoulder of God. Despite her vibrant faith, in “Mortality” she asks (as have many of us), “Tell me, how may I delay my dying?”

As in other collections, some of her poetry is on the making of poetry, including “How It Happens.” She writes of her aspiration to pen “Edible Words” “rinsing away/falsehood and injury.” She describes how “The New Poem” takes shape through writing and revision as she will “smooth stuttering rhythms.” And then comes time to “blow it a fond, farewell kiss.”

Shaw captures how, as we age, we may both live in the present moment, and re-live the events of our lives, bringing those increments together into a richer synthesis. Our failings and frailties, increasing with the years, may also bring increasing awareness of the presence of the One on whom we depend. And somehow, in all of this, there is the hope of incrementally growing into God’s purposes, even in the face of our own mortality.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

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Cover image of "Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson" edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Gramercy Books (ISBN: 0517362422) 1982 (originally published 1890, 1891, 1896).

Summary: A republication of Dickinson’s poems as first published in three series shortly after her death.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a literary scholar, received four poems from a women in Amherst in 1862. He returned them but kept in touch with Emily Dickinson. She continued to correspond and write poetry but never published during her lifetime. After her death in 1886, Dickinson’s sister found a box containing hundreds of her poems and thought them worthy of publication. She sought out Mabel Loomis Todd, the wife of a local professor who sought the help of Higginson. He edited her work, dealing with issues of rhyme, metre, line arrangements, and dialect. The two published a first series in 1890 and a second in 1891. Mabel Loomis Todd published a third series on her own in 1896.

This collection is based on those works but is not exhaustive. It follows four categories from the original editions: Life, Love, Nature, and Time and Eternity. It includes prefaces from each of the three series and a facsimile of “Renunciation” in Dickinson’s script from the first series. And it also includes artwork from the original publications. However it does not give indications of which poems were included in each series.

I don’t feel adept enough in poetry to offer a critical review of someone of Dickinson’s stature. So I will highlight poems from each section I particularly noticed. Under “Life,” the poems are focused on Dickinson’s observations of life, which are broad despite her secluded existence. Poem VI could be a motto with its lines “If I can stop one heart from breaking,/I shall not live in vain;.” “Hope, 1” has the memorable image of “Hope is the thing with feathers.” Finally, in an age where faith was highly prized, her “Lost Faith” observes that “To lose one’s faith surpasses/The loss of an estate.”

The poems on “Love” cover the various forms of love. “Proof” speaks of the love of God proven on Calvary. “The Lovers” captures her observations of “rosey” cheeks of two young people and staggering speech as they notice each other. Meanwhile, “The Wife” reflects the gendered expectations of the day of dropping life’s “playthings” for the “honorable work/of woman and of wife. There are poems of longing and contentment, and those attesting the loyalty of a loving friend.

“Nature” reveals her keen attention to the world about her. She writes of summer showers, sunsets, bees and bobolinks, butterflies and purple clover. Dickenson captures the deception of “Indian Summer”: “These are the days when skies put on/The old, old sophistries of June–/A blue and gold mistake.” She notices bats, rats, spiders, and their webs.

Finally, “Time and Eternity” deals with ultimate issues of death and the life ever after. Dickinson writes extensively about death, yet rarely is this morbid or maudlin. Much is informed by her own faith, that in the opening words of the first poem in this section believes “This world is not conclusion…” She observes the signs of the death of someone across the street–of neighbors in and out, of ministers and milliners and mattresses thrown out. The poet describes observing “the dying eye” “In search of something.”

She speaks of the remembrances of the dead when alive, so real, yet irrevocably confined to the sepulchre. Dickinson faces death honestly. She recourses to her heavenly hope. And in her final poem, “Farewell,” she accepts her own death. It begins, “tie the strings to my life, my Lord,/Then I’m ready to go.” A few verses later, she concludes: “Good-by to the life I used to live,/And the world I used to know;/And kiss the hills for me, just once;/now I am ready to go!”

I think part of the fascination of Dickinson’s poetry is how deeply she sees into all that really matters in life, while rarely leaving her home. She pays attention to both her human and creaturely neighbors. The poet names both the movements of her heart and the contours of her faith. and often she does all this in just a few lines. I’ll leave you with this example, number “VIII” in the section on “Time and Eternity.”

Each that we lose takes part of us ;
   A crescent still abides,
Which like the moon, some turbid night,
   Is summoned by the tides.

The Weekly Wrap: January 5-11

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Ways of Reading

I’ve posted a couple articles recently (and one more here) about deep reading. One is a review with that title. The other is my 2025 Reading Challenge post, which includes challenges to encourage deep reading. But a comment on the review forced me to be honest. It concerned the quantitative challenges that are about pages and numbers of books read. And the reader asked if I was one of the “old-fashioned” who enjoyed readings and gave them the attention they deserved.

I had to be honest and answer “sometimes.” The truth is, I read a lot of books (237 last year according to Goodreads). It’s not a competition, but rather this retirement avocation of reviewing. I have a stack of books from publishers awaiting reading and reviewing. I generally post at least four reviews a week and typically have five books (plus a book club book) going at a time.

Part of how i do that is that i read different books differently. For example, I am reading a long, somewhat polemical tome which I read quickly to follow the argument (which to be honest didn’t need 900 pages!). Meanwhile, I am savoring a graphic biography of the composer Arvo Pärt, enjoying how the illustrations capture something of the essence of his composing philosophy. On the other hand, a Margery Allingham mystery is a pleasant evening diversion, although her labyrinthine plots do require attention. And an argument for how technology will help us “win’ the climate war is a straightforward matter of following a clearly stated argument. It’s a fast read.

What I don’t want to do is read a deep work of theology or philosophy as I would a murder mystery. Nor can I read poetry as I would a straightforward non-fiction essay or argument. This is what makes reading such a rich part of one’s life. Books offer us both meat and mind candy. We just don’t want to mistake one for the other nor only focus on an exclusive diet of either.

The commentor made one observation that I thought was so good that I will share it: “For me, reading is about enjoying a book and taking the time needed to honour the author and really get into it.” I totally agree!

Five Articles Worth Reading

Speaking of deep reading, I came across this article from William Deresiewicz from last May: “Deep Reading Will Save Your Soul.” He describes how students and faculty, frustrated with the state of reading in higher ed, are fashioning their own programs to deeply engage important works.

I thought this was an amazing rendering of two poems using a “Greek chorus” and instrumental accompaniment, appearing in Open Culture, titled “Laurie Anderson’s Mind-Blowing Performance of C. P. Cavafy’s Poems “Waiting for the Barbarians” & “Ithaca.” “Waiting for the Barbarians” is chilling.

Ought we read escapist lit? In “Trying and Failing to Figure Out “Escapism” in Books,” Molly Templeton says part of the question is what we mean by escapist and part is why we are reading. Sometimes, she suggests, we need a respite to give us perspective when reality is wearying.

There are a number of books on fathers and their maturing children. In “Two Different Ways of Understanding Fatherhood,” Lily Meyer reviews two recent books exploring the transition of men into fatherhood.

From fathers to children. Board books are, for many children, their first encounter with books. In “Jon Klassen on the Art of the Board Book,” the author-illustrator describes the experience of creating books for little ones who can’t read.

Quote of the Week

“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

Astrophysicist and writer Stephen Hawking embodied his words. He was born January 8, 1942.

Miscellaneous Musings

I finished Tom Lake this week. I told you I sometimes found her endings disappointing. She nailed this one. Look for my review next week.

I’ve done enough editing work that the editor’s voice plays in my head when I read some books. I’m thinking of a book I’ve mentioned that could easily have shed half of its 900 pages. I suspect the editor found that too daunting, and having contracted for the book, published it more or less in its form. Another book by an author with a very fertile and big picture mind tried to incorporate everything he thought into his work, barely hanging onto his thesis. Less is more is a hard lesson for authors and preachers to learn.

I mentioned the Arvo Pärt graphic biography I am reading. My son bought it for Christmas, along with four CDs of choral works by Pärt. I’m listening to some of it as I write. Arresting music that reflects his faith and immerses me in his distinctive compositional style. The book helps me understand the life journey leading to the creation of such music. What thoughtfully paired gifts!

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Rainie Howard, The Love Habit

Tuesday: Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

Wednesday: Nadya Williams, Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic

Thursday: Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Friday: Neil J. Whitehouse, The Gospel of Jesus Green

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for January 5-11, 2025!

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

The Weekly Wrap: December 15-21

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parcels in beige wrapping paper and christmas decorative lights
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The Buzz

I call it “the buzz” for lack of a better term. It’s when I hear about an author I’m unfamiliar with, not once, but two or more times, sometimes in the same day. That happened today with an author named John Mark Comer, who writes on spiritual formation with a current book called Practicing the Way and a ministry organization by the same name.

Actually, I thought Comer was new to me until I read about him and discovered I had reviewed one of his earlier books, Garden City. What makes it more embarrassing is that i reviewed the book last year! In my defense, I review a lot of books!

But I digress. The buzz is a tip-off to pay attention to an author. That doesn’t mean rushing out to get his or her latest book. But when I hear about someone from very disparate sources, I start asking why this person’s writing is influential. I look at book descriptions and reviews. And if that piques my interest and I think they are offering a fresh perspective on something, I may bite.

I suppose the buzz may be chalked up to coincidence. Sometimes, though, I take it as a prompting to pick up a book by the author. This happened when I heard about Tom Holland’s Dominion from about a dozen people. But it’s thick, and I think I need a book buddy to join me in reading it. Anyone interested?

Five Articles Worth Reading

I think one of the attractions of reading children’s books as an adult is the lessons that speak to us perhaps even more powerfully than to children. In “10 Life Lessons for Grown-Ups From Children’s Classics,” Pamela Paul reminds us of some of these lessons.

Russell Harper is one of the revisors of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), the bible of writers. in “What Can a Book from 1749 Teach Us About Chicago Style?” he considers Henry Field’s Tom Jones in its originally published form and how it conforms to and departs from The Chicago Manual of Style. It wasw fascinating to see the conventions that have endured.

Zabihollah Mansouri. Not a household name for us, but most Iranians have read something he translated. “In Search of Zabihollah Mansouri” is a fascinating profile of a translator who often “improved” on authors’ works when he thought them too dull for readers.

If you’ve never discovered the delight of reading a novel by Anthony Trollope, “The Way We Don’t Live Now” is a good introduction to why this reader, at least finds Trollope worth reading.

As you may have noticed, I’ve been reading more poetry. This one brought back memories of my grandmother, who passed in 1965: Fossil Record for My Grandmother: A poem for Sunday, by Dara Yen Elerath. One difference between me and the poet. My grandmother’s Bible is a treasured possession.

Quote of the Week

Hortense Calisher was an American novelist and second female president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was born December 20, 1911. She observed:

“It took most people a lifetime to join the human race.”

I’m still thinking about that!

Miscellaneous Musings

One of the things that hasn’t gotten old after over a decade of reviewing is when I write to a publisher for the first time and request a review copy of a book and they say “yes.”

I’ve been losing myself this week in Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures. It’s written for children in the middle grade but I’ve been thoroughly engrossed. There is a hidden world within our world that a young boy enters, a girl with a destiny she has to decide whether to embrace, and a threat to life in the hidden world and our wider world. A wonderful story of love and heroism–things good, true, and beautiful.

For three years, I lived a block from Anthony Wayne Trail in Toledo, Ohio. I’m reading a biography about the Revolutionary War General often known as “Mad” Anthony Wayne. He was the general responsible for defeating an alliance of indigenous tribes in 1795, supported by the British, who lived in the Ohio country, who were unwilling to give up land previously allocated under treaty. The European settlement of every city I’ve lived in in Ohio was made possible by that defeat and the Treaty of Greenville of 1795 when the indigenous tribal confederacy ceded the Ohio lands. Ohio became a state in 1803. But reminders of that indigenous presence are still all around me in the names of rivers, towns, and counties: Mahoning, Maumee, Scioto, Cuyahoga, Olentangy, Sandusky, and Delaware just to name a few.

Next Week’s Reviews

Here’s the lineup for next week:

Monday: Jill Hicks-Keeton, Good Book

Tuesday: Georges Simenon, Maigret and the Wine Merchant

Wednesday: Richard Panek, Pillars of Creation

Thursday: Matthew Levering, Why I am Roman Catholic

Friday: Benjamin T. Quinn & Dennis T. Greeson, The Way of Christ in Culture

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for December 15-21, 2024!

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

Review: Meet Me at the Lighthouse

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Cover image for "Meet Me at the Lighthouse by Dana Gioia

Meet Me at the Lighthouse: Poems, Dana Gioia. Graywolf Press (ISBN: 9781644452158) 2023.

Summary: A collection of poems reflecting memories of people from several generations as well as the places of Gioia’s life.

I’ve suggested to others wanting to begin reading poetry to find an anthology and notice whose poetry you like and explore those poets further. Here, I am following my own advice, having encountered and liked Dana Gioia’s poetry in an anthology. And in this case, it was good advice. There was so much I connected with in these poems.

Many of these are about memories, typified in the opening and title poem, “Meet Me at the Lighthouse.” He recalls an old nightclub, on a foggy pier, speaks to an anonymous friend who has died, urging him to meet him there for one night of listening to some of the greats in jazz–Gerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderly, Hampton Hawes, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, and Art Pepper. Who of us hasn’t remembered places like this and ghosts of our past and wished for ‘one more time?”

In “Three Drunk Poets” he recalls the crazy things we do in our youth. In this case, he recalls a night where, with two other poet friends in a small town, they challenged each other to keep walking until they ran out of remembered poems. They ran out of city lights before they did poems, with a coyote joining the recitation. At that, they turned around.

“Tinsel, Frankincense, and Fir” evokes memories of the Christmas season. Like many of us, his decorations are old and carry memories of Christmases past–and the ghosts of family.

Gioia evokes other ghosts. One is of an uncle, Theodore Ortiz, who joined the U.S. Merchant Marine, serving until his early death. Another is of the life and death of his great grandfather, Jesus Ortiz, and of the two boys who followed him as cowboys.

He writes several poems about Los Angeles. “Psalm and Lament for Los Angeles” paraphrases Psalm 137, setting it in the demolished places of his childhood. He asks, “What was there to sing in a strange and empty land?” His lament recalls the feelings of revisiting my home town of Youngstown and missing so many of the places of my youth–my house, my school, my church, the department store where both my father and I worked.

He also recalls the hot summer nights and the passions of the flesh so near the surface while another poem recalls the missed chances of romance.

In the final poem, “The Underworld,” Gioia joins the ranks of poets who chronicle a descent into hell. He alludes to Virgil, Dante, Senecas, Christopher Marlowe, Yeats, and T.S. Eliot. He concludes with “Disappointments” what was not there. He captures the nothingness that the Bible calls the “outer darkness.”

I found that there was a lot I could connect with in Gioia. Perhaps what I like as a relative neophyte at reading poetry is the accessibility of what he writes. Familiar verse structures and rhyme schemes. A story line. Perhaps as well in this collection, his remembering provokes my own. He recalls what is both sweet and sad in life and reminds us of how often these come together.

Now to find more of his work!

The Weekly Wrap: November 24-30

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parcels in beige wrapping paper and christmas decorative lights
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The Silent Book Club Boom

Back in 2016, I posted an article about Silent Reading Parties. No thanks to me, I’m sure, this idea has caught on in a big way. Healthline, as part of a feature on the social and cognitive benefits of reading, highlighted Silent Book Club, an organization that now has 1400 chapters and counting worldwide.

The idea is simple and genius. Get a group of friends together, everyone bring your own book in whatever format you wish (with headphones for audiobooks). Here’s how many break down the time:

  • 30 minutes–people arrive, order drinks/food, share what they’re reading
  • 60 minutes–quiet reading
  • 30 minutes–optional socializing, or just keep reading

Groups can adjust the times to fit their needs. Most meet monthly.

It looks like a number of these are hosted by bookstores, often offering discounts on books people buy during these gatherings. Makes sense.

What also makes sense is the idea of reading in companionable silence without having your reading choices determined by a club. And its always fun to talk books with other bookworms. For those who don’t like book clubs but like to talk about books with others, this might be something to try. The Silent Book Club website includes a map to help you find a group near you as well as help starting a group of your own.

Five Articles Worth Reading

You don’t have to tell most readers the benefits of reading. But if you want to encourage others to take up the habit, “How Reading Can Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety” discusses the mental health benefits of reading.

Poetry and prayer have a connection going back to Israel’s Psalms and other Ancient Near East Literature. Ed Simon explores the close connection of prayer and poetry throughout literature in “Prayer is Poetry.”

Friends who have seen the Book of Kells describe it as one of the most beautiful books in the world. Plus, it is housed in the incredible Trinity College Library in Dublin. Open Culture offers a great introduction to this illuminated manuscript, including a six-plus minute video at “An Introduction to the Astonishing Book of Kells, the Iconic Illuminated Manuscript.”

From ancient manuscripts to this year’s books. NPR just posted its “Books We Love” feature for 2024 with 350 picks from their staff. In addition, you can access their choices going back to 2013!

Whether you like Taylor Swift or not, she has revolutionized the music industry, including re-recording much of her work, enhanced the fan base of the Kansas City Chiefs, and recently concluded her Eras tour, breaking concert attendance, gross income, and other records. Now, in publishing her own book on the tour, she’s changing the way some celebrities relate to publishers. The Atlantic has the story in “Taylor Swift Is a Perfect Example of How Publishing Is Changing.”

Quote of the Week

“Variety’s the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.”

This is one of those axioms that is part of our collective store of wisdom. But who said it? English poet and hymn writer William Cowper, who was born November 25, 1731.

Miscellaneous Musings

I was thrilled to learn today that a recording by two of my favorite artists is coming out this weekend. Phil Keaggy is an incredible guitarist from my hometown of Youngstown. Malcolm Guite is a contemporary poet, priest, and scholar with a marvelous English accent. They have combined talents with Guite reciting poetry and Keaggy providing guitar accompaniment in “Strings and Sonnets.” I wish I could recite poetry like Guite does!

Speaking of poetry, I’ve been reading Dana Gioia’s Meet Me At the Lighthouse. “Tinsel, Frankincense, and Fir” reminds me of the “ghosts” behind some of the ornaments we hang. I have to admit to finding things I like about Gioia’s work and ways I connect every time I read him!

Just finished Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, this year’s Booker Prize winner. While I think I’ve read better fiction in 2024, Harvey does capture something I’ve heard about before–seeing our planet from space is transformative–both its beauty and precarity. There is NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) footage online that gives some sense of what the fictional International Space Station astronauts and cosmonauts experience in Harvey’s work.

Next Week’s Reviews

Here’s what I expect to be reviewing next week:

Monday will be my monthly “Month in Reviews” post recapping my November reviews.

Tuesday: Agatha Christie’s One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Wednesday: Samantha Harvey’s Orbital

Thursday: Dana Gioia, Meet Me At the Lighthouse

Friday: Mike Cosper, The Church in Dark Times

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for November 17-23, 2024!

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.