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DGRachel
March Book | Jesse Ball
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I finished 13 books in March. Lots of middle grade and graphic novels, because that‘s all I could mentally handle. The Spear Cuts Through Water was my favorite, even though it took me two months to read. It was so worth the effort. Both of the Swifts books by Beth Lincoln were delightful. #marchwrapup

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BarbaraJean
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Pickpick

Years ago, I came across the poem “The Taxi” by Amy Lowell, and its final line has lived in my brain ever since: “Why should I leave you, / To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?” I‘ve meant to read a collection of her poetry ever since, but we all know how the TBR intentions sometimes go. So when it became apparent that in spite of my best intentions in January, I definitely wasn‘t going to get around to reading any (let alone all ⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …three volumes) of Dante‘s Divine Comedy by the end of March for the #ClassicsChallenge2025, I decided to read some Amy Lowell instead.

This collection, published in 1919, is made up of two halves. The first is filled with tiny, exquisite poems that play with Chinese and Japanese forms, creating gorgeous crystal-clear images in word pictures. I had a hard time putting it down, savoring bite-sized poem after poem. ⤵️
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BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) The second half is more lyrical, moving away from the Asian-inspired images and into English cities and the countryside. While I preferred the imagery of the first half, there were still some gems in the second half. I‘m glad I finally immersed myself in Amy Lowell‘s poetry, and I‘ll definitely be seeking out more of it!

Link to her poem “The Taxi” (which isn‘t in this collection): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42984/the-taxi
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MommyWantsToReadHerBook Such a beautiful poem. Lovely post 💙 3d
36 likes4 comments
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BarbaraJean
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SEPTEMBER, 1918

This afternoon was the colour of water falling through sunlight;
The trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves;
The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves,
And the houses ran along them laughing out of square, open windows.
Under a tree in the park,
Two little boys, lying flat on their faces,
Were carefully gathering red berries
To put in a pasteboard box.
⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d)
Some day there will be no war
Then I shall take out this afternoon
And turn it in my fingers
And remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate
And note the crisp variety of its flights of leaves
Today I can only gather it
And put it into my lunch-box
For I have time for nothing
But the endeavour to balance myself
Upon a broken world.
5d
25 likes1 comment
blurb
DGRachel
March Book | Jesse Ball
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I‘m really hoping that the #bookspin gods are kind to me and pick books that are already on my March TBR. Between library books with due dates that can‘t be extended, books clubs/buddy reads, NetGalley books that publish this month, and my library system‘s annual Community Reads program, my schedule is already packed. In fact, looking at this makes me so stressed, I may bail on everything and just watch Netflix. 😂

Suet624 Hahaha. I hear ya! 1mo
48 likes1 comment
review
ImperfectCJ
Small Rain: A Novel | Garth Greenwell
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Pickpick

Things I love:
-The pacing leaves plenty of room for emotions to develop.
-The perspective shows both the frustration of the US medical system and the wonder we can access when knocked out of our unconscious narratives.
-The writing, beautiful without being sappy.

Things that don't quite work:
-The extended treatises on poetry and music go on too long for my taste.
-The meticulous detail, which gets tedious.

Soft pick for a #tob25 longlist title

BarbaraBB I have this one waiting for me. I hope I‘ll like it as well. 1mo
45 likes1 comment
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Chris
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review
cant_i'm_booked
The Bride's House | Dawn Powell
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Pickpick

A strange and obscure little book written in the 1920s, about a rural Ohio woman torn between her husband and a lover. As Dawn Powell‘s biographer puts it well, this novel reads as romance fiction but with all the dark and bleak stylization of a Theodore Dreiser story.

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GatheringBooks
Collected Poems | Robert Bly
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lil1inblue 💚 💚 💚 2mo
32 likes1 comment
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Megabooks
Small Rain: A Novel | Garth Greenwell
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This is the start of Small Rain. It‘s something, I think, anyone who has been to a US ER with chronic illness/pain would recognize. I was just there going through this the week before Christmas.

BarbaraBB That must be confrontational! 2mo
Suet624 So many repeated questions from so many people, all with little laptops in hand. Just read what the answers were that I gave three people ago!! I hope you‘re feeling better, Meg. 2mo
sarahbarnes ♥️♥️♥️ 2mo
Butterfinger Oh no. I hope you are feeling better. Before having surgery, I would be stoic and say 5-6 on the pain scale. Really, I was just losing my balance. My spinal fluid was trapped. Afterwards, the pain between my shoulder blades is excruciating. I cringe when people try to touch it. I'm on my heating pad right now. 2mo
49 likes4 comments