Poem in Your Pocket Day

April has been National Poetry Month. There are plenty of people out there who still appreciate poetry I'm sure, though I doubt it's as valued as it was a hundred years ago. But if you have the time to check out this site, poets.org you can find hundreds of poems that might appeal to you. "For poems are not, as people think, simply emotions (one has emotions early enough)—they are experiences." —Rainer Maria Rilke

Then if you find your favorite, you can write it down and carry it in your pocket to share at just the right moment! (today of course, since this is the last of the Poetry Month) Here's one of my favorites by Alfred Lord Tennyson: (Enjoy!)

Crossing the Bar

by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have cross’d the bar.

These Is My Words

These is My Words by Nancy Turner was published in 1998. It May's Book Club book. And I just finished reading it for the second time. It was as wonderful the second time around as the first. The story is a series of diary entries recorded over a twenty year period of a young pioneer woman's life. The story was inspired by the author's own grandmother's memoirs. Sarah Prine lives in a harsh environment in the Arizona territories battling Indians, rattlesnakes, death and the cruelties of nature. It brings early American experience to life and gives rich details about a way of life that has long vanished. These books are available at the library for checkout. Read and enjoy, then join us for our discussion on May 12.

Pulitzer Prize Winners

Today they are announcing the 2009 winner of the Pulitizer Prize for Literature. You know the Pulitzer Prize for literature, right? Last year's winner was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. And of course, there are the famous 'other' winners from years' past: you've heard of the Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, Beloved by Toni Morrison, even that 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell is familiar (Gone with the Wind won in 1937). And it would seem that winning a big literary prize like the Pulitzer Prize for Literature would make novels live on in history being made into movies, spending years in various discussion groups, and of course being added to High School English Reading lists, like prize winning books are wont to do. I recently ran across a list of the Pulitzer Prize winners for Literature from years past and here's the thing: What? .... Who? I doubt one single one of these prize winning books would have made it through our first round of weeding. Check out this list. I'd be interested if anyone has read any of these:

His Family by Ernest Poole, 1918

Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield, 1927

Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin, 1929

Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge, 1930

Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes, 1931

The Store by T.S. Stribling, 1933

Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller, 1934

Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson, 1935

Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis, 1936

In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow, 1942

Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin, 1944

Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens, 1949

The Way West by A.B. Guthrie, 1950

The Town by Conrad Richter, 1951

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor, 1959

Stay Tuned. We'll see who won this year's award!

Exit Music

Exit Music is a novel by Ian Rankin. This is my first Rankin novel and it probably won't be my last. Though it took a bit to get started with this one, I have been hooked since early on. This is a mystery, one of my favorite kinds, no less, a murder mystery! The story revolves around a murdered Russian poet who has been living in Scotland and the detectives trying to solve the case. A dissident Russian poet has been found dead in what looks like a mugging gone wrong. By apparent coincidence a high-level delegation of Russian businessmen is in town, keen to bring business to Scotland. The politicians and bankers who run Edinburgh are determined that the case should be closed quickly and clinically.
But the further they dig, the more Rebus and his colleague DS Siobhan Clarke become convinced that they are dealing with something more than a random attack - especially after a particularly nasty second killing. Meantime, a brutal and premeditated assault on local gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty sees Rebus in the frame. Has the Inspector taken a step too far in tying up those loose ends? Only a few days shy of the end to his long, inglorious career, will Rebus even make it that far?
If you enjoy mysteries and you want something you haven't tried before pick up this Rankin novel.

The Thief Lord

I just finished Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It's a juvenile/young adult book and I can see how kids would really enjoy this story. The novel is set in Venice, Italy among the streets, canals, and landmarks of that lovely Italian city, where the brothers Prosper and Bo have fled to avoid being split up by an aunt who wants to adopt only the younger Bo. A detective named Victor Getz has been hired to track the two boys down. And so the adventure begins... Students will enjoy this story and no doubt be reminded in many ways, of the Harry Potter series. There is plenty of magic and mystery and adventure to be found in this one.

Adults will find this book fun to read as well. I highly recommend it!