So, since we’re winding down National Poetry Month, and the sun is finally (finally!) out this morning, I thought it would be nice to share a favorite poem about spring (that doesn’t begin “April is the cruelest month”. Even though it is.)
A quick confession: Growing up, I wasn’t a poetry person. I don’t think I’m was a metrophobe…but I also didn’t inherently get poetry in the same way I got prose. Until tenth grade, when I met Keats and Wordsworth. And then, it was like someone flipped a switch in my little 16-year-old brain and something made sense. For that reason, both poets are very near and dear to my heart. Keat’s season was autumn, but Wordsworth taught me to love spring, even in its allergy-inducing haze. So I thought we could bid adieu, on this lovely spring day, to National Poetry Month with a little Wordsworth, and his daffodils:
Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:-
A Poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.Published in Collected Poems, 1815
And now…on to the books!
Gold of Our Fathers: Fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series will find a great deal to love in Kwei Quartey’s mysteries featuring Darko Dawson, the newly promoted Chief Inspector in the Ghana police service. This is Dawson’s fourth outing, and while his new title carries some great perks, it also means that Dawson is being transferred from Accra, Ghana’s capital, to Obuasi in the Ashanti region, a place that has become notorious for its exploitative goldmines. He finds the office there is utter shambles, but before he can begin setting things to rights, Dawson is called on to solve the murder of a Chinese mine owner who was unearthed from his own quarry. The case brings Dawson face to face with the corruption that has devastated Obuasi, and the greed that keeps it running, in an adventure that is keeping readers and critics alike fascinated, including Publisher’s Weekly, who gave this book a starred review, and called it “Exceptional . . . Fans of mysteries that offer a window into another culture will be more than satisfied.”
The People in the Castle: Selected Strange Stories: By the time of her death in 2004, Joan Aiken had written over 100 books, and was a deeply respected writer for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, and Vanity Fair, to name a few. Now, some of her creepiest, most imaginative, previously unpublished tales have been collected into a single volume for you to explore. These tales, on the surface, harken back to some classic tropes of the horror and gothic genres…bumps in the night, a whispered voice in the dark…but Aiken brought her own flare to everything she wrote, and these stories are all better for it. There is also plenty of heart and humor here, as well, along with an introduction from Aiken’s daughter, Lizzie. The California Literary Review wrote a glowing review of this book, saying “”Aiken’s pastoral meadows and circus chaos, gothic grotesques and quirky romances . . . have a dream-like quality executed with a brevity and wit that is a testament to her skill as a story-teller.”
The Invisible Guardian: Dolores Redondo’s eerie mystery has already become a best-seller in Spain, and was nominated for a whole slew of literary awards (including being shortlisted for the 2015 Crime Writer’s Association Dagger Award), so it’s arrival on our shelves is quite exciting for mystery buffs. At the heart of this psychological thriller is homicide inspector Amaia Salazar, who is called back to the hometown she has always hated in order to solve the murder of a teenaged girl. Amaia’s past is a place full of secrets and nightmares, and being back in the place where it all began is more trying than she could have imagined…particularly as the community’s ancient pagan practices threaten to upend her investigation, and disrupt her very sanity, as she tries to determine whether the crime is really the work of a ritualistic killer, or the mythical Basajaun, the Invisible Guardian. Library Journal loved this book, giving it a starred review and saying, ““The Basque backdrop gives this thriller an especially intriguing layer of depth; the superstitions and mythologies passed down from the days of Spanish Inquisition penetrate the mystery to such an extent that the reader is easily transported.”
The Last Goodnight: a World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal: Fans of Erik Larson should keep an eye on Harold Bloom’s work…like Larson, he loves telling historical narratives, and delights in digging up the stories you haven’t heard about some of the world’s most well known events. This time, he focuses on Bettie Pack, whose real-life career with MI-6 and OSS was full of a kind of daring and danger that would make James Bond pale. Though it seems few people can get past Pack’s good looks, Bloom does a very good job getting at the woman behind the façade, as much as one can from incomplete historical records, and showing not only how Pack’s work was instrumental in the Allied victory in World War II (she obtained the notebooks that gave Alan Turing the key to the Enigma), but also the toll that spywork took on her in later years. The result is a well-rounded, and well-grounded, portrait of which Publisher’s Weekly says, “Taking advantage of access to newly declassified material… Blum successfully delineates the social forces in play at the time and conveys the irresistible magnetism that turned a young woman into a world-class spy.”
Tarts: From award-winning French chefs
Until next week, beloved patrons…Happy Reading!