Liz

Books: 
Staff Pick Badge
David Whyte Essentials By David Whyte Cover Image
$15.00
ISBN: 9781932887501
Availability: usually available in 3-5 business days
Published: Many Rivers Press - December 6th, 2019

This small gem of a collection is clear and luminous gift.  David Whyte, a poet and philosopher with training in marine zoology, shares a sense of joy as he observes the passing of days and nights, cherishing nature, and writing with a sweet spirit of transcendence.  I have always loved Rumi, and while Whyte has his own voice, his clarity, sense of flight, and visioning above and beyond the everyday warms and encourages me, the way Rumi has.

 

Above the mountains

     the geese turn into

         the light again

 

Painting their

    black silhouettes

         on an open sky

 

Sometimes everything

    has to be

        inscribed across

            the heavens

 

so you can find

     the one line

         already written

             inside you...

 

 

(excerpt from The Journey, included in David Whyte Essentials)


Staff Pick Badge
100 Poems By Seamus Heaney Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9780374100292
Availability: Special Order - may be out of print
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - August 20th, 2019

This collection was gathered by the poet's family to carry out Heaney's own idea for a personal selection of work from his entire writing career.  His musical-poetic voice rings true throughout with his love of language and image,  humor, and clear-eyed observation of deeply personal, as well as historic events

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

A wind that rose and whirled until the roof

Pattered with quick leaves off the sycamore

 

And got me up, the whole of me a-patter,

Alive and ticking like an electric fence:

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

...

 

(excerpt from 'Had I not been awake', included in Seamus Heaney 100 Poems)


Staff Pick Badge
Being Wagner: The Story of the Most Provocative Composer Who Ever Lived By Simon Callow Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9780525436188
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - February 6th, 2018

Richard Wagner is a composer who has evoked strong reactions of adoration and aversion from music lovers for generations.  Simon Callow has written a fast-paced, clearly-written life of the composer, giving us a crisp narrative not only about the music but into the many passions and quirks driving this irascible and unstoppable genius. 

One needn't be an opera fan or a Wagner fan to enjoy and learn from Being Wagner!  There is an excellent balance of vivid historic and social context, humor, and musical observation in this engaging and insightful book.  I came away from reading Being Wagner with fresh appreciation for Wagner's achievements as well as a better understanding of his difficult, complex personality. 

Callow is a multi-faceted talent: actor, director, author and astute social observer. He brings a keen and insightful sense of culture, theater, theater, and political activism to the life and work of Wagner.  

Liz