Kwikimart727

Hmm, I remember both books from high school, but didn't read either one. Has any one read Inferno by Dante? Both intrigued and scared the crap out of me my senior year of hs.

wickedrum

that's the only way I'll take it as well

JournalingJedi

MyrnaLynne

Haven't read Dante's Inferno, but they love to ask questions about in on Jeopardy

Think I might have read the Bell Jar in college, when I was studying poetry/poets. Don't remember (but her husband was a d*ck).

Found out there are new books in the Maggie Hope and Maisie Dobbs series, reading them now. Maggie Hope stories written by Susan Elia Macneil (Wellesley gal) and Maisie Dobbs books by Jaqueline Winspear. Both are set before and during WW2, both gals get involved in doing amazing stuff. Work with Winston Churchill, help the royal family foil a Nazi kidnapping plot, work as spies, solve crimes, etc.

Ekua

Nope, not read Inferno. Another to add!!

podmom

I remember reading the Bell Jar in my 20s....

I like poetry...thanks ML

Ekua I will check out those books....I have read about the Kite Runner but am wondering is it is a hard topic given the location?

Ekua

Yes it is Podmom but it’s so beautifully written. I read it once every few years. Try it...you might be surprised

wickedrum

I feel like poetry works in some languages, in others in doesn't

Ekua

Yes, I think so too. I’ve never really been into poetry.

We had to read Scottish poetry in school (Robert Burns) and I hated it as I couldn’t understand! A really famous one....


To a Mouse
BY ROBERT BURNS
On Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785.

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickerin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee
Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
’S a sma’ request:
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss ’t!

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,
Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary Winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!






I had no idea he wrote Auld Lang Syne!! But when you look at the actual words....it makes sense!


Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? ...
Chorus: For auld lang syne, my dear, ...
And surely ye'll be your pint stowp! And surely I'll be mine! ...
We twa hae run about the braes, And pou'd the gowans fine; ...
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, Frae morning sun till dine; ...
And there's a hand, my trusty fere!

wickedrum

Sorry to say Mr. Robert Burns but I think Scottish isn't one of the languages poetry works in

JournalingJedi

Wow....I really need to brush up on my Scottish.

podmom

Yea that was very Scottish I liked "beastie and wee-bit-housie" cute

Ekua

I'm Scottish and I can barely understand it!! I hated having to learn it at school!

podmom

wow you memorized that Ekua?! Yikes.

Ekua

Oh no I was never any good at it!! I couldn't say half the words properly!

I just started a novel called My Dark Vanessa, about a student/teacher affair. It's good so far....