Review: THEO OF GOLDEN (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Book Beginnings/First Line Friday quote (from the Prologue):

Friday56 quote (actually from page 41, last page of preview):

Summary: Theo, a mysterious older gentleman, shows up in Golden, Georgia one spring day. Over the next year he performs anonymous acts of kindness and generosity, starting with the purchases of the portraits hanging in the local coffee shop which he returns to the subjects of the portraits. Along the way he makes friends with just about everyone he meets including a homeless woman, a cello-playing college student, a bookstore owner, a guitar-playing busker, and a disabled young girl and her father, a custodian at the college. Along the way he also befriends the artist who created the portraits Theo is now buying and then giving away. Everyone's life is changed by their friendship and their interactions with Theo over the successive year.

Review: We selected Theo of Golden as a book club choice for this month's meeting based on the high praise given it by one member who said she listened to the audiobook and loved it so much once the story was ended she wanted to start up at the beginning and listen to it again immediately. That was the highest praise for a book ever spoken by this gal, who usually remains fairly neutral about our club choices. She did caution us though that the beginning of the book will seem kind of repetitive as Theo starts giving away the portraits and meeting new people -- there are 92 portraits, after all.

I also listened to the audiobook and was mesmerized by the narration done by David Morse. As we start learning about Theo's backstory we come to understand he grew up in Portugal in a wine-growing region of the country. David Morse read Theo's lines with a Portuguese accent which I found charming but my friend who speaks Portuguese said was irritably wrong. (If you also speak Portuguese, may I recommend the print version to you!)

I "liked" Theo of Golden for the first 80% of the story. I thought it was sweet, thoughtful, and moving. But the last 20% of the book moved my estimation up to "love." I found the story to be very spiritual and inspirational. I was both crying and clutching my chest for the beauty of the message of this wonderful book.  I felt moved to be a better person by Theo's example.

Since we will be discussing this book soon, I thought I'd play around with some discussion questions which always seem to have spoilers. So you plan on reading this book, don't read them. Just skip on down and sign up to join in the Friday56 discussion with other book bloggers!

My rating: 5 stars.

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Theo of Golden Book Discussion Questions

(Modified from BookClubChat)

1. How did your impression of Theo change over time?

2.  What would you think if you happened upon a coffee shop full of portraits of real people? Why do you think most people hadn't bought their own portraits? Were the subject's reactions to Theo's gift authentic?

3. Why do you think Theo was so interested in helping Ellen? Which of his interactions with Ellen did you like best?

4. Of the many friends Theo makes, whose story touched you the most? Why?

5. Why was Theo so reciticent to share his story with others? What did you think of the writer's decision to dribble out Theo's backstory so slowly?

6. What was your impression of the way religion was presented in the story? Do you think this is a Christian story?

7. What were some of your favorite moments in the story?

8. What did you think of the way Theo died and the denouement of the novel?

9. What were the key messages of Theo of Golden?

10. Theo of Golden was published in 2023 and yet it is just now (2026) starting to gain attention and a following. Why do you think it took a while to catch on?

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Sign up for The Friday56 on the Inlinkz below. 

RULES:

*Grab a book, any book

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader (If you want to improvise, go ahead!)

*Find a snippet, but no spoilers!

*Post it to your blog and add your url to the Linky below. If you do not add the specific url for your post, we may miss it! 

*Visit other blogs and leave comments about their snippets. Expand the community. Please leave a comment for me, too!  

Also visit Book Beginnings on Friday hosted by Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Reading is My Super Power to share the beginning quote from your book.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

-Anne

Short Novella Reviews: THE ENGLISH UNDERSTAND WOOL; THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR; THE TOMB GUARDIANS

The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt

Storybook ND, 2022. 69 pages.

     A reviewer on Goodreads sums up this book this way:

The English understand wool is the first and the last sentence of this short novel. That neat sentence fits well with the message I took from the story: just as the English understand wool, and the warp and the weft of the cloth made from it, so a person must understand the people they are dealing with—and cut their cloth accordingly. The heroine of this novella, for whom good taste is the best possible measure, has learned how to cut her cloth very much to suit that measure. But she has also learned, to make a long story short, that when dealing with people not cut from the same cloth as herself, she must read the small print, make her actions speak louder than her words, and basically, have her cake and eat it too—no matter that it may be in very poor taste  (Fionnuala).  

     The seventeen-year-old heroine, Bethany, is raised in Marrakech but travels the world with her mother to avail themselves of the finest things: wool in England/Scotland and linen in Ireland, for example. Bringing a seamstress from Thailand to Paris makes complete sense, as does taking tennis lessons and installing pianos everywhere one stays. One needs to know how to cultivate taste and refinement. When Bethany learns her mother isn't who she thinks she is, the publishing world descends and wants exclusive rights to her tragic story. That is when the real fun begins. This heroine wasn't raised to be a pushover.

     I learned about The English Understand Wool by watching Ann Patchett's reel with her weekly Friday book recommendations.  She learned about the book by visiting a sister bookstore and asking what book was really moving. The English Understand Wool was that book. At 69 pages one can sit down and finish the book in one fell swoop, which is what I did. My initial reaction was "meh" and "what a snotty girl" but since that time, the book has really grown on me. It is so clever, funny, and spot-on. My upgraded rating is 4.5 stars.

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This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Gallery/Saga Press, 2019. 198 pages.

Simon and Schuster Audio. 4 hours, 16 minutes.

     Two special agents, Red and Blue, are on competing factions in the Time War. Red represents the society dominated by technology and artificial intelligences. Blue represents a society dominated by biomass consciousness. The two start a communication with each other, keeping this a secret from their superiors. They have to be very, very careful, communicating between layers of subtlety and deception. They can never, ever meet. What begins as a way of taunting the other turns slowly, over time, into friendship and then love. Because of their relationship, the two women must confront their contributions to this never ending time war.

  

     Described as part epistolary queer romance and part high adventure science fiction, this story unfolds bit by bit and ends in a surprising way.

     I listened to the audiobook narrated by Cynthia Farrell and Emily Woo Zeller. The narration just sped along and I was so caught up in the story I was shocked when the story ended so quickly. This is How You Lose the Time War won the Hugo, the Nebula, and Locust awards in 2020 for novella. My rating: 4 stars.

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The Tomb Guardians by Paul Griffiths

Henningham Family Press, 2021. 121 pages.

     After Jesus is crucified he is laid in a tomb, and according to the Gospel of Matthew, four Roman guards are charged with guarding the tomb to make sure none of Jesus' disciples come and steal the body, claiming Jesus rose from the dead. Sometime in the night an angel appears to these guards and they faint out of fear. In the morning, the large stone is rolled away from the tomb which is indeed empty. Now what do the guards do? How do they save face and keep their jobs?

     In The Tomb Guardians the story of these guards is played out as they discuss their options set against two art historians discuss the paintings of the four guards created by Bernhard Strigel in the early 1500s for a commission at the dawn of Protestantism. As one group wrestles with historical truth in art, the other tries to figure a way out of a fix. The conversations between the two different groups of people are delineated by the use of regular and italic fonts.

      Once I figured out the problem the guards were in, I was pretty much done with their part of the story though they went on bickering intermittently throughout the book. I wanted more of what I was learning from the art historians about why Strigel created these pieces -- the first time ordinary people were depicted in religious art and the first time that sleeping people were painted. I was fascinated how they believed the art was used, as a sort of storytelling tool prior to Easter services. And what I learned happened during the infancy of protestantism. All that was interesting to me. The guards whining and worrying, not so much.

The guards at the tomb as depicted by Bernhard Strigel, circa 1511, Germany.

     I was interested by the story and learned new information. I just didn't care for the unique format of the book. My rating: 3 stars.

-Anne

Review: THE BOOK OF BELONGING

The Book of Belonging: Bible Stories for Kind and Contemplative Kids by Mariko Clark, illustrated by Rachel Eleanor is one of the most recent purchases made for our church library. In an effort to try to update the library we created a wishlist and parishioners have been purchasing books off of it. I added this book to the list at my daughter's urging. She said she was trying to locate books about the Bible with a Christian message of love and acceptance. This book was ranked #1 on that list. Now I know why.

One of the most special things about learning stories from the Bible is that they teach us about who we are. We get to learn the names God has for the us, the people God made. There are three big names that seem really special and show up over and over again in Bible stories:

Belonging

Beloved

Delightful

The Bible is filled with stories of God telling his people, "You belong to me!" No matter how lost or forlorn one feels, there is always a place for us with God. God loves us all. We are all beloved: Beloved Me, Beloved You, Beloved Us. Before we did or said anything God was delighted with us. The Bible is also full of stories full of God reminding his people they don't need to earn his delight or hide from him when they make mistakes.

Each of the stories highlighted in The Book of Belonging are from the Bible, Genesis to Revelations, and each emphasize one of these three names and all leave the reader with a profound understanding of God's love and faithfulness.

"The sun! The moon! Stars and planets! Good. Good. Good."

The first chapter, "A Very Good Song", from Genesis 1 and 2, is the creation story. Everything God creates he thinks is good, good, good. On the sixth day he creates man (and woman) and they are especially good, good, good. This chapter concludes:

God had a dream of togetherness in a world where everything matches the good, good goodness of God. And guess what? Even though God had finished and creation was ready, the enjoyment was just beginning. In fact, God is still enjoying God's good, good creation and inviting us to enjoy it, too. You belong with God. You are loved by God, And you are very good.

Imagine reading this book with a child and seeing the world through their eyes. Wouldn't you want to reinforce that God is a loving God and he is delighted with all his creation, even them! What a positive message.

The illustrations help draw the reader into the story. Sometimes the illustrations are small and off to the side of the page, other times they take up the whole page, sometimes they seem like a cartoon, while other times they help the reader to understand the sequence of the story, like this story of Jesus walking on water, and Peter's decision to join him:

The stories about the Last Supper, Crucifiction, Resurrection, and Pentecost (the infilling of the Holy Spirit) are all handled gently and explained in a way that children can understand but won't be overwhelmed. 

I liked everything about this marvelous book of Bible stories and agree with its subtitle, it is perfect for kind and contemplative kids! I highly recommend it and I'm so glad I got it for our church library. If you are raising your children in a Christian home and want them to understand how much God loves them, this is the book for you!

-Anne

TTT: Humorists I Wish Were Still Writing Today

Top Ten Tuesday: Humorists I Wish Were Still Writing Today

Terry Pratchett
Died in 2015 from Alzheimer's Disease.
The world lost one of its funniest writers at that time. The last book of his I read, Small Gods, part of the Discworld series, still makes me smile to think of it.

Douglas Adams
Died in 2001 from a heart attack at age 49.
It is possible that Adam's book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is the funniest book ever written. We need more of his humor today!

John Kennedy (Ken) Toole
Tragically Toole took his own life at age 31. But because of the doggedness of his mother, his masterpiece of wit and satire, A Confederacy of Dunces, was published posthumously and even won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981. I'd love to read more by this very talented satirical writer.

Jane Austen
Austen also died young and was only able to complete six complete novels in her shortened life. Wouldn't it be lovely to have more from her? Though best known for her romances, each of her six novels include razor-sharp wit and social satire.

Mark Twain

Known as a humorist, his essays and fiction poked fun at everything and everyone while still making his points about the social ills of the day. We need more humorists writing today, poking fun at the folks in power who are hellbent on screwing everything up. "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself."

P.G. Wodehouse
The most prolific humorists ever. His Jeeves series is still funny today. We all need more humor in this super-serious world today. Let's bring him back for a second act.

Erma Bombeck
My mother used to love Bombeck's books and would read aloud from them as we traveled on family trips. She died in 1996 well before her humor was irrelevant. "My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be."

Jean Shepherd
Another American humorist known for not only his funny stories/books, but also for his work on radio. His book, A Christmas Story, was published in 2003 posthumously. It was made into a movie and we laugh every time we rewatch it. An iconic phrase is said by everyone when the main character says he wants a BB gun for Christmas: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." 

Oscar Wilde

This playwright died at age 46 after being imprisoned for homosexuality. His play The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated for its witty dialogue, clever plot, and sharp critique of Victorian values, particularly concerning marriage, class, and truth. I think he deserves a second chance since the world was so cruel to him the first go-round.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The author of the very unique and often funny memoir, The Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life and many, many funny, unique children's books died in 2017 from cancer. She died way to soon. We need more books from her! "My father-in-law informed me that my married name could produce these two anagrams: Hearty Salmon. Nasty Armhole. I cannot tell you how much I love that."

Barbara Park
Author of the children's book series Junie B. Jones. I LOVED these books when my girls were young and we must have read them all many, many times. Park was known for dealing with serious topics in a lighthearted way. "A little glitter can turn your whole day around." Ain't that the truth.

-Anne

Sunny Sunday Salon -- May 3rd

Our yard just minutes ago! It smells lovely, too.

Weather: Lovely, possibly too warm!

The project: Several years ago, Don and I moved a bunch of stuff in boxes to our garage because we were having new carpet laid upstairs and just needed to get things out of way for a short while. Well, that was almost four years ago and some of the boxes were still in the garage. Because of these boxes, and the other junk that has accumulated around them, meant I haven't been able to park my car inside the garage for years. This week we got a good start on taking care of this problem. We made one trip to the dump with a big load, two trips to Goodwill, another trip to the recycling center with all the crushed down cardboard. We opened up all the latex paint cans, added kitty litter to them. Once the paint dries we can toss them in the weekly trash can for pick up. We moved boxes of dolls and photo albums into the house and put them away. We found space for other boxes on the shelves in garage. Why didn't we do that before? All that's left is the three huge photo tubs we inherited from Don's parents. Goal, finished by the end of this month. The end is near. I'm feeling good!

Reading, reading, reading: I can report the reading malaise has passed. Now if I could only make myself write those reviews! I am a good six or seven behind. Sigh. It always seems like it is one thing or the other-- reading or blogging -- but not both.

I am listening to: Eddie Dalton on Spotify. I love this guy's voice. Have a listen here.

We've been watching on Netflix: After finishing the most recent season of Call the Midwife on Peacock, we found Mindhunter, starring Tony-Award winner Jonathan Groff. It is about the FBI and how they started to try and understand the mind of serial killers. Set in the 1970s. It has been out for a while but we like it. In case you want to be reminded who Jonathan Groff is, here he is as King George (my favorite):

Let's see, here are the books I read in April --- 

What I've blogged about the past two weeks ---

• Review: China Room
• TTT: What I Was Reading on April 15th the Past Ten Years
• Short Poetry Book Reviews
• Review: For Such a Time As This
• TTT: Books That Made Me Cry

Currently reading: Moby Dick -- I'm nearly done, so close I can imagine finishing it; What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. I finished three books today, but I'll talk about them next week!

Good news? Let's hope this works long term:

Link: https://planet-wildlife.com/2026/04/28/ocean-plastic/ 

Cheers!

-Anne

Review: CHINA ROOM (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: China Room by Sunjeev Sahota

Book Beginnings/First Line Friday quote:

Mehar is not so obedient a fifteen-year-old that she won't try to uncover which of the the three brothers is her husband.

Friday56 quote:

I sat on the end of the bed, which was high enough to leave my feet dangling, and I kept drumming my heels together, anxiously, impatiently. She'll be back any minute now. Any minute now. Any Minute. Now. She wasn't.

Summary: 

Mehar, a young bride in rural 1929 Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. Married to three brothers in a single ceremony, she and her now-sisters spend their days hard at work in the family's "china room," sequestered from contact with the men--except when their domineering mother-in-law, Mai, summons them to a darkened chamber at night. Curious and strong willed, Mehar tries to piece together what Mai doesn't want her to know. From beneath her veil, she studies the sounds of the men's voices, the calluses on their fingers as she serves them tea. Soon she glimpses something that seems to confirm which of the brothers is her husband, and a series of events is set in motion that will put more than one life at risk. As the early stirrings of the Indian independence movement rise around her, Mehar must weigh her own desires against the reality--and danger--of her situation.

Spiraling around Mehar's story is that of a young man who arrives at his uncle's house in Punjab in the summer of 1999, hoping to shake an addiction that has held him in its grip for more than two years. Growing up in small-town England as the son of an immigrant shopkeeper, his experiences of racism, violence, and estrangement from the culture of his birth led him to seek a dangerous form of escape. As he rides out his withdrawal at his family's ancestral home--an abandoned farmstead, its china room mysteriously locked and barred--he begins to knit himself back together, gathering strength for the journey home.

Partly inspired by Sunjeev Sahota's family history. (Publisher)

Review: China Room was a book club selection. No one in the club loved the novel but we did have a decent  discussion with all of us wondering a few things: Why did the story involve the two storylines? There was plenty to tell in the 1929 portion without adding the second story in the 1990s. We decided it must have been a literary tool to tell Mehar's story from the perspective of time. Secondly, we couldn't figure out why Mai, the mother-in-law, wanted her three new daughter-in-laws to not know who their husbands were. It was so perplexing. None of us have heard of any religious reason for this kind of cloak and dagger type of relationship with husbands at the hands of a mother-in-law before. The fact that this story is partially true is also very intriguing. Which parts?

Though I wasn't crazy about the story I was sort of mesmerized by it, ultimately rating it with 4 stars.

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Sign up for The Friday56 on the Inlinkz below. 

RULES:

*Grab a book, any book

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader (If you want to improvise, go ahead!)

*Find a snippet, but no spoilers!

*Post it to your blog and add your url to the Linky below. If you do not add the specific url for your post, we may miss it! 

*Visit other blogs and leave comments about their snippets. Expand the community. Please leave a comment for me, too!  

Also visit Book Beginnings on Friday hosted by Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Reading is My Super Power to share the beginning quote from your book.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 -Anne

TTT: What I Was Reading (Freebie)

Top Ten Tuesday: 

What I Reading the Past Ten Years on April 15th:

As I look back on the books I was reading in April the past ten years, the realization hit me how these books will give you a fairly good snapshot of my reading practices (and you'll get to know me a little better.) If I reviewed the book a hyperlink and a quote from that review are provided. 

 2026

Theo the Golden by Allen Levi
I just finished this book a few days ago and haven't reviewed it yet. Apparently people either love or hate this book. I'm in the love camp. I read this book for an upcoming book club.

 2025

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Another book club selection and a polarizing book which I loved. My favorite books fall into the genre of "literary fiction" and here is a fine example.

"From the summary one would think, possibly rightly, that Martyr! is too dark of a book to tackle during these dark times. But what the summary doesn't say is how surprisingly funny the book is at times and ultimately how we all want the same thing -- for our life to matter."

2024

Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia to Zion Journey Through America's National Parks by Conor Knighton
I was reading this book while we were visiting Zion NP with our family. We had so much fun and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. 
"The book is organized on themes, not alphabetically by park. I thought I'd tell you about our trip using the themes Knighton used in his book. That way I can knock off a book review at the same time as updating you on my life and our trip."

2023

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, audiobook
I participate in the Classic Club Spins four times a year. Romeo and Juliet was my spin book in the Spring of 2023. Somehow I escaped high school without reading it, though, of course, I knew the story.
"I listened to the audiobook of Romeo and Juliet by ArkAngel: AudioGO. It was a full cast dramatization. I worried that this would be more like watching the play than reading it, and then would it count? Never mind that, it was an excellent choice of a way to consume Shakespeare's most famous play. I noticed many aspects of the play I'd never noticed before watching it in a theater or on the big screen."

2022

Ten Poems for Difficult Times by Roger Housden
In March of 2022 a family member was killed. Clearly this event sent all of us into a tailspin of grief and I was looking for some reprieve from that grief when I found this book. The title alone called out to me.
""The Thing Is" by Ellen Bass is a poem which not only describes grief but embodies it so much so that "your throat filled with the silt of it." Here Housden compares Bass's ability to look inward and this gives the poem credibility. It spoke strongly to me, so embroiled in my own grief right now. Thank goodness for poets and their poetry that can speak to us where we are, not just where we want to be."

2021

 Whale Day and Other Poems by Billy Collins
April is National Poetry Month and I always try to read several volumes of poetry this month. Billy Collins is one of my favorite poets. So funny.
"Billy Collins has a great sense of humor and I often find myself laughing at some point while reading his poems. Last night I was reading them while my husband was in the bathroom getting ready for bed. I kept calling out to him to hurry because I wanted to read aloud some funny poem I just found."

2020

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Remember 2020? That awful pandemic year? What did I read that year? One of my now favorite books of all time: Lonesome Dove. All 850 pages of it. It's a Pulitzer Prize winner. It took me a long time to read but I had nothing else to do and nowhere to go.
"I would read thirty of so pages a day before setting the book aside. At that rate it took me almost as long to read the book as it did to herd the cattle all the way from Texas to Montana. For me Lonesome Dove will forever be branded in my memory as the book I read during the great pandemic of 2020 which will add greater poignancy and depth to my memory of it."

2019

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
I have a few personal reading challenges I try to complete every year. One of them is to read two of the National Book Award winners or finalists for that year. The Buddha in the Attic was a finalist for that award.
"This small book, really a novella at 129 pages, made a big impression on me. When the chorus of women speak up it is easy to see the travails of a people just trying to make something of their lives. It is horrifying to think how immigrants to the US are treated, not just in those days but also today. The country vowed to never do something as horrifying as internment of a people again after WWII. Yet here we are in 2019, creating camps and detention centers for people attempting to seek refuge in our land."

2018

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman
For several years around this time I was a Cybils Book Award judge reading for the Junior/High School Nonfiction Category. I was always on the hunt for good books in those categories.
"I loved this book. It was written by an artist, not a writer. That fact makes me smile. I love it that it was a woman who helped the world see the beauty and importance of insects. All those old, classically trained men couldn't figure it out, but Maria, with keen skills at observation figured out what should have been obvious. And her art. It is so lovely. It was written for a middle grade audience."

2017

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I was a high school library for the last twelve years of my teaching career. I retired in 2017. This was the last year of my long time in education. At this point I read mostly YA novels, trying to find books I thought teenagers would enjoy reading. This is one of the best.

"Angie Thomas, the author of The Hate U Give, started her book when she was in college, in response to the news about an unarmed black boy being killed in Oakland. This book, about a black girl who witnesses the killing of her unarmed friend at the hands of a cop, is discouragingly all too familiar to us today. And it is about time that the literary world publish a fiction book which explores what it is like to live in fear of the police in a country which espouses but doesn't practice the motto "with liberty and justice for all."


So there you have it. Now you know I'm a book club, literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, classics, Cybils, award winning, YA book reader. How about you?

-Anne

Short Poetry Book Reviews: WOMAN WITHOUT SHAME: LITTLE ALLELUIAS: and GOLDENROD

Our yard, a year ago this week. Spring has sprung!

April and National Poetry Month are rapidly coming to a close. This month I read six poetry books in celebration of this literary art form. I've reviewed three of the books earlier in the month and will wrap up with short reviews of the other three. If you would like to look back on the first three reviews, click on the hyperlinks:

The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang
Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey
Why Fathers Cry at Night by Kwame Alexander

Woman Without Shame: Poems by Sandra Cisneros (2022)

Years ago I read A House on Mango Street which was Cisneros' her first novel and her most famous book. She has since then published many other novels, essays, and short story collections. This is her first poetry collection published in the last twenty-five years. Since I was familiar with her first novel, widely published and read by young teens, I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong. I was expecting a G rating and got PG-17! 

Cisneros is 71-years-old, unmarried, and lives in Mexico right now, though she has spent much of her life living in the USA. In fact, her childhood was destabilized by how often she and her family moved back and forth between the two countries, making her feel like she never fit in in either culture. When she was an undergraduate in college she had an affair with one of her professors and that relationship was abusive. She describes it as “very damaging to me” and is “why my writing is always dealing with sexuality and wickedness” (Wikipedia). I caught the sexuality and wickedness vibes from many of the poems. Several of those poems I just skipped over figuring I didn't need to know the details.

The collection is divided into five parts with headings in Spanish. Usually, in my experience, when poetry books are divided up into parts, the sections relate to the title of the collection where those poems were originally published. I don't think that it is case here, since this book has more the 50 original poems in it. Translated her sections are: Shameless Woman; A Hatless Sky; Songs and Cries; Cisneros is Uncensored; A Little Something Extra. I liked some poems in all the sections but my least favorites were all in the uncensored part. Oh well, I know I'm a prude. Here is a little highlight from the collection:

Back Then and Even Now

A Song for Guitar

I liked being young

with you once.

A moment or two, 

here and there

with you once.

When you 

were a poet,

and I was a poet.

Wordsmiths afraid

of the words

shimmering

right before us.

One thing I could feel in every poem was Cisneros' passion, a little bit of her angst, and her loneliness.

I probably would have liked the poems better if I could read Spanish since many of the poems contained untranslated words. My rating: 4 stars.

 

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Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver (2025)

Mary Oliver died in 2019. Call me surprised when I saw a new collection of Oliver's poems and prose for sale in a bookstore in 2025, Little Alleluias. The poor gal at the checkout counter who tried to look interested while she rang up my purchase as I babbled about my excitement at something new by a beloved, but dead poet. Well, I was half right. The poems and prose were by Mary Oliver, but they were not new (obviously) but just a new organization of some her poems, essays, and literary criticism.  

The editor of Little Alleluia said this in the acknowledgment section:

Little Alleluias is a midlife masterpiece -- so to end as we begin: thank you Mary Oliver for your insight and grace, for teaching us how to belong to a land that belongs to itself, and for guiding us through the light and dark, and rainbowed clothes of the world. -Niyata

I love the title, Little Alleluias, don't you? In the forward to the section called " Long Life" Mary Oliver, herself, wrote about the difference between writing poetry and writing prose. She prefers poetry but I think her prose is pretty darn good, too. It is in her conclusion where we find out about the book's title:

One thing I want to mention before the pages actually begin. Writing poems, for me but not necessarily for others, is a way of offering praise to the world. In this book, you will find, set among prose pieces, a few poems. Think of them that way, as little alleluias. They're not trying to explain anything as the prose does. They just sit there on the page and breathe. A few lilies, or wrens, or trout among the mysterious shadows, the cold water, and the somber oaks.

I'm fairly sure I've read all the poems and most of the prose before, but it was so comforting to visit them again with new eyes and in different circumstances. There are none of my personal favorites included therein but there are many wonderful poems which encourage us to be aware of nature. In "Sand Dabs, Nine" Mary Oliver shares little thoughts, really, but more than that. One reviewer referred to her Sand Dabs as “just a few lines, largehearted and limber, each saturated with meaning and illustrating the principle it espouses in a clever meta-manifestation of that principle embedded in the language itself." Here are a few of her "Sand Dabs, Nine" thoughts:

All the eighth notes Mozart didn't have time to use before he entered the cloudburst, he gave to the wren.

Behind the glimmering cheerfulness of Bach there hangs a black thread.

You too can be carved by the details of your devotion.

If you are a Mary Oliver fan or haven't discovered her yet, I recommend this collection. It will make you fall in love with her writing, all over again or for the first time. My rating: 5 stars.

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Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith (2021)

Several years ago I read the poem "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith. I think I discovered it long after most people did when it came out in 2016. The poem, or the fame that came with the poem, led to big changes in Maggie Smith's life, including a divorce from her husband. In subsequent books  she writes about those experiences. In this small collection, Goldenrod, I caught glimpses of trauma of the divorce in a few poems but generally I'd say the poetry speaks to the moments she is living now with her children and her new life. Oddly, I often find myself worrying about poets as I try to read between the lines to figure out what is going on. I'd guess, based on these poems, Maggie Smith has landed on her feet. 

Maggie Smith's poems are easy to read and very straight forward. One doesn't have to guess what she is referring to, at least not on the surface. In her poem, "December 18, 2008", she expresses a thought I've never even considered before. Clearly, in this poem she is referring to the birth of a child (one of her children?)

For just a fraction of a moment

that afternoon, if we think of time

as being a while, you were the newest

person in the world. You were

the emptiest vessel on earth, 

knowing nothing of this place

or of yourself ---

This poem danced out for my eyes since one of my children was also born on Dec. 18th. In another poem "Not Everything Is a Poem" Smith muses about what she finds in her son's pocket.

Not everything is a poem

or has a poem inside it, but god help me

if I can't find one when I empty

my son's pockets before I do

the wash: one acorn, two rocks

(one smooth and gray, one rough

and glittering, flecked pink), 

a chunk of mulch, a wilted

dandelion. The poem is there...

This collection makes me smile. My rating: 4 stars.

-Anne