On top is Gitanjali, a collection of poems by the Bengali Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. What made it catch my eye was the introduction by W. B. Yeats, in whom I am newly interested thanks to James at Following Pulitzer, who blogged about Yeats recently.
The second book in the pile is a collection of stories by Katherine Mansfield. Her name has been floating around in my brain since reading Irene Nemirovsky's biography. Mansfield was a favorite of Irene's.
The third one down is Three Plays of Euripedes, one of which is Alcestis. I've been wanting to read Alcestis since Jean at Howling Frog Books posted her response to that play.
On the bottom is View with a Grain of Sand, a collection of poems by Wislawa Szymborska. Szymborska is a 20th-century Polish poet who was once mentioned as a favorite by Nancy at ipsofactodotme. Quite an unexpected pleasure to find this one.
Aw, thanks Amy! I feel honored. :) I would really like to read Tagore. I'm sort of intimidated by the whole idea because I'm not really a big poetry person, and poetry translated from Bengali sounds even more worryingly difficult...so read it soon and tell me how to do it!
ReplyDeleteJust from leafing through, he looks very accessible. His love of God seems to be a running theme. And Yeats says that he is beloved by all Bengalis, rich and poor, educated and illiterate--workers in the fields sing his poetry, etc. Anyway, I don't read poetry at very "high" levels; I just love what I find beautiful and moving.
DeleteYou've got such a nice lot of mixed reading. Always the best way - a mix of genres.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the world through the eyes of Tagore, Mansfield, Euripedes and Szymborska..what a great way to enjoy summer days. Books are my addiction and 'bargin' books especially!
DeleteSummer or winter--Half Price Books is my "happy place." I go there several times a month. They should give me kickbacks, lol.
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