Bolts of Melody: New Poems of Emily Dickinson - Emily Dickinson

Advantages: strange, intruiging and startling.
Disadvantages: hard to make sense of

...I first read e.e.cummings about three years ago and have never really got over him. An amazing innovative poet with the power to transofrm words and reveal meanings. Famous for using punctuation and capitalisation in strange ways, cummings has the ability to revitalise frequently used language and turn it into something new and ecxiting. For example: "anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didn't he danced his did." In this poem, anyone and someone could in fact be individual people, or they could rpresent a wole group. Words like "How" are employed peculiarly as adjectives. What, after all is a "pretty how Town"? e.e.cummings is not easy reading. His poetry is hard to make sense of, and often its not even about sense, its about sound, rhythm and impression... Read review

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Advantages: Good for the soul, great for the bedside table!
Disadvantages: 101 poems might not be enough ...

...After' and a whole section of 'Instant Moral Fibre'. There are classic poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson and Lord Byron and previously unpublished works by contemporary poets including Wendy Cope, who has a wry outlook on life that's refreshing and funny. One of my favourite poems is published here, entitled, 'If People Disapprove of you' by Sophie Hannah. I bought this book for a friend of mine who was going through a rough patch and she loved it. I then went back and bought myself a copy!... Read review

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Advantages: Well-written, strong characters
Disadvantages: A bit too long

...character with potential for success. All in all, excellent characterisation by Reginald Hill, such a relief after some of the blander detectives such as PD James' Dagleish and Peter Robinson's Alan Banks. Conclusion I was so pleased to see that Reginald Hill is back on form, having been so disappointed in his last couple of books. This time, he has got it spot on, with the strong characters backing up a good plot that has enough twists and turns to keep the reader enthralled, without being over-complicated. The use of Emily Dickinson's poetry to add a literary aspect to the book is unnecessary, but not surprising in Reginald Hill's work, and didn't really take anything away from the book as far as I was concerned. In case anyone was wondering, the title of the book comes from one of Emily Dickinson's poems: "Good Morning - Midnight - I... Read review

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