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- Thread starter LionJim
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The magical mystery tour is waiting to take me away. 
Yeats, again. In his volume "The Tower," he has a series of seven poems he called Meditations in Time of Civil War; this poem is #6 in this series. Yeats lived through the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War and his poems from this time can be dark and despairing. He's not the most cheerful poet, but whatever. I especially feel the last stanza of this poem.
The Stare's Nest by My Window
The bees build in the crevices
Of loosening masonry, and there
The mother birds bring grubs and flies.
My wall is loosening; honey-bees,
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
We are closed in, and the key is turned
On our uncertainty; somewhere
A man is killed, or a house burned.
Yet no clear fact to be discerned:
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
A barricade of stone or of wood;
Some fourteen days of civil war:
Last night they trundled down the road
That dead young soldier in his blood:
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
We had fed the heart on fantasies,
The heart's grown brutal from the fare,
More substance in our enmities
Than in our love; O honey-bees,
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
The Stare's Nest by My Window
The bees build in the crevices
Of loosening masonry, and there
The mother birds bring grubs and flies.
My wall is loosening; honey-bees,
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
We are closed in, and the key is turned
On our uncertainty; somewhere
A man is killed, or a house burned.
Yet no clear fact to be discerned:
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
A barricade of stone or of wood;
Some fourteen days of civil war:
Last night they trundled down the road
That dead young soldier in his blood:
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
We had fed the heart on fantasies,
The heart's grown brutal from the fare,
More substance in our enmities
Than in our love; O honey-bees,
Come build in the empty house of the stare.
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For those here familiar with noted author Dennis Lehane, his new book Small Mercies is excellent... on par with Mystic River.
I went to high school with Dennis, both in same graduating class.
If you want a dark read of what it was like in South Boston in 1974 when they began desegregation (busing) this is your book.
I went to high school with Dennis, both in same graduating class.
If you want a dark read of what it was like in South Boston in 1974 when they began desegregation (busing) this is your book.
Reacher Better Off Dead
Before that a Kay Scarpetta? book. Not sure why I read her books they always suck
Before that a Kay Scarpetta? book. Not sure why I read her books they always suck
The Rediscovery of America....Ned BlackhawkJust finished:
I read it again after twenty years and was extremely impressed by how it holds up. Weiner is a great voice for scientists; he did a fantastic job with the earlier The Beak of the Finch.
Now reading, another re-read. I'm really digging this.
Differ We Must...Steve Inskeep
son 1 in LA gave this to me when we visited over spring break
The Mirage Factory
From bestselling author Gary Krist, the story of the metropolis that never should have been and the visionaries who dreamed it into reality Little more than a century ago, the southern coast of California—bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated by deserts and mountain ranges—seemed destined to remain...
www.google.com
Be sure to watch Chinatown if you haven’t already. Phew, what a great movie.son 1 in LA gave this to me when we visited over spring break
The Mirage Factory
From bestselling author Gary Krist, the story of the metropolis that never should have been and the visionaries who dreamed it into reality Little more than a century ago, the southern coast of California—bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated by deserts and mountain ranges—seemed destined to remain...www.google.com
Yes, Chinatown is my #1 American film. Place: The Searchers. Show: The Godfather Part 2.
If I ran a movie theater I’d show Chinatown and Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a double bill.
1 is such a movie theatre buff. He buys an annual theatre pass. goes to Tarantino’s spot all the time. Let me find the pass info.
‘he bought the same pass for 2 in Philly old theatres are the best
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Oh, I once again came upon the Coen Bros version of True Grit and decided to pull out the novel, by Charles Portis. Wow, such a great read. Mattie in both movies is exactly the Mattie in the novel, classic dialogue. “There are no rodeo clowns in Yell County.”
Along these LA based movie lines, did you see that L.A. Confidential was declared the best movie ever by Rotten Tomatoes?
Just started The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. Have read all of his books and
loved them - especially Devil in the White City and Isaac’s Storm. Oh, and In the Garden of Beasts.
loved them - especially Devil in the White City and Isaac’s Storm. Oh, and In the Garden of Beasts.
"The Partnership"
George Marshall and Henry Stimson,
And the Extraordinary Collaboration
That Won the War.
By Edward Farley Aldrich
George Marshall and Henry Stimson,
And the Extraordinary Collaboration
That Won the War.
By Edward Farley Aldrich
I've read dozens of books about the Civil War and yet barely knew about General Patrick Cleburne. Thankfully, this well written, easily readable, offering by Craig L. Symonds, fills in the gaps. Highly recommended, especially for Civil War buffs.
I reread this one last month and it is still my favorite Civil War book. It's focus is on how the battle impacted the local citizens both before and after the battle. It's long out of print, but bookfinder.com is always your friend when looking for used books.
Days of "uncertainty and dread" : the ordeal endured by the citizens at Gettysburg / by Gerald R. Bennett
Published: Littlestown, PA : Gerald R. Bennett, [1994]
Physical Description: xii, 130 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
ISBN: 9780964359932
Days of "uncertainty and dread" : the ordeal endured by the citizens at Gettysburg / by Gerald R. Bennett
Published: Littlestown, PA : Gerald R. Bennett, [1994]
Physical Description: xii, 130 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
ISBN: 9780964359932
Getting ready to start the most recent from Erik Larson: The Demon of UnrestJust finished:
I read it again after twenty years and was extremely impressed by how it holds up. Weiner is a great voice for scientists; he did a fantastic job with the earlier The Beak of the Finch.
Now reading, another re-read. I'm really digging this.
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The Victors .Eisenhower and his boys.Just finished:
I read it again after twenty years and was extremely impressed by how it holds up. Weiner is a great voice for scientists; he did a fantastic job with the earlier The Beak of the Finch.
Now reading, another re-read. I'm really digging this.
Strolling along Rehoboth Beach just now brought these two Yeats poems to mind. From around 1912, they are next to each other in his Collected Poems.
To a Child dancing in the Wind
Dance there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water’s roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool’s triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best laborer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?
Two Years Later
Has no one said those daring
Kind eyes should be more learned?
Or warned you how despairing
The moths are when they are burned?
I could have warned you; but you are young,
So we speak a different tongue.
O you will take whatever’s offered
And dream that all the world’s a friend,
Suffered as your mother suffered,
Be as broken in the end.
But I am old and you are young
And I speak a barbarous tongue.
To a Child dancing in the Wind
Dance there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water’s roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool’s triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best laborer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?
Two Years Later
Has no one said those daring
Kind eyes should be more learned?
Or warned you how despairing
The moths are when they are burned?
I could have warned you; but you are young,
So we speak a different tongue.
O you will take whatever’s offered
And dream that all the world’s a friend,
Suffered as your mother suffered,
Be as broken in the end.
But I am old and you are young
And I speak a barbarous tongue.
Must have been a really good book. Sadly it doesn't appear to be available in English.
Suspected burglar caught after sitting down with book
Suspected burglar caught after sitting down with book
Oh, this is a must read.
OK, another I have to get.
Im going to Stone Harbor later in the month and I need some beach reads. One of the pleasures in life is enjoying a beach chair, a beach, and a good read.
Using these oral histories to tell the story is a great way to teach history.
My grandparents escaped war in the Balkans just before WW1. What a life they had! My BaBa was an educated woman who arranged marriages, found jobs and obtained housing for people who followed them from the old country.
If I was a better writer I would write their story. Coming to a new country, finding their way to jobs and housing, raising four children, surviving the Great Depression (partly from Dado driving whiskey to the Coal Region for sale), sending sons off to war with one not returning, and one living long past the early death of the other.
How surprised I was to hear my Baba speak perfect English after her stroke in 1980. Up to then she was hesitant to speak in anything other than her native language. What a brilliant and strong woman she was!
He was Irish, so he had that going for him.
It is amazing that the site poet in residence is deaf. You should tell us about how you grew to appreciate poetry as you do.
I have once again taken down from the shelf, Elisabeth Ogilvie's, "High Tide at Noon", the first of her Tide Trilogy.
Whenever I long for the mixed aroma of warm pine needles and crisp salty sea air of the down east Maine coast, I refresh myself on her trilogies' Bennett's Island.
Whenever I long for the mixed aroma of warm pine needles and crisp salty sea air of the down east Maine coast, I refresh myself on her trilogies' Bennett's Island.
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NYT best seller b/c it's Towles; not b/c it's a stocking stuffer. I thought Lincoln Highway was good actually. Not of Gent in Moscow quality but equal to Rules of Civility and maybe a little better. On the 'light reads and a well-written fiction series' list are The Thursday Murder Club books.
Wild Sheep Chase (Rat #3). Got a smile just recalling that one. Good stuff
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