One Hundred Great Books in Haiku...

MY GOODREADS REVIEW
 One Hundred Great Books in Haiku by David M. Bader
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One Hundred Books in Haiku is an entertaining read in a short time. Whether you know the legendary writers - from Herodotus to Isaac Newton to Tolstoy to T.S.Eliot - does not matter. Each haiku sparks a flame of interest, a core spirit. The flame may be serious or playful, witty, or verging on a little crazy. If you are needing a short, 'no pressure' read and your time is short, this book is a wonderful diversion. For me, the occasional haiku seemed a little irreverent, a little dismissive of some great writing. But that really, I guess, boils down to my own personal preferences and values. Ultimately, the book is a fun romp through selected literature - and done so poetically in the 3 line haiku.

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A lively little book offering snippet impressions of great writers and their writings. Some are serious, some witty and some a little crazy... But all are entertaining...
Examples + my response in haiku: https://t.co/7C2uVDCCHw pic.twitter.com/Tv3vlyMcdV

— Gemma Wiseman (@AuraGem) June 25, 2020

Surrender...

Surrender (2005) - Sonya Hartnett


I am dying; its a beautiful word...
I feel old...
But I am young - I'm the martyr's age...
I am only twenty...
Living and dying in a little town called Mulyan...
a town of abominable secrets and myth..
I am Anwell...
But to Finnigan, my 'friend'.
I am Gabriel, the messenger, the teller of astonishing truths...

Death has been an acquaintance of mine...
Like a chameleon
In many shades...

My parents
Stifled the drive of my spirits...
For awhile at least
(Insert wry, satisfied smile here)

Vern was my first death...
his birdy shadow
My first secret...
I was only seven...

Finnigan
changed the colours of my life...
His was a world of light and speed, of flame and trickery...

We shared
Surrender
A dog for all whims
And all seasons

And then there was Evangeline...
like a sprite...
toying with me...
just beyond...
Though I tried to hope it would not always be that way...

Yet ultimately
It was Vern
Older yet never older Vern...
Who finally reached out

To take my hand...

GOODREADS REVIEW
Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time bursts like fireworks, twisted with colourful word spins... Anwell, the storyteller most times, morphs into Gabriel, an angel of sorts. He has a co-writer, 'offsider' Finnigan, who declares 'I've touched them all: I'm like the plague.' And then there is Surrender, the dog, who chooses to swing with his moods and his loyalties. Mix in disabled Vernon, (a cameo appearance that lingers ghost-like), plus discordant parents and here is a novel that could be an enigmatic painting in progress. Death is the major player, seeming to work with and against anyone, always creating an endless cycle of dramas. Overall, a mesmerising read that leaves the delicious feeling of 'what just happened'...

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The Penelopiad...

The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood - Canongate Books (2005)


Now that I'm dead I know everything...

Helen was a siren
my measure of all things I can't be...
and don't wish to be
most of the time

who needs beauty if there is no secure happiness...


But I am no role model...

My father wanted to gift me to water when I was just a child...
That had no clear or pleasant explanation...

my mother was a Naiaid
spirited in all things water
No surprise that her wedding advice involved water...
Remember you are half water.
If you can't go through an obstacle go around it.
Water does.


And Odysseus
(my apparent husband)
He simply had to keep travelling
on water

So if water is meant to be the supreme cleanser
Why did my life feature

So much blood?

MY GOODREADS REVIEW
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Unusual...creative...But I'm not sure...Penelope, Odysseus' wife endeavours to present her story from ancient spirit worlds...Penelope is adamant that her life amounted to far more than years of loom weaving and staving off suitors while she waited for Odysseus to return from his travels...She wants to embellish? the legend record with a little help from 12 maidens, who intersperse the narrative with the traditional Greek Chorus line...Is she a weaver of dreams just as Odysseus seemed to be? Were they really the perfect match? Should we sympathise or judge?
Overall, an unsettling departure from Margaret Atwood's accustomed style... little evidence of rich and lingering turns of phrase...
And is the chorus a little too burlesquish?
It's all so different...unusual...creative...But I'm not sure...

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Raw Music of The Secret River

Thornhill's Point was so far from
Will's own Thames
As far as the convict ship Alexander
Could weather the distance
Without breaking

Untamed Thornhill's Point on
The untamed Hawkesbury was 
His adopted dream
(Once he had his ticket of freedom)
And Sal's interim 5 year dream
Till the real dream of Home
Could return

However
He changed
They changed
Transformed
London became
Another 
Shapeless Story

And to the children
That Home was
Just a word


Confronting those who roamed this land before him
He felt naked
He felt small
Words were just a wall
But she felt...
She simply felt
Connected to 
The beauty of a black woman's
Crude
Bark
Dish

A scorching world in January
Ants 
Mosquitoes
Flies and 
Speckled lizards
But in the cool of the mangroves and
The river oaks
And armed with a hearty pannikin of tea
(Trade
A bit of kangaroo for
A bag of flour)
It could be easy 
To pretend
Here was heaven

But the Secret River funnelled into
A dark season
A fear of spears and 
Ruined corn and
Frozen eyes and
Ragged breathing

Still
Seasons pass
Thornhill's Point faded and
And Cobham Hall 
Brandished a fine stone house with
A fine red velvet armchair

Home
Had sailed
Home

But heaven seemed
Remote


Give a little Take a little
Perhaps
Still
A precious
Mantra


Kate Grenville is an Australian writer from Sydney - The Secret River (2005)

GOODREADS REVIEW

The Secret River by Kate Grenville
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For some, the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, in the 19th century, was a wild place where only madmen venture. Some find its secret beauty, but only realise that priceless magic when the glittering wealths of life entice them away.

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Goodreads Discussion: I especially love the image of William Thornhill finally locked into his Cobham Hall and viewing his Hawkesbury escapades through a spyglass with a sad yearning! He knew that he came close to real beauty but let it slip through his "social status" fingers. Meanwhile, he saw that the Aboriginal, close to the Earth, really lived with true beauty. A very symbolic, challenging moment!

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Real Toads ~ Open Link Monday