5 Stars
I actually listened to this one as an audiobook, I found that it is a good way to start picking away at my Classics Club List, since I am very behind schedule. That aside, here is the review. It is shorter than most, but the book was great!
Both 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass' are such fun books! They really are very clever.
This is about Alice's adventures in the world on the other side of the looking glass, or mirror. She participates in a giant game of chess, she becomes a queen, and has a very confusing dinner party.
The thing that I particularly like about this book was not just finding out what crazy thing would happen next, but also finding out how the looking glass world worked. See, there was a lot of wordplay. And did you know that the memories of looking glass people work both forwards and backwards? And they can subtract a knife from bread, or a bone from a dog? What would you have left in those math problems?
4 Stars
I have received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I had originally expected this book to be simply a compilation of Emily Bronte's poetry, but it was much better than that. While it is a book of her poetry, it also has commentary on the poems as well as a bit of what you could call backstory.
The beginning chapter of this book told about the lives of the Brontes, and, specifically, of Emily. It spoke of the differences between the sisters' personalities and of how certain events in their lives may have influenced their writing.
Something that I found very interesting about Emily's poetry, is that much of it takes place in a fictional world which she and her sisters had created. Many times the names of the residents of this world are used in the poems. I loved the idea that they had a world which they had created and shared, and within which characters had ever growing stories. However, the poems can be enjoyed even without knowing the characters.
At the end of each poem, the author gives a bit of insight as to the meaning of it, so that you could also hear someone else's perspective.And if you didn't understand it, you would still be able to know what it was about. Because of this, the book could be enjoyed by those who are new to poetry as well as people who are veterans to it.
Many times Wuthering Heights was mentioned in the commentary, as it was Emily's sole work, other than poetry. Wuthering Heights was often compared to the poems, and since I am a fan of Wuthering Heights, I enjoyed this.
Lastly, all of the poems gave insight into Emily's personality. She was not one to keep a diary, and because of this not a lot is known about her or her opinions. But the author explains how Emily's poems give insight into her mind, and what we can learn about her through them.
The poems themselves were great. I enjoyed Emily's poetic writing style. The chapters are grouped by topic of the poems, such as Love, Spirituality, and others.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has even the slightest interest in poetry, as well as to those who would like to expose themselves to something new and learn about it.
