A Book By Its Cover

To read is to tread carefully –

Respectfully – with empathy

Understanding the handling of

Subjects and objects and secrets

Told in a voice clear and bold;

Never once judging merely by trudging

Over lines as if cutting through vines

Threading into and out of the queue;

Acting and reacting; extracting

Personal lessons, private blessings,

Public expressions, common professions,

Eternal truths laid bare to the root,

Amplified ecstasy – the magnified melody

Revealed and concealed on the page;

Aware of the trust bestowed upon us:

Neither being too cruel nor too kind,

Ceding a space on a shelf or bookcase

Every tome has a spot – its true home –

Standing tall – standing proud – on the wall.

Thursday, 19 February, 2015

A Song of Ice (No Fire)

Wind and cold combine,

Making water treacherous:

Clear and smooth as glass –

Betraying unwary feet –

Or pointed like an arrow.

Wednesday, 18 February, 2015

A Journey (of sorts)

Today is my Tuesday routine –

It has been since I was nineteen –

When I visit the Library

In all of its finery

To sate my thinking machine.

My library list is quite long;

I wonder if some don’t belong

On my list to be read

Before I am dead

Who cares? I’m chugging along!

My To-Read Shelf:

I don’t think I’ll make it today

For the weather is really quite grey:

With the sleet and the ice

And the power off – twice! –

I don’t think I’d make it halfway.

My weekend had now been extended

As my classes are cancelled – splendid!

With an hour or six

I could learn some new tricks

Or read just as I’d intended.

The Great Influenza — Might not be the best thing to read
when you have the sniffles.

So I’ll curl up with my blanket

With some coffee to feed my habit

And the cat in my lap

Will take his long nap –

Now where did I put that book jacket?

Tuesday, 17 February, 2015

Blank Space

Staring into the void of blank space

I find it staring back at me –

Daring me to find a voice

And declare with certainty

My innermost intentions.

Tuesday, 10 February, 2015

Review: A Burnable Book

Knowledge is currency.

It can be traded and it can be banked, and more secretly than money.

London, 1385:

A book and a cloth prophesy regicide.

Two aspiring poets hide their own a dark secrets.

Two ambitious men plot revenge.

Two fallen women desire a better life.

This is the scene and these are the principal characters of Bruce Holsinger’s A Burnable Book. A book of heretical verse prophesying the death of Richard II circulates through London. When the only known copy goes missing, it’s up to John Gower – enlisted by his friend Geoffrey Chaucer – to track it down and stop the assassination.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Distraction, deception, subterfuge, mendacity, all those unspoken tools of the subtler crafts: government and trade, diplomacy and finance.

As far is intrigues go, I found A Burnable Book relatively easy. It is quite obvious that Chaucer is the author of De Mortibus, that Gower’s son Simon is in it up to his ears, and the identity of the so-called “mystery girl” is evident early on as well. History tells us that Richard II wasn’t assassinated in 1385, so we know the plot will fail. (I really shouldn’t have to give a spoiler alert for something over 600 years old, you know . . .) However, this did not stop me from enjoying the book and seeing how the characters would figure it out. For me, the only real plot twists were (a) just who was responsible for Simon’s involvement in the plot and (b) just how much Chaucer “knew” beforehand.

As a work of fiction, I found A Burnable Book to be about as satisfying as a bag of chips: It filled time but had little actual value. Adam Scarlett really turned me off. A relatively minor character, his rather violent end was not really necessary to the plot. Furthermore, coming as it did in the final ten pages of the book, it somewhat ruined the denouement of the overall storyline. I understand the motives behind his death; I simply think it should have come at a different point (preferably not at all).

I borrowed this book from my local library; otherwise, I would have felt robbed. I definitely wouldn’t pay $26 for the hardback edition, and even $8 for a paperback may be a bit much.

My overall rating: