Penguins Poems for Love Laura Barber

Thematically organized from “suddenly” love at first sight, to ‘tentatively”, “Truly , Madly, Deeply’, ‘Greedily, ‘Regretfully’, ‘Eternally’ and all that lies between….

This is a collection of poems neatly organized that will take you on a journey from love at first sight through infatuation and on to the ‘eternally’ that apparently lasts beyond the end of life skimming along the way through flirtation, passion, fury, betrayal and broken hearts. An excellent selection from around terra ferma through the ages ranging from W.H.Auden to Shakespeare, John Donne to Emily Dickinson, Robert Browning to Roger McGough, this anthology will delight, comfort and inspire anyone who has ever tasted love in any of its forms or is curious about what the big deal is all about!

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Díaz

The story opens by exploring the life of a Oscar, a promising young Dominican child growing up in Jersey who morphs into an overweight, unpopular nerd who is desperate to lose his virginity.

The story then proceeds to explore the lives of Oscar, Oscar’s mother, sister and Mother’s family (persecuted by Dictator). The first half of the book is a little bit irritating as the author uses footnotes and many Spanish language phrases that are not translated. Besides these language issues and the jumping back and fourth in time and among characters the book beyond where the main characters develop very nicely. Awesome integration of the political, social and economic history of the Dominican Republic and how the environment shaped many of the lives of the generations who migrated to the U.S.

The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell

This great sweep of Durrell’s quartet is almost impossible to describe, but being Goobes, we are going to give it a shot!

Tis characters and the feeling of bing at wartime Alexandria are so perfect that you can almost smell and taste the perfume on Justine’s neck, hear the prayers from the mosques and smell the sand stained blood of camels butchered in the streets.

Here lie the poets and prostitutes, diplomats and gun runners. There is a plethora of scenes of lust and love and violence angst and despair.

The characters change as the story unfolds and then recoils upon itself again. We are as confused as the characters themselves and never find ourselves in a position where we understand events before they do. Myriad scenes tumble upon each other; a bird shoot on Lake Mareotis, the masquede ball, the strange death of Pursewarden, the dreadful death of Narouz. Across four volumes Durrell seldom puts a foot wrong and while his sonorous prose is not to everyone’s taste, nobody can deny that this is certainly an under rated classic of the twentieth century.

After the grim years of the Second World War and the grey, slow grind of the 1950s, the novel must have burst upon literary Europe like a banshee streaking across the sky giving enlightenment at a time of darkness.

Essential book for anyone who considers themselves well-read.

Enjoy!

The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong

Trevor, ‘s mum has offered him 30 punds to walk the dog every day of the holidays. But Streaker is no ordinary dog, she’s a rocket on four legs with a woof attached. Trevor’s sure there must be a way to control her and Tina, his best friend, knows about training dogs. Their attempts involving such things as a pair of roller skates, a mobile phone and a bicycle, always lead to trouble. Horrid Charlie Smugg bets Trevor he can’t train Streaker before the end of the holidays. But Trevor and Tina construct a dream plan and Charlie has to eat his words.

The Twits by Roald Dahl

The Twits by Roald Dahl

The Twits is a humorous children’s book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was first published in 1980.

Mr. and Mrs. Twit are two ugly, smelly, nasty, stupid people who spend their lives playing nasty tricks on each other. They also enjoy being cruel to animals, which they do by luring birds to glue-smothered trees so they can be baked into bird pie, read The twits and enjoy a classic tale of revenge of the critters.