Anne Sexton Transformations

I've been reading poetry lately.  It's a new thing I'm doing and it's not easy.  I've never really been a poetry reader.  The education I received stopped covering that after sixth grade.  So far I've found that I really like Anne Sexton.  She's easy to understand.  Her best work is about her battle with mental illness but Transformations was ok.   It's a book based on the Grimms' fairy tales.  While she covers familiar fairy tales like Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel she also does fairy tales that aren't really known like The Wonderful Musician and One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes.  Most of the time variations on fairy tales are tiresome but this one was all right.

Mishima a Biography

Yukio Mishima was a fascinating guy.  This book was written by a friend of his, John Nathan. He did translations for Mishima.  He's more familiar with the author than the usual biographer.  Mishima went from being a sissy boy to becoming a buff man who trained his own army.  Then he committed harakiri, ritual suicide.  His books indicate that this man was always very troubled.  The first book he got published was "Confessions of a Mask", about his hidden homosexuality.  I've read it and "The Sailor who fell from the Grace of the Sea". Both are disturbing and not for the faint of heart.  Despite it, Mishima tried to be a regular Joe.  He had a wife and family.  He tried to present himself as "normal" but there was always something off.  The one thing I really admire here about him is how he always kept his deadlines.  Most writers can't say that.   

The Subtle Knife

I didn't find the sequel to The Golden Compass as interesting as the first book.  I rated them the same on goodreads regardless.  I like the introduction of the new character Will.  I found him intriguing especially the whole dynamic of him and his mother.  I like the friendship between Lyra and him.  It just wasn't as much of a page-turner as the first one.  Still, I'm going to finish the trilogy.  I already started The Amber Spyglass.

Loretta Mason Potts

I got this because I was curious about Mary Chase, the author of the wonderful "Harvey."  It's ok but it could have been better.  Loretta's brother Colin finds out that he has an older sister he never knew about.  She moves in and she's spunky.  I wanted to find out more about her.  I wanted there to be adventures with Colin and Loretta.  Instead, it brought in a fantasy world that I didn't really care about.  I liked the first part of the book so much more.

The Yellow Sofa

A husband comes home and finds his wife in the arms of a colleague.  The protagonist does contemplate fighting a duel.  After all, he is angry.  Gradually though he forgives them.  This novella is the second work that I've read from the Portuguese writer.  The first was The Crime of Father Amaro.  That was more original and I rated it higher on Goodreads. Yet this piece has less of an agenda.  Also, this doesn't have the after taste of The Crime of Father Amaro.

The Liars' Asylum

I'm so busy reading short stories from the 1950's and 1960's I rarely look at what is written nowadays.  I picked this up and am glad I did.  The first story "Bait and Switch" was the best.  It's about an aunt who wants her niece to help her pick up a man.  The girl gets a job helping the guy adding details to plants.  It's kind of strange.  I liked the last story "The Liar's Asylum" mainly because it didn't end in the usual predictable manner or even a twist ending. I'm going to read another book by Appel soon.  I thought it was an interesting book, kind of eccentric.  

Life is a Dream

This is an interesting piece from Spain's Golden Age of Drama.  It's about Segismundo who has been imprisoned his whole life.  The king decides to give him a chance.  He releases him.  Only his son turns out to be the tyrant that was foreseen.  Thus they try to convince him that everything he just saw was imagined.  The play makes you think of the difference between dream and reality and how thin that can get. The theatre class I took at BYU Idaho is ending.  However, I liked reading plays.  During the class, I took notes on what other plays I should read.  I now have an extensive list that will take me a while.