Tonight I met up with my mystery book group and we had a good time discussing Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson. While everyone thought she did a good job of characterization and setting, some thought the book was a bit slow paced and the mystery wasn’t very engaging. I agree these aren’t thrillers but still I’m finding these books to be like candy – highly addictive.
Tomorrow is my foreign authors book group and I am so behind on The Royal Physician’s Visit. It’s wonderful and fascinating but it’s not going as fast for me as I’d like. I don’t read too many books on royal lives or court intrigue so perhaps that’s why this book is a bit slow going for me. However I am enjoying the writing style a lot. At times it seems very poetic. So off to read more of it.
Now for tonight’s poetry lines*, I’ll leave you with some Rainer Maria Rilke, whom Alda enjoys. Tell me who your favorite poets are and I promise to find a poem for you.
The sky puts on the darkening blue coat
held for it by a row of ancient trees;
you watch: and the lands grow distant in your sight,
one journeying to heaven, one that falls
Excerpt from Evening.
Rilke was boring in Prague in 1875. At the time of his death his work was almost unknown to the general reading public. His reputation has grown steadily since his death, and he has come to be universally regarded as a master of verse.
*Because of copyright laws I’m only doing one or two stanzas. Don’t want to get in trouble.
