New eyes each year
Find old books here,
And new books, too,
Old eyes renew;
So youth and age
Like ink and page
In this house join,
Minting new coin.
~ Library Ode by Philip Larkin
I’ve been reading The Amnesiac by Sam Taylor and one passage was quite offbeat but I liked it because it led me to discover another writer.
The main character, James, is sitting at a bar reading a story by Borges but is interrupted by a man who is starring at him. The man asks if he can sit with him and they start talking, and finally James tells him that he resembles Philip Larkin. The older gentleman, a librarian tells him he is Philip Larkin by default as he took over the poet’s life and memories when the poet died. Odd isn’t it?
Anyway, it was a curious passage but more than anything my mind kept wandering about Philip Larkin and so I looked for some of his poetry and found the poem I posted at the beginning of this post. Isn’t that a good one? I’m not very familiar with Larkin’s poetry but I do like how one book led me to another writer.
Has that happened to you recently? What book/poem/writer have you discovered as a result of another?
Love the poem! I can’t think of specific examples right now, but I have experienced that. That’s one of the great things about reading.
Totally off topic, but I wanted to let you know what you won my copy of Blood Roses, by Francesca Lia Block!!! Congrats! E-mail me your new addy and I’ll get the book in the mail to you next week.
Lisa – Glad you liked it!
Andi – Yippee! Thank you so much. I’ll send you an email 🙂
I love that poem. I really love when a book spins you off into another direction and introduces you to a new author or any number of interesting things that intrigues or makes you want to know more….
I love Larkin’s work. Do see if you can get hold of a copy of his collection ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ which has in it a most beautiful poem called ‘An Arundel Tomb’. In fact it’s too long since I posted a poem so I’ll do that today. It looks as though the bulk of the problem with Apple has been sorted, but if you’ve got me bookmarked could you change the address to
http://web.me.com/ann163125/Table_Talk/Table_Talk_Blog/Table_Talk_Blog.html
The ‘mac’ site is still available, but won’t accept comments. You need to come in through the ‘me’ portal.
That’s a great poem! I can’t think of any books that have led me to other authors, off-hand, but I know it’s happened. A book about Alaska led me to seek out music by a folk artist mentioned in the book (Looking for Alaska by Peter Jenkins was the book and Hobo Jim was the artist — we drove around singing “I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail” in our Alaskan rental car . . .such fun).
I love Larkin and although this one is new to me, it is such a perfect poem for any reader. Thanks!
That is a good poem. I can’t remember that happening to me recently. But for example, Truman Capote is one of my favourite authors, and I first discovered him because Douglas Coupland quotes a passage from one of his short stories in his book Polaroids from the Dead. It really is cool how one author leads you to another 🙂
I don’t know anything about these poets. You are good at introducing them to me.
I like how you explored other authors.
That is a great poem. Well, I am going to read The Persians by Aescylus because of Herodotus. And I amg going to read Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone because of Herodotus too. He doesn’t mention them directly but Aeschylus fought in one of the battles Herodotus decribes and Sophocles and Herodotus were friends and Sophocles apparently borrowed some of Herodotus’s scenery. Does that count?
On the road to Santa Barbara we passed through many quaint towns that are in my opinion quintessential of California. We stopped by one very old bookstore and I discovered the author Paul McGrath. I got the latest novel, Trauma, about a psychiatrist who has depression himself. 🙂