I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

31 December 2017

Discovering Three Pratchetts Not Yet Read

I'm sitting up in bed last thing at night
reading Terry Pratchett – one of my grand-
daughter's books, which I seized on with delight
when I discovered it so near at hand.
I’m visiting for Christmas. It's all right 
that I'm in her space; she’s a good girl, and
is young enough to like the blow-up bed
she gets to use in the front room instead.

Or else she sleeps on a trundle mattress
in the study, but anyway I get 
her room and her bed and – what happiness –
three books of hers by dear Terry Pratchett:
Sir Terry, whose name I shall always bless
for Discworld and its inhabitants – yet
this is tinged with some grief. Though they live on,
their gently humorous author has gone.

They are ‘young adult’ books, a genre I
often choose for its own sake anyway.
I may be regressed, but I don’t know why
I need worry about that. Reading’s play
in my book (ha ha ha!) and I’m not shy
of admitting this. Could there be a day
without a book in it? No, not for me –
glad I’m still here, in bed with Terry P. 


Winding up the month (and year) with a final offering for the Poetic Asides Ottava Rima Challenge.

I'm also sharing this with Poets United's Poetry Pantry #384, the first after our 2017 Christmas break.


Happy New Year, dear readers!


25 comments:

  1. Rosemary, I enjoy young adult books too. I am glad you found interesting books by your bedside. Indeed, reading IS play!

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  2. I love this! I just read that Terry Pratchett sold his first story at thirteen and used the funds to buy a typewriter. Wow. How completely cool. I love your delight in a bed and books stacked up nearby. A pleasure that has seen me through all my years.

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  3. Nothing like books, surely. Love the delight touching every word here. That was some precious time.

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  4. I am also reading some young adult books. Lol, I feel old. haha. I think next year, I hope to read one book per month. Thanks for this one, Rosemary, and happy new year.

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  5. yeah I understand the love for words expressed in a breed like ours who love to read and write

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  6. Love that last line... I can't read now with a painful shoulder, but hope 2018 will bring with it much reading!! Happy New Year Rosemary.

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    1. Oh, I am so sad to lean that your shoulder is painful – and even worse that it prevents reading. May you soon be better!

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  7. How important it is to recapture our own childhood by reading books of childrens and grandchildren, including those that we too read when younger. One of my delights when visiting grandchildren was to read "Tintin" or Enid Blyton books to them that I too loved when younger.

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  8. it's always nice to cuddle up in bed with a book by one of your favourite authors. especially 'young adult' books. rolls back the years, right?

    A Happy New Year to you, Rosemary! :)

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  9. There is nothing quite like curling up with a good book and that too by authors we adore. Wishing you love and peace in 2018, Rosemary!💞

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  10. What a warm image..YA books can be the most insightful

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  11. I’ve never read the books... think sometimes I don’t read enough... but I can understand the sense of finding the books when there’s a time and place for them...

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  12. I must admit I've never read the books too - seems like something that should be corrected!
    Have a wonderful New Year!
    Anna :o]

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  13. You know I'm dying to know which titles, right? So, that I can go ahead and say just how yummy they are...

    I hope 2018 brings you the words you want.

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    1. Of course! It's the Tiffany Aching trilogy, and I am still in the middle of The Wee Free Men (because I am also in the middle of holidaying, feasting, catching up with extended family and old friends, plus finally working my way through every episode of every season of The Gilmore Girls, AND I am simultaneously reading a book of beautiful old ghost stories, as well as having managed to enter 10 ottava rima in the Poetic Asides challenge ... so cannot read faster). Your kind offer means, I assume, that you have read the entire Pratchett oeuvre, a feat to which I aspire.

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    2. And, for those who might not know and may be curious, the other two titles are A Hatful of Sky and Wintersmith.

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  14. Reading has always been play for me too....all the adventures it takes me on. Wishing you a delightful, fun-filled New Year!

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  15. “...Could there be a day / without a book in it?” A beautiful motto for life, Rosemary. I, too, love to inhabit the world of my grandchildren, if only for a day or an hour. Happy new year!

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  16. I love young adult and children's books as well. I have no children or grandchildren and to be honest, never wanted any. But to read of your pleasure in such a wonderful writer as Terry Pratchett makes me want to pull out my kindle and read all that I downloaded several years ago. Happy New Year to you and to all those you hold dear. And may we discover more YA books to give us joy.

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  17. Tiffany Aching trilogy,
    and The Wee Free Men

    Hank would like to sample the two above for starters. Thanks for sharing Rosemary and a Happy New Year to you Ma'am!

    Hank

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    1. Good names, eh? 'The Tiffany Aching trilogy' is the collective name for all three books.

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  18. Happy New Year Rosemary. Have not read any of these or Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or etc...Cannot get past Jemima Puddle Duck Noddy and Big Ears:)

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  19. Once a girl always a girl at heart!

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  20. I had to look up Pratchett's and after reading your nostalgic work. I've slept in my nieces bedroom when she was small (in her 30's now) and I felt like that too. All of her things around me felt, so nice.

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  21. A delightful poem! I have my favorites among the young adult genre as well. Enjoy bedding down with Terry! I was indulging in Octavia B. (!) To each their own, yes?

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