The sonnet is one of the more difficult-to-write forms of poetry, with very strict rules on rhyming and lines, and that makes Shakespeare's collection of sonnets all the more impressive. Shakespeare sprinkled his various plays with poetry and songs, but there is something of a different flavor to these works.

Titleless, identified only by numbers, these poems have vivid metaphors and imagery ("let not winter's ragged hand deface," "gold candles fix'd in heaven's air"). The tone of the poetry varies from one sonnet to the next; sometimes it focuses on old age, to love that "looks upon tempests and is not shaken," and simple expressions that can't really be interpreted any other way. Some of it is pretty well-known ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?/Thou art more lovely and more temperate") but most of them you won't have seen before.

Even if you're not normally a fan of poetry, the delicate touch of Shakespeare's words is worth checking into. Fantastic.

This edition of the sonnets is one of the most important and the description on Amazon is misleading - It is actually both volumes 24 and 25 bound together so you get the complete set It's hard to find this book so it is a great find in this version

Shakespeare's amazing Sonnets are compiled here in this wonderful volume, a great addition to anyone's bookshelf. If you love Shakespeare, then this is a must-have book.

The title says it all. This is a book of essays from people remembering gardens to others planning inaccessible (except in ones mind) gardens.
Winner if the Garden Writer's Association of America's 1992 Will and Towel Award for Excellence in Graphic Design and Illustration.
Contents:
•A White Garden in Wales
•A Garden of Primroses
•A garden of Paving Stones
•Grandmother's Garden
•If I Were to make a Garden

We have probably been in each of these situations at one time and it is warming to see that we are not alone with our "Garden Dreams."

neruda's odes to opposites capture beauty and deep meaning. he inspires us to compare thoughts, feelings and the real world against their foils. he's more than an imagination floating in space.

The Odes to Common Things was written toward the end of Neruda's life, in a voice steeped in the wisdom of a life experienced in the greatest joys and horrors of the 20th century. When Neruda writes about a table, a chair, flowers, socks, or soap, these common things become more than everyday banal objects: they are transformed and elevated into metaphors, vehicles for the greater questions that haunt our lives, capturing the often overlooked beauty of everyday life, of the little things that we seem to remember only in our twilight.

Ken Krabbenhoft's translation is good, but often, as with other translations, it fails to capture the true spirit of the Spanish words (but not at his fault). It is for this reason I gave it four instead of five stars.

My personal favorites include: "Oda al Pan" (Ode to Bread); "Oda a la Cama" (Ode to the Bed); and, "Oda al Violin de California" (Ode to a Violin in California), perhaps because Neruda's inspiration may have come from walking the same shores that I too walk in barefoot pleasure.
--ross saciuk

Having only read one of the Odes...I was compelled to give my feedback. Poetry and Neruda's greatness aside, this book is beautiful. Beautifully bound and lovely illustrations. I'm thrilled I'm giving this as a gift!

Pablo Neruda--the last great poet. Every time I pick up one of his books I'm startled back in to coherence. "Odes to Common Things" is no exception. His elevation of what you and I take for granted to entities of self-completeness is nothing short of brilliance. When I see a chair all I see is a place to plant my weary body, but with Neruda the chair is transformed into something wildly exotic, transcendent and magical. "Ode to the dictionary" will make you regret not using yours more. A tell-tale sign of reading profound poetry is an encroaching sense of self-disgust. I rarely fail to acheive this feeling when reading Neruda. So if you're in the mood to be simutaneously elevated and degraded, read "Ode to Common Things", a book that is anything but common.

This small volume (150 pages) contains a dozen or so essays on gardening, written by individuals who lived and worked during the 20th century. The writers include journalists (Katherine White), editors (Richardson Little Wright), novelists (Mabel Osgood Wright), radio/tv personalities (Thalassa Cruso), and others. Unless you're a long-time fan of gardening you will not recognize their names, however, these essays are as entertaining and useful as anything written lately.

I was reminded that I own a copy of "Remembered Gardens" because today I read an essay by Sydney Eddison in the December 2000 issue of "Fine Gardening" in which she mentioned this book as one of her all time favorites. Ms. Eddison is a garden writer who lives in Connecticut. Because she has limited space in her office, she has had to thin her garden book collection as I have done. "Remembered Gardens" is one of the books we both kept.

The book is beautifully illustrated with colorful prints by the author Ferris Cook, who appears to work in a wood block medium. The essays are as relevant today as they were when first published. Each gardener "expert" shares the story of how she or he built a garden from scratch on an acre of clay or a rock ledge or some other difficult surface. The essays are relatively short, comparable to 'letters' written to an interested friend. Although this book is currently out-of-print, it is worth searching for in the used book market.