This is a lovely collection, and Riddell's drawings are beautiful. ( )

Riddell is a fantastic illustrator and here he illustrates poems and lyrics he's selected himself. Where his taste and mine overlap, this book is amazing and where he has other favourites than mine it is merely good. ( )

Once again, Chris Riddell proves that he is one of the greatest illustrators of all time. ( )

A beautifully bound and illustrated collection of poems, grouped thematically (musings, youth, family, love, imaginings, nature, war, endings). Several are classics (Shakespeare, Keats), while others are newer, including song lyrics by Nick Cave ("Love Letter") and Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne").

Excerpts

Paper thinned by age or touching...
pages smoothed and stroked and turned
transparent with attention.
(From "Tissue" by Imtiaz Dharker, p. 38-40)

...sun destroys
The interest of what's happening in the shade...
...watching us go,
As if out on the end of an event
Waving goodbye
To something that survived it.
(From "The Whitsun Weddings" by Philip Larkin, p. 78-85)

The witch was as old as the mulberry tree
She lived in the house of a hundred clocks
She sold storms and sorrows and calmed the sea
And she kept her life in a box
(From "Witch Work" by Neil Gaiman, p. 96-103)

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale (p. 168-169) ( )

„Tread softly because you tread on my dreams“ (Original quotation from a Poem by W.B. Yeats, page 64)

This beautifully illustrated book is a collection of poems, some well-know, some known but forgotten, and others that might be new for the reader. The different poems are grouped together by topics: Musings, Youth, Family, Love, Imaginings, Nature, War, Endings.

I found my favorite poem by W.B. Yeats, as well as poems by Lord Byron and Dylan Thomas, together with song texts by Nick Care and Leonard Cohen. One of the poems that deeply impressed me is “Outgrown” by Penelope Shuttle.

This collection definitely are poems to live your life by, an enjoyable book that is not meant to be read and shelved, but to be taken whenever you need time to reflect and unwind.

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